Tabby and Tamara Merchant Fees: What You Really Pay per Order

Tabby and Tamara don't publish their merchant rates, but sellers talk and the numbers are consistent.

Expect about 3–5% per order with Tabby and 4–6% with Tamara. Small stores and riskier categories land at the top of that range.

That's only the first layer, though, because you also pay a small fixed fee, VAT on the fee and, on Shopify, a platform cut.

Here's what each layer costs, how payouts and refunds work, and whether BNPL earns its keep.

How do Tabby and Tamara charge merchants?

Both take a cut of each order before they pay you. The shopper pays nothing extra, and you get the full order value minus fees, upfront.

The rate comes from a contract, not a price list, and three things set it:

• Your category: fashion, beauty and electronics are priced differently from furniture or travel.
• Your volume: bigger annual sales earn a lower percentage.
• Your risk profile: new stores and categories with lots of returns or fraud pay more.

Here's how each provider builds the fee:

• Tabby: a percentage commission plus a small fixed fee on each successful order. Tap's Tabby FAQ lists that fixed fee as SAR/AED 1. Gateway costs are included, so there's no separate card fee.
• Tamara: a "Fixed Fee" and a "Variable Fee" set in your onboarding form. Tamara deducts both before each payout.

Most quotes sit inside the reported ranges. Some small Saudi stores post quotes as high as 6.99% plus SAR 1.5 per order, so get your number in writing before you plan prices.

For how the two compare on reach, coverage and setup, see Tabby vs Tamara.

The extras: VAT, payout fees and holds

The percentage gets the attention, but the extras decide what actually lands in your bank account.

VAT on the fee

Both providers add VAT to their own commission, not to your order. In Saudi Arabia that's 15% on top of the fee, and 5% in the UAE.

So a 4% Tabby fee in Riyadh really costs you 4.6%. If you're VAT-registered, you can usually reclaim it.

Payouts and holds

Tabby pays on the cycle you agree, once your sales pass a minimum. It also deducts a fixed fee per payout, so fewer, larger payouts cost less.

Tamara pays every Tuesday for the previous Saturday-to-Friday week, and its terms also let it hold:

• Your first three orders for one month after each purchase.
• Up to 75% of a weekly payout, settled monthly, when it needs to verify something.
• Payouts linked to disputes or late deliveries of 10 or more business days, until they're resolved.

None of this costs you money directly. It does cost cash flow, so plan your first month around it. The full Tamara payout rules are in Tamara on Shopify.

What happens to the fee when you refund?

This is the most overlooked line in a BNPL contract. Fashion stores with high return rates feel it most.

Tamara's merchant terms say it may keep or charge all its fees on a refunded order. So a returned SAR 1,000 dress can still cost you SAR 57.50 in Saudi Arabia.

Tabby deducts refunds from your next payout. If refunds are bigger than the payout, you transfer the difference back. Whether Tabby returns its own fee is set in your contract.

Disputes carry their own price too. Under Tamara's buyer protection terms, a dispute you lose costs USD 5 to USD 10, depending on how many disputes you had the previous month.

Shopify, Salla, Zid or direct: what the platform adds

The BNPL rate is the same wherever you sell. What your platform adds on top is not.

Shopify's third-party fee is the one that surprises people. It applies to every Tabby and Tamara order, even in the UAE where Shopify Payments is live.

That's one reason Saudi brands with heavy BNPL sales look closely at Salla or Zid. The setup steps for Shopify are in Tabby on Shopify. For the platform choice, compare Salla and Zid side by side.

Worked example: a SAR 1,000 order

Let's take a SAR 1,000 order on a Saudi Shopify Basic store. We'll use mid-range rates: Tabby at 4% plus SAR 1, Tamara at 5%.

On Shopify Basic, BNPL costs two to two and a half times as much as a mada card.

Shopify's 2% is between a quarter and a third of that BNPL bill. On Salla, the same Tabby order costs SAR 20 less.

Card rates are broken down in our guide to payment gateway fees.

Scaling up: SAR 100,000 a month

Fees feel small on one order, but at volume every half point is real money.

Take a Riyadh fashion brand doing SAR 100,000 a month through Tabby. That's 200 orders at SAR 500, on Shopify Grow.

Half a point off the rate saves SAR 575 a month. That's SAR 6,900 a year from one email.

The same store on Tamara at 5% pays about SAR 6,750 a month. Its weekly payouts come to about SAR 22,000, so the small-payout charge never applies.

Does BNPL pay for itself?

Usually, yes, because the fee buys you three things a card payment doesn't:

• More finished checkouts: Tamara says merchants see up to 15% higher conversion.
• Bigger baskets: Tamara claims up to 50% higher order values, and Juspay repeats a 30–50% figure.
• Fewer cash orders: Tamara says stores see up to 50% less cash on delivery (COD).

Test those claims on your own store with a simple break-even sum.

In the SAR 1,000 example, a Tabby order costs about SAR 36 more than mada. At a 40% gross margin, a new sale earns SAR 400. That leaves about SAR 333 after its own Tabby fees.

So nine orders that would have paid by mada cost you about SAR 321 extra. One new sale covers that. BNPL breaks even when about one in 10 BNPL orders is a sale you'd otherwise have lost.

The sum gets easier when the shopper would otherwise pay cash. Refused COD parcels can cost far more than any BNPL fee, so try your own numbers below.

The full cash-on-delivery math is in our COD guide.

How to get a lower rate

Rates are negotiable, and this order of steps gets you the best result:

1

Get written quotes from both

Ask Tabby and Tamara for your percentage, fixed fee, payout cycle and refund terms in writing.

2

Show your numbers

Bring your monthly sales, average order value and return rate. Lower returns mean lower risk, and a lower rate.

3

Ask for a volume tier

Request a rate that drops when you pass set monthly sales, so you don't have to renegotiate later.

4

Trade terms, not just rates

A fee refund on returns or a faster payout can be worth more than a quarter point off.

5

Review every six months

Once your volume grows, ask again. Use the other provider's quote as leverage.

The full list of questions to ask before you sign is in Tabby vs Tamara. Rules on what you can and can't charge shoppers are in Saudi BNPL rules for merchants.

Notes for small and new stores

• Expect the top of the range: new stores get quotes at the high end, and sometimes above it. Rates drop as your sales history builds.
• Watch Tamara's small-payout charge: a SAR 1,000 weekly payout loses SAR 25 to bank charges.
• Mind the platform: Shopify Basic's 2% cut on SAR 5,000 of BNPL sales roughly matches a month of Salla Plus.
• Budget for the first-month hold: Tamara may keep your first three orders' money for a month.

Notes for UAE stores

• VAT is lower: you pay 5% VAT on the fee instead of 15%.
• Shopify Payments doesn't help here: Shopify still charges its third-party fee on Tabby and Tamara orders.
• Card fees are higher too: UAE card rates start around 2.25%, so the gap to BNPL is smaller than in Saudi Arabia.

Notes for Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman

• Kuwait: Tabby and Tamara both serve Kuwaiti shoppers. Tabby's Shopify app currently takes SAR and AED only.
• Bahrain: Tamara covers it, but Tabby doesn't.
• Qatar and Oman: neither provider covers them, though Cashew offers instalments in Oman.

Compare every provider in our BNPL providers directory, or go back to the BNPL hub.