Salla, Future of E-commerce: An Easy Platform to Start Your Business

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

What a big shock! With the advancement of technology and the luxury we started to get after the spread and expansion of online shopping, who still carries cash? You personally, how much cash is in your wallet now?  

I expect that most people—in the previous case—would cancel the purchase process 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 important fundamental processes on which e-commerce is built now, and one of the most important answers to "How do you make your e-commerce site easy?" 

Therefore, in this article, I will review with you 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 mission is to facilitate payment transactions, ensuring both parties can pay money in a smooth, fast, and secure way, 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 transaction online; therefore, it facilitates financial transactions in e-commerce.

They may be provided by banks to their clients, but they can also be provided by a specialized financial service provider as a separate service. 

What is the role of payment gateways in e-commerce?

We can describe payment gateways as the backbone of any online buying, selling, or marketing operation. Without them, purchases from online stores cannot be completed except when the online store provides cash on delivery, which causes many complications for store owners that you can certainly dispense with. 

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

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

It also protects payment card data by encrypting all sensitive information it retains. This means that the personal data used for purchase is secure between the two 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 you built it on, as well as the country you operate in and what the best payment gateways suitable for e-commerce are in that country. 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 launch a successful online store from day one. Consequently, we made sure to simplify the steps of connecting our stores to these gateways, and we will now present to you a detailed guide on how to link your Salla store with 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’s 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 found within the first-time store setup steps

Or, from the side menu of the control panel, 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 on Delete Account from the account page itself.

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

Here you have finished 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 customers with the best payment gateway solutions in Saudi Arabia for their stores, including:

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

Steps to link electronic payment gateways to your Salla store:

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

(Mada, Visa and MasterCard, PayPal, STC Pay, Apple Pay as well as Tabby and Bayan).

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

Steps to activate payment methods via Mada, Visa, and MasterCard:

We will now review the steps for activating Mada, Visa, and MasterCard together because the activation method is the same. However, note that you will activate each card individually using the same method: 

•  After entering 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 an individual activity, or is it under a specific administration, team, company, or cooperative?

2- Upload the commercial identity document if the entity type is an Individual

3- Select the bank account for transferring payments

The bank account to which payments will be transferred is selected here. We explained above how to enter different 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- And do not forget to agree to the sales policy on the Salla platform

Can I disable the use of Mada / Visa MasterCard in my store?

Of course, you can disable the use of the card on your store and reactivate it whenever you want by clicking on the Activate button next to the payment method, as shown in the following image:

Can the bank account to which payments are transferred be changed?

Yes, go to settings of Mada account, then choose the new bank you want to transfer payments to from the list (Bank account for transferring payments)

Steps to activate payment method via PayPal:

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

• Enter your PayPal account email address into the designated box, then click Save

Conditions 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 PayPal 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 method via Apple Pay:

• After entering the payment methods page from Store Settings, click on Apple Pay and click Activate

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

If you want to activate Apple Pay for charities and stores specializing in selling digital content that have a technical integration with an electronic payment gateway, you can head to the Help Center within your Salla account and search for activating Apple Pay with payment gateways. You will find the activation method with steps.

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 Tabby's website to register here 

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

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

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

 What will your online store benefit from adding Tabby?

Your subscription to Tabby will grant you several benefits, including:

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

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

- Tabby enables you to collect steady and approved cash flow; Tabby transfers to your store first and then collects from your customers later

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

- Tabby assumes the collection risks related to your customers

- Collaboration in marketing a product on social media platforms and ad campaigns

Are there any benefits or fees for the customer with using Tabby?

Tabby service has no fees for the customer because its revenue comes from the stores, but there are late fees explained here  

What are the merchant subscription fees in Tabby service?

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

Steps to activate payment method 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 go to Tamara's website to register

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

• Once the contract is signed, you will get a token. Paste it in the designated field (Merchant Key), and click Save

You can also activate or disable its logo appearing on the product page.

What does your store benefit from Tamara service?

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

• Tamara is a suitable alternative for customers to cash on delivery

• Provides protection for your store in case the customer fails to pay

• Increases the rate of completing purchases after adding it to the shopping cart

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

• Opportunities for marketing cooperation through mutual advertising on social media following the best marketing strategy.

What are the merchant subscription fees in Tamara service?

Fees are determined according to the type of products, their value, and a group of other considerations agreed upon in the contract between the merchant and the service. 

When are amounts settled for merchants?

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

What is the policy followed by Tamara payment gateway in case of returned products?

Tamara follows your store's refund policy. Refunding with Tamara is better than other payment methods to avoid transaction fees.

Where will the approved electronic payment methods appear in your Salla store?

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

In addition to appearing among the available payment methods upon completing the order.

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 whose details you should know to give you peace of mind, which is online payments.

What are online payments?

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

Steps to view online payments for your Salla store:

1-  From the side menu of the control panel, click Online Payments

2- The online payments table for your online store will be displayed

as follows:

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

A dedicated column for the electronic payment tax has been supported to serve as a reference for merchants when submitting the tax return.

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 in the following image:

Click on Tax Invoice to print, as shown:

Steps to set up online payment transfer cycle

1-  From the side menu of the control panel, click on Store Settings

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

3- From general store options, click on the Set indicator next to the online payment transfer cycle

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

Summary of the above:

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 electronic payment methods most suitable 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 online Salla store account or contact us.