Selling online to Georgia and Armenia: cards, bank apps, Idram and local acquiring

Georgia and Armenia are neighbours, and a merchant may plan them as one small project. They do share some things: small populations, and bank cards at the centre of the checkout. But the banks, the wallets, the currencies and the local routes are all different, so a setup that works in Tbilisi will not carry over to Yerevan.

This article covers how shoppers in each country pay, where local wallets and newer account-based payments fit, how GEL and AMD pricing and local acquiring work, and what a foreign merchant should ask. Our article on choosing providers for CIS and the Caucasus sets out the questions for the wider region. The Georgia guide and the Armenia guide cover tax and consumer rules.

How do shoppers in Georgia pay online?

With a card from a Georgian bank, and usually a bank they already use every day. Two banks dominate. Lion Finance Group, the parent of Bank of Georgia, reported retail digital monthly active users of 1.83 million at the end of 2025, and retail payment monthly active users of 1.64 million. TBC says it held 37.2% of customer loans and 37.2% of deposits in Georgia on 30 September 2025.

Bank of Georgia’s acquiring numbers show the online market growing. Its filing reports e-commerce acquiring volume of 2,352.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2025, up 21.9% on a year earlier, 26.5 thousand active merchants, and an acquiring market share by volume of 55.8%. The filing’s table does not name a currency. Our Georgia guide reads it as GEL.

The National Bank of Georgia said in July 2026 that active Visa cards exceeded 1.9 million in June 2026. We did not find a current split of online spending by card network.

The bank apps matter as much as the cards. Both big banks offer hosted payment pages, and their documentation shows what a Georgian shopper can expect:

Method	Bank of Georgia	TBC
Card	Yes	Yes, on by default
Apple Pay	Yes, once activated	Yes, once activated
Google Pay	Yes, once activated	Yes, once activated
Pay from the bank’s app or internet bank	Yes, for its own customers	Internet bank login, once activated
Instalments and pay later	Standard instalments and pay later	Instalments and a web QR and pay-later option
Currencies	GEL by default, USD, EUR, GBP	GEL, USD, EUR, if the bank enables them
Instalment currency	Not stated	GEL only

So in Georgia, “paying by bank app” usually means a local bank’s own page, not a separate wallet brand. A foreign merchant on a global card form still reaches the card, but not the app flow, the instalments or the loyalty points that Bank of Georgia also lists.

Where do newer payment options fit in Georgia?

They are additions, not the first method. Georgia is building account-based rails. The National Bank said in March 2025 that its instant payment system was set to launch in the second half of 2026, with Open Banking support and SEPA compatibility, and that Visa and Mastercard would continue alongside it. A June 2026 release from its vendor Montran said go-live was expected by the end of 2026. We found no confirmation that it is live on 2 November 2026, so check before you plan around it.

Fintech pay-by-bank has begun too. Keepz offers QR and pay by bank, and its page explains how it works and why it remains small next to cards. Add it once the card route is working.

How do shoppers in Armenia pay online?

By card as well, with Visa well ahead. PanArmenian, citing Central Bank of Armenia statistics, reports e-commerce turnover of AMD 972.5 billion in 2024, up almost 75% from AMD 556.8 billion. The figure counts payments through virtual POS terminals. By card type:

Card type	Turnover in 2024	Change
Visa, Armenian bank-issued	AMD 680.8 billion	Up 70%
Mastercard	AMD 213.3 billion	Up 88%
Domestic cards, including ArCa-Mir	AMD 70.4 billion	Up 83%

About 77% of orders were domestic and 23% international. These are the latest full-year figures we found, so treat them as a guide to shares rather than to today’s market size.

ArCa needs some care, because two reports give very different impressions. PanArmenian puts ArCa at about 10% of e-commerce turnover. Xinhua reported in October 2026 that ArCa holds about 90% of the local card issuing market and covers about 98% of payment terminals. They measure different things, and we cannot reconcile them precisely. The Central Bank of Armenia explains part of the overlap: Armenian Card runs ArCa, and it also processes Visa, Mastercard and other international cards for banks. So “ArCa” can mean the local card brand or the processor behind other cards. PanArmenian adds that domestic cards were rarely used for online purchases outside Armenia, which is the practical warning for a foreign acquirer.

Apple Pay is available too. Six banks launched it in January 2022, according to NFCW, and Ameriabank said in July 2025 that its vPOS clients can enable it in online stores and apps.

Where do Idram and other local wallets fit?

After cards, but ahead of most other extras. Idram is the wallet most merchants meet first. It reported more than 1.5 million registered users at the end of 2022, about 55 million payments that year and more than 1,000 online stores. By September 2024, more than 22,000 retail locations accepted Idram QR, and Armenpress reported about 200,000 users making around 4 million QR payments in the first nine months of that year. Those QR numbers are for shops, not websites, but they show how familiar the app is.

Telcell is the other name to know. It runs a wallet launched in 2017, more than 4,500 payment terminals and a business platform for online and offline payments, and it says it has been licensed by the Central Bank of Armenia since 2007. Its page gives no user count.

QR is joining the networks up. Armenpress reported on 25 June 2026 that IdramNet and ArcaQR, described as Armenia’s two largest QR payment systems, are linking their networks, so Idram users can scan ArcaQR codes in the Idram and IDBank app. That is mainly a story for shops today. For an online store, it is a sign that wallets and bank accounts are converging, so check again in 2027.

Idram also has its own technical flow, including a check of the order with the merchant’s system. Our Idram page explains it.

What does local acquiring mean in GEL and AMD?

It means a bank or provider in the customer’s country takes the payment in local currency. In both countries, the direct route is written for local businesses.

Georgia. TBC’s documentation says to register your company as a merchant, then publish terms, returns, privacy and delivery policies, plus contact details with a physical or legal address. Bank of Georgia’s API accepts GEL, USD, EUR and GBP. We found no published statement on whether either bank signs foreign companies, so ask.

Armenia. A plugin for Ameriabank’s vPOS says it is intended for businesses registered in Armenia, needs a vPOS agreement with the bank, and takes Visa, Mastercard and ArCa. It lists AMD, RUB, USD, EUR, SEK and GBP, but says the bank must enable multi-currency payments. That is a plugin page rather than the bank’s own terms, so confirm it with the bank.

Currency rules point the same way, and the two countries are similar.

• Georgia. ExpatHub summarises Article 34 of the law on the National Bank as saying Georgian companies may charge only in lari when the customer normally resides in Georgia, and that foreign currency is allowed for tourists and non-residents.
• Armenia. Vardanyan & Partners says AMD is the mandatory unit for pricing goods and services in the country, and that exceptions include non-cash contracts between a resident and a non-resident.

Neither source addresses a foreign online seller directly. These are law firm and business summaries, not statutes, so take local advice if you plan to price in local currency or open a local entity. VAT for foreign sellers is covered in the Georgia and Armenia guides.

If you stay cross-border, measure the gap. Our article on local and cross-border acquiring explains what changes for approval and cost, and our guide on how many PSPs per market helps you decide whether small markets justify a second route.

How do the two markets compare?

Question	Georgia	Armenia
Lead method online	Cards from Georgian banks	Armenian-issued Visa and Mastercard
Domestic scheme	None in our sources	ArCa
Main local banks or apps	Bank of Georgia, TBC	Ameriabank, Ardshinbank and other banks; Idram
Wallet to add first	Apple Pay and Google Pay	Apple Pay, then Idram
Currency	GEL	AMD
Newer rails	Open banking, instant payments planned	ArcaQR and IdramNet

What should a foreign merchant ask?

1. Can you acquire locally for our entity? Ask per country, and ask what documents you need.
2. In which currency can we charge, and which do you settle in? Ask about GEL and AMD separately, and about the FX margin and date.
3. Do you accept ArCa? Ask how co-badged cards route, and test with real Armenian cards.
4. Do you offer the Bank of Georgia and TBC payment pages? Ask whether customers get the app flow and instalments.
5. Do you offer Idram, and Telcell? Ask how the order check is handled, and who holds the merchant agreement.
6. Are Apple Pay and Google Pay active for us? At both Georgian banks, they need activation.
7. What is approval by issuing bank from your route? A small market can hide a poor route, because there is little volume to see it.
8. How do refunds work on each method? Our article on refunds across local methods lists what to check.

How does Omno help with Georgia and Armenia?

Omno puts the providers you choose behind one integration, and each provider onboards you separately. Routing rules can send Georgian and Armenian cards to the provider you choose by card BIN, country, currency or amount. If a provider is unavailable or rejects the request, the payment moves to the next provider in the rule until one accepts. Where a connected provider offers Idram or other local methods, your team can add them in the checkout builder with no release needed. The smart routing and cascading page shows how the rules work.