Tabby or Tamara — or both?

They are more similar than the comparison articles suggest

Both split a purchase into instalments, both pay you up front, both take a merchant fee, and both are widely recognised by UAE shoppers. For most retailers the differences that matter are commercial — the rate you are quoted and the settlement terms — rather than functional.

That means the sensible default is to offer both and let the customer pick the one they already have an account with. There is no meaningful cost to having two options at checkout.

Where they actually change the decision

On the product page, not at the checkout.

A shopper deciding whether to spend AED 943 on a bottle of oud is doing that arithmetic while looking at the product. Showing "or 4 payments of AED 236" at that moment changes what they decide. Showing it three screens later, after they have already talked themselves out of it, changes nothing.

This is the single most common implementation mistake we see: BNPL enabled as a payment method and nowhere else.

Authorised is not paid

A BNPL order can sit in an authorised state before it is settled. Shipping against an authorisation that later fails means you have given away stock.

Whatever platform you use, check that it distinguishes authorised from captured, and that your fulfilment triggers on the right one.

What it costs you

The provider charges a merchant fee on the transaction, typically a percentage plus a small per-order amount. That is charged by them directly, and any platform that adds its own margin on top of it should be asked why.

The trade to weigh is fee against conversion. On a low-value basket the fee may not be worth it; on a AED 1,000-plus basket the conversion lift usually is.

What we do about it

Both are built in on every plan, including Starter, and both appear on the product page as well as at checkout. You connect your own merchant accounts, so settlements reach you directly. How the integration works →

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Provider rates and terms change and are negotiated per merchant — confirm current terms with Tabby and Tamara directly.