mada Payment Gateway: How to Accept mada on a Saudi Website

A mada payment gateway lets your Saudi website take online payments from mada debit cards, the national card scheme supervised by the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA). You get one by contracting a SAMA-licensed provider or acquirer, connecting it to your checkout, and passing the provider's mada certification checks. No source we checked says a law forces every site to offer mada. In practice, a Saudi checkout without it asks local shoppers to use another card or another method.

What is mada and how does it work online?

mada is a national payment initiative supervised by SAMA. The Saudi national portal says it offers payment services through POS devices, e-commerce platforms and ATMs. SAMA's mada page says cards can be used for online payments at e-commerce outlets over the 3D Secure protocol.

In plain terms, the flow looks like this:

1. The shopper enters card details on your checkout, or on a page hosted by your gateway.
2. The gateway sends the payment to your acquiring bank or licensed payment company.
3. A central switch routes the transaction to the bank that issued the card, according to SAIB's mada explainer.
4. The shopper confirms with 3D Secure.
5. The money settles to your bank account under your provider's terms.

You never connect to the mada switch yourself. Your provider does that.

How do you choose a mada payment gateway?

Choose a gateway that is licensed in Saudi Arabia, certified for mada, and supports the checkout methods your customers use. Fee quotes come after that.

Check these points before you sign:

• SAMA licence. Moyasar describes itself as a SAMA-licensed, PCI-DSS compliant gateway. Tap says it is a licensed payment institution in Saudi Arabia with mada gateway certification. Do not take any provider's word for it. Check SAMA's list of licensed payment service providers. Search the Saudi legal entity name and check the licence expiry date.
• mada connection. HyperPay's vendor article says the SAMA licence covers the money, while Saudi Payments permits cover the mada connection. Ask the provider which permits it holds.
• Technical-only providers. HyperPay cites a SAMA circular saying a company offering only technical linkage may not contract merchants, run KYC and AML checks, or settle funds to merchant accounts. Ask who holds your merchant contract and who pays you.
• Your store platform. If you use Salla, Zid, Shopify or WooCommerce, look in its payment settings for supported Saudi gateways.
• Refund and capture rules. More on these below.

Here is what some providers say on their own pages:

This table is a list of what providers claim, not a ranking. Compare contracts, support and settlement terms yourself.

What does a mada payment gateway cost?

The SAMA rulebook sets two fee layers for online mada purchases, and your gateway's own pricing sits on top. Under SAMA's rule on using mada cards online:

The same page says the MSC percentage is negotiable between acquirer and merchant. It is a ceiling, not a fixed price.

Three warnings:

• A gateway may add its own fees, such as monthly or setup charges. These vary by provider. Ask for a full written fee schedule.
• The physical POS cap of 0.80% (maximum SAR 40 per transaction) quoted by SAIB applies to in-store terminals only. Do not use it for your website.
• A later SAMA amendment sets a fixed MSC of up to SAR 1.5 for e-wallet top-ups with mada cards. It does not apply to normal product sales.

Fee rules can change, so read the current rulebook pages before you negotiate.

How do you add mada to your website? A launch checklist

Most Saudi stores can go live by following these steps in order:

1. Gather documents. Expect to provide your Saudi CR and a settlement bank account. Providers differ, so ask for their list.
2. Pick and apply to a licensed provider. Verify the licence on SAMA's list first.
3. Negotiate the MSC. Remember the 1.75% maximum and that it is negotiable.
4. Connect the gateway. Use your store platform's plugin or the provider's hosted checkout or API.
5. Show mada as its own option. Use the mada logo so shoppers recognise it.
6. Turn on Apple Pay through the same gateway if offered. HyperPay advises declaring the mada network in Apple Pay requests. Checkout.com says to remove mada from supportedNetworks for Apple Pay outside Saudi Arabia.
7. Test in the sandbox. Run successful, declined and 3D Secure test payments, then a refund.
8. Go live with a small real payment and confirm it settles to your bank.

A business website is the front half of this. If you need one built, Quickship's website service starts from AED 99 a month with hosting and domain. The payment contract stays between you and your licensed provider.

What rules affect refunds, captures and pricing?

Four rules change how you run orders.

No surcharges. SAMA's consumer protection rules (Rule 7) require a clause in merchant agreements that bars merchants from adding fees to the price when consumers pay by card, including on e-commerce sites. Show one price.

Full capture only. Checkout.com's documentation says mada transactions must be captured in full. It says mada does not support partial captures or authorisation holds. If you request an authorisation, the gateway sends a void after 7 days, and because mada cannot void, the acquirer refunds instead. Say a store sells made-to-order items and wants to charge only when each part is ready. That model does not fit mada. Charge at order, or use another method for those items.

Refund timing. Moyasar states refund times of 24 hours to 3 business days for mada cards, against 7 to 14 business days for credit cards, excluding weekends. Other providers may differ, so tell customers the time your provider quotes.

Disputes. Rule 13 in the same SAMA page says banks must process claims about incorrect or incomplete mada transactions, including e-commerce, within 2 working days of the transaction. Keep order records and payment references so you can answer a claim fast.

What mistakes do Saudi merchants make with mada?

• Hiding mada behind a generic "card" button. Show it as a named option.
• Mishandling co-badged cards. HyperPay says co-badged cards should route as mada for SAR payments in the Kingdom. Another guide suggests detecting the BIN. Checkout.com notes that the mada BIN list is updated often, so ask your provider how it keeps this current.
• Skipping licence checks. A polished website is not proof of a SAMA licence.
• Copying fee numbers from blogs. Some guides quote rates with no source. Use the SAMA rulebook and your signed quote.
• Adding a card fee at checkout. This conflicts with the merchant agreement clause under Rule 7.
• Planning partial charges. Mada needs full capture, so design your order flow around it.
• Not testing refunds. Run one before launch.

If cash on delivery (COD) is also part of your mix, keep it as a separate option. Track COD collections apart from card settlements so your books stay clean. Quickship's Last Mile module handles COD reconciliation across couriers.