Salla: The Future of E-Commerce, An Easy Platform to Launch Your Business

Imagine browsing the internet looking for an item, finding it on one of the online stores, and deciding to buy it immediately, only to be surprised that the only available payment method on this store is cash.   

What a huge shock! With technological advancement and the convenience we started enjoying after the spread and expansion of online shopping, who carries cash anymore? You personally, how much cash do you carry in your wallet right now?  

I expect that most people—in the previous scenario—would cancel the purchase and go back to searching for another store.

Electronic payment and the availability of payment gateway solutions in Saudi Arabia have become one of the most fundamental processes upon which e-commerce relies today, and one of the most important answers to how to make your e-commerce website effortless. 

Therefore, in this article, I will walk you through the best electronic payment gateway solutions in Saudi Arabia, and how you can activate them on your Salla store step by step. But first, let us clarify what electronic payment gateways are, and what their actual role is in e-commerce.

What Are Electronic Payment Gateways?

They are an electronic intermediary between two parties whose task is to facilitate payment transactions, ensuring for both parties that money is paid smoothly, quickly, and securely, away from theft and fraud, while also providing data security.  Simply put, it is that form that enables you to enter your payment card details to complete your online transaction; thus, it facilitates financial transactions in e-commerce.

Banks may provide them to their clients, but they can also be provided by a specialized financial service provider as an independent service. 

What Is the Role of Payment Gateways in E-Commerce?

We can describe payment gateways as the backbone of any buying, selling, or online marketing process; without them, purchases from online stores cannot be completed unless the online store provides cash on delivery, which causes many complications for store owners that you can well do without. 

Payment solutions help online store owners receive payments for the products or services they sell on their stores in an easy, reliable, and secure manner, in exchange for a low commission.

 As soon as the customer enters their credit card details on your store, the payment gateway securely transmits this data to the payment processor to ensure that the entered data is sufficient to complete the transaction, as well as to verify its validity. 

It also protects payment card data by encrypting all the sensitive information it holds. This means that the personal data used for purchasing remains secure between both parties, the merchant and the buyer.

How Do I Choose the Best Payment Gateways for My Online Store?

Regardless of the nature of your store, choosing the right payment gateway is determined based on the e-commerce platform on which you built it, as well as the country in which you operate, and what the best payment gateways suitable for e-commerce are in it. Therefore, some payment gateways might be available to you, while others are not.

At Salla, we provide stores with the best Saudi payment gateway solutions to help you create an online store that succeeds from day one. That is why we made sure to streamline the steps for connecting our stores to these gateways, and we will now provide you with a detailed guide on how to link your Salla store to them.

Steps to Activate Payment Gateways on Your Salla Online Store

Setting up payment methods is the third step in the stages of setting up an online store on Salla. Now let us review together the necessary steps to link payment gateways to your store on Salla:

Steps to Set Up Payment Methods:

1- Go to the side menu of the Control Panel, then click on Home

2- Click on Activate Payment Methods located within the first-time store setup steps

Or, from the Control Panel side menu, click on Store Settings

From the Store Settings page, click on Payment Methods

3-  From the Payment Methods page, click on + New Bank Account

4- Enter your bank account details:

•  Bank name

•  Account holder name

• Bank account number

•  IBAN number

 5- Then click Save

Note: You can delete and update your bank account at any time by clicking Delete Account from the account page itself.

Then click on the bank account you wish to update, update the bank details, and then click Save

Here you have completed the steps for setting up payment methods.

Note: You cannot receive orders from customers on your store before activating one of the payment methods; configuring cash on delivery is considered one of the payment methods. 

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What Payment Gateways Does Salla Provide?

Salla platform provides its clients with the best payment gateway solutions in Saudi Arabia for their stores, including:

In the following section, we review how to link these payment methods to your online store on Salla 

Steps to Link Electronic Payment Gateways to Your Store on Salla?

Salla platform provides you—so far—with seven payment gateways that you can link to your online store, namely: 

(mada, Visa and Mastercard, PayPal, STC Pay, Apple Pay, as well as Tabby and Tamara).

I will now review with you how to link these gateways to your store, as well as the most common questions regarding each gateway. 

Steps to Activate Payment via mada, Visa, and Mastercard:

We now review the steps to activate mada, Visa, and Mastercard together because the activation method is the same, but note that you will activate each card separately using the same method: 

•  After accessing the Payment Methods page from Store Settings, click on mada or Visa and Mastercard

• Enter the required information, then click Save

1- Set the entity type (Individual, Establishment, Company, Charity, ..)

Entity Type: It is the type of activity your store belongs to: is it a personal activity, under a specific management, a team, a company, or a cooperative.

2- Upload the Commercial Identity file, if the entity type is an Individual

3- Select the bank account for transferring payouts

Here, the bank account to which payouts will be transferred is selected. We explained above how to enter various bank accounts by adding a new bank account, which is a prerequisite for linking your store to the mada or Visa and Mastercard payment gateway.

4 - Do not forget to agree to the selling policy on the Salla platform

Can I disable the use of mada / Visa and Mastercard in my store?

Of course, you can disable the use of the card on your store and re-enable it whenever you wish by clicking the Activation toggle next to the payment method, as shown in the following image:

Can I change the bank account to which payouts are transferred?

Yes, go to mada account settings, then select the new bank to which you want payouts transferred from the (Bank account for transferring payouts) list.

Steps to Activate Payment via PayPal:

• From the Payment Methods page, click on PayPal as shown in the following image

• Enter the email associated with your PayPal account inside the designated box, then click Save

Requirements for Activating PayPal Payment Service in My Store

There is only one condition to activate the PayPal payment gateway in your store, which is registering on the PayPal website and activating the account. You can visit the website via the following link and follow the registration and activation steps: www.paypal.com

Steps to Activate Payment via Apple Pay:

• After entering the Payment Methods page from Store Settings, click on Apple Pay and click on Activate

Note: To activate Apple Pay, mada must be activated first.

If you wish to activate Apple Pay for charities and stores specialized in selling digital content that have a technical integration with an electronic payment gateway, you can head to the Help Center inside your Salla platform account and search for activating Apple Pay with payment gateways, where you will find the step-by-step activation method.

Steps to Activate Tabby Payment Method:

Before we begin the steps to link your online store to the Tabby payment gateway, you must first register on Tabby's website.

• Go to the Tabby website to register from here 

• The Tabby team will then contact you to agree, sign the contract, and deliver your keys (Public and private keys)

• After receiving the keys, go to the Payment Methods page and select  Tabby 

• Enter the Public Key and Private Key in the designated fields, specify the payment options you want, then click  Save.

 How Will Your Online Store Benefit from Adding Tabby?

Subscribing to the Tabby integration will earn you several benefits, including:

-  Achieving more sales due to providing easy and flexible payment options

- Increasing the checkout completion rate, especially with the installment option 

- Tabby enables you to collect steady and guaranteed liquidity; Tabby transfers funds to your store first, then collects from your customers later

- Freeing you from the hassles associated with cash on delivery with the pay after 14 days option

- Tabby assumes the collection risks from your customers

- Collaboration in the process of marketing a product on social media platforms and advertising campaigns

Are There Any Interests or Fees Charged to the Customer When Using Tabby?

Tabby's service is free of fees for the customer because its revenue comes from merchants, but there are late fees explained here  

What Are the Merchant Subscription Fees for the Tabby Service?

Fees are determined based on the contract the merchant signs with Tabby, depending on the type of products, their value, and a set of other considerations.

Steps to Activate Payment via Tamara:

Tamara is a buy-now-pay-later service with no fees for customers. You can order the product you need and pay 30 days after shipping.

• From the Payment Methods page, click on Tamara, then proceed to the Tamara website to register

• You will be contacted by the Tamara team immediately after registration to agree on the service provision contract for your store

• Once the contract is signed, you will receive a token; paste it into the designated field (Merchant Key), and click Save

You can also enable or disable the display of its logo on the product page.

How Does Your Store Benefit from Tamara Service?

• Increasing customer purchase rates by providing the pay-later option (30 days after shipping)

• Tamara is a convenient alternative for customers to the cash-on-delivery option

• Provides protection for your store in case of customer default

• Increases purchase completion rates after items are added to the shopping cart

• Providing appropriate liquidity, as amounts are transferred to the store on a weekly basis

• Opportunities for marketing collaboration through cross-promotion on social media by following the best marketing strategy .

What Are the Merchant Subscription Fees for Tamara Service?

Fees are determined based on the type of products, their value, and a set of other considerations agreed upon in the contract between the merchant and the service. 

When Are Settlements Made to Merchants?

The amount is due after the order is shipped to the customer. All payouts are settled according to the schedule agreed upon with the store.

What Is the Policy Followed by the Tamara Payment Gateway in Case of Returned Products?

Tamara follows your store's refund policy. Refunding with Tamara is better than refunding with other payment methods due to avoiding transfer fees.

Where Will Approved Electronic Payment Methods Appear in Your Salla Store?

Electronic payment solutions appear at the bottom of the store's homepage, as shown in the following image:

In addition to appearing among the available payment methods during checkout.

Now that we have reviewed with you the best electronic payment gateways that you can link to your Salla store and how to activate them step by step, we will move on to another important element that you must understand for your peace of mind: electronic payouts.

What Are Electronic Payouts?

They are the orders made through electronic payment methods such as mada, credit cards, and Apple Pay, which are periodically scheduled and transferred to your primary bank account.

Steps to View Electronic Payouts for Your Salla Store:

1-  From the Control Panel side menu, click Electronic Payouts

2- The electronic payouts table for your online store will be displayed

as follows:

3- To be able to export this payouts table to an Excel file—as shown in the following image—click on Export from the Payouts page.

A dedicated column for electronic payment tax has been supported to serve as a reference for merchants when filing tax returns.

How Can You Print the Tax Invoice for Your Salla Store?

You can print the invoice by clicking on the invoice to be printed, as shown in the following image:

Click on Tax Invoice to print, as shown in the figure:

Steps to Set Up the Electronic Payout Transfer Cycle

1-  From the Control Panel side menu, click on Store Settings

2- From the Store Settings page, click on Store Options 

3- From the general store options, click on the Set indicator located next to the electronic payout transfer cycle

4- Choose the appropriate payout transfer cycle, then click Save

In Summary:

Payment gateways are an integral part of any store; therefore, you must choose the most suitable electronic payment solutions in Saudi Arabia to facilitate  and increase purchases on your store, and win customer satisfaction .

You can now choose the most suitable electronic payment methods for your store and target audience. If you need more details about any of the payment gateways we covered, you can head to the Help Center within your Salla online store account or contact us.