Shopify Payments Alternatives for Shopify Turkey Stores

You have set up a great e-commerce site, uploaded your products, and completed your theme settings. However, when it came to receiving payments, you realized that Shopify's own payment solution, "Shopify Payments," is not active in Turkey. Don't worry; this is a standard process for thousands of Shopify stores in Turkey, and the solution is quite simple.

The Status of Shopify Payments Turkey and the Importance of Alternatives

Shopify Payments is a payment solution offered within the platform itself that eliminates extra transaction fees. However, due to banking regulations and strategic partnerships, this service is not currently available in the Shopify Turkey market. This situation does not mean that you cannot make sales as a Turkey-based business. On the contrary, the Shopify ecosystem has a flexible structure capable of working fully integrated with local banks and licensed payment institutions in Turkey, just as it does on a global scale.

If you are managing a Shopify store Turkey, it is mandatory to use systems called "Third-Party Payment Providers" to receive payments. These providers are financial technology companies that securely process your customer's credit card information and build a bridge between the bank and your store.

Working Principles of Payment Providers

Before choosing a payment provider, understanding technically how these systems work within the Shopify infrastructure is critical for correctly structuring the customer experience (UX). Shopify basically divides third-party providers into two different categories.

1. Direct Providers

Direct providers offer the ideal scenario for e-commerce sites looking to increase conversion rates. In this method, the customer does not leave your store's payment screen (checkout) to complete the payment transaction. Sensitive information such as credit card number, expiration date, and CVC code is entered directly into Shopify's payment form.

In the background, the system transmits this information to the payment provider via a secure tunnel and receives approval instantly. For the customer, the process is seamless; since they are not redirected to another site, there is no loss of trust, and the transaction time is shortened.

1. External Providers

External payment providers redirect the customer to a page hosted on their own secure servers to complete the payment transaction. When the customer clicks the "Complete Order" button at the cart step, they go to the page of the relevant payment institution (for example, a bank's common payment page or an intermediary institution's panel).

Card information is entered on this external page. After the transaction is successful, the customer is redirected back to the "Thank You" page on your store. Old-type Virtual POS infrastructures of some banks in Turkey or strict 3D Secure applications usually work with this method. The disadvantage of this method is the minor trust concerns that may arise when the customer realizes they have gone outside the site, but this risk is minimized when a well-known payment institution is used.

Cost Structure: Commissions and Transaction Fees

The most important strategic aspect of using an alternative other than Shopify Payments is cost management. The costs you will encounter when calculating store profitability are gathered in two main layers. These two cost items are independent of each other and should be evaluated separately for each sale.

Commissions Charged by the Payment Provider

The local payment institution or bank you choose demands a fee from you in return for the service it provides. These rates depend entirely on the commercial agreement you make with the relevant institution and are outside of Shopify's control. In the Turkish market, these costs are generally as follows:

• Virtual POS Commission Rate: The percentage deducted from each transaction (e.g., between 1.5% and 3.5%).

• Fixed Fee Per Transaction: Some providers may charge a fixed penny/cent fee per transaction in addition to the percentage.

• Annual Fee or Integration Fee: While some banks may demand an annual POS usage fee, most new-generation payment institutions do not have this fee.

Shopify Third-Party Transaction Fees

The second cost item is billed directly by Shopify. When Shopify's own payment system (Shopify Payments) is not used, Shopify applies a "Third-Party Transaction Fee" to maintain the platform and strictly enforce security standards.

This fee is charged in addition to the commission you pay to your payment provider. Its rate varies according to the Shopify subscription plan you use. As your store grows, upgrading to higher packages can provide significant savings in the long run as it will lower these rates.

The transaction fees applied by Shopify according to subscription plans are as follows:

The transaction fees applied by Shopify according to subscription plans are as follows:

Note: The information provided in the table may be subject to change.

When reading this table, you can consider the following example: If you are on the Basic plan and make a sale of 1000 TL, after your local payment provider deducts its own commission (e.g., 2.5%), Shopify will also add %2 (20 TL) for this transaction to your invoice at the end of the month.

Method for Finding the Right Payment Provider for Turkey

Shopify supports over 100 payment gateways worldwide, but not all of them operate in every country. To find companies that legally operate in Turkey and have completed technical integration with Shopify, you need to use official sources. To avoid wasting time with the wrong or unsupported provider, you can follow the steps below:

1. Visit Shopify's official wwPayment Gateways" page (www.shopify.com/payment-gateways) from your browser.

2. Select the Turkey option from the country filtering section on the page.

3. The list that appears contains all payment providers officially supported by Shopify for the Turkey region.

In this list, you will see both global companies and Turkey-based local payment institutions. Before starting to work with a company you see on the list, you must go to that company's website, apply, and have your commercial account approved. The action on Shopify only covers the technical connection; you must have a contract with the provider for the money to be deposited into your account.

Note: You cannot activate from the Shopify panel without contacting the companies on this list (iyzico, PayTR, Garanti BBVA, etc.) and opening your commercial account. First the agreement, then the integration is required.

Setup and Activation in Shopify Admin Panel

You have agreed with your payment provider, your virtual POS application has been approved, and the necessary API keys (API Key, Secret Key, Merchant ID, etc.) have been delivered to you. Now it's time to activate this service in your store. This process does not require any coding knowledge.

*The information in this section may vary depending on the company.

You can follow the steps below to complete the installation:

1. Log in to your Shopify admin panel and click on the Settings button in the bottom left corner.

2. Go to the Payments tab from the menu that opens.

3. On this page, find the "Supported payment methods" or "Third-party providers" section and click the Choose Provider button.

4. Select the company you have an agreement with from the list that opens.

5. Enter the API information provided to you by the provider into the relevant boxes completely, select which card brands (Visa, Mastercard, Troy, etc.) will be accepted, and press the Activate button.

Physical Stores and POS Integration (Turkey Specific Situation)

If you are not only selling online but also selling in a physical store, the Shopify POS app is an excellent tool for stock tracking. However, there are hardware restrictions specific to Turkey regarding receiving payments.

"Shopify POS Go" or card reader hardware sold by Shopify itself is not integrated with the banking system in Turkey. These devices are designed to work only with Shopify Payments. Therefore, you need to follow this method when using Shopify POS in your physical store in Turkey:

You use the Shopify POS application on an iPad or tablet for cashier transactions. When the customer is about to pay, you select the "External Terminal" option as the payment method in the application. Then, you manually enter the amount into the bank POS device (or cash register POS) located on your desk and swipe the customer's card. When the payment is approved from the bank device, you mark the transaction as "Paid" from the Shopify application and issue the receipt. In this way, while your stocks drop via Shopify, the money flow is provided through your local bank device.

Criteria to Consider When Choosing a Payment Provider

Having multiple providers on the list can make the decision-making process difficult. Deciding based solely on the commission rate can lead to operational problems in the medium and long term. When making the healthiest decision for your business, you should evaluate the following factors as a whole:

• Payment Maturity Periods (Valor/Settlement): When your turnover is transferred to your bank account directly affects your stock cycle. Some providers offer a "Next Day Payment" option, while others may offer lower commission rates by keeping your money blocked for a certain period (e.g., 7-21 days). You should choose the model that best suits your cash flow needs.

• Currency and E-Export Support: If your store sells abroad, it is essential that the provider you choose has multi-currency support. The ability for the customer to pay in their own currency (Dollar, Euro, etc.) increases conversion rates. Additionally, it is important to query the provider's success rates (auth rate) for foreign cards.

• User Experience and Technology: The performance of the payment page on mobile devices, the simplicity of the design, and the clarity of the messages given to the customer in failed transactions can save the sale. Also, find out if refund processes can be done automatically via the Shopify panel; otherwise, you will have to log in to the provider panel separately for each refund.

Using Shopify in Turkey is a highly advantageous and manageable process despite the lack of Shopify Payments. By choosing the right third-party payment provider, you can safely receive payments from both your local and global customers. The technical part of the process has been simplified by Shopify; your task is to make the commercial agreement that best suits the financial structure of your business.

Remember, the best payment provider is not just the one that gives the lowest commission; it is the provider that transfers your payments to your account on time, causes no technical problems, and offers a safe payment experience to your customer.