How do people in Azerbaijan pay online?
Bank cards are the main instrument. The Central Bank counted 22 million payment cards in circulation at the start of 2026, 91.6% of them contactless, and cashless payments with domestic cards rose by 26% in 2025 to AZN 99.1 billion. Cashless turnover reached a record 67.6% of domestic card transactions. Cards are issued by local banks, including Kapital Bank, whose Birbank app sits in the same Bir ecosystem as the m10 wallet, and PASHA Bank.
Online channels now carry most card activity. In 2025 the number of e-commerce card operations grew by 43.4% to 1.5 billion and their value by 29.8% to AZN 86.4 billion, and e-commerce reached 58.9% of card transaction value, up from 14.7% in 2020. Much of that is not online shopping in the narrow sense: financial services such as transfers, loan repayments and wallet top-ups made up 70.9% of domestic cashless card payments by value. For a merchant, the point is that Azerbaijani cardholders are used to paying in apps and on the web.
Wallets and QR payments are growing on top of cards. Payments through Apple Pay and Google Pay rose by 67% in 2025, and one in two contactless payments at shop terminals was made with a phone or watch. The m10 wallet from PashaPay reports 3.5 million registered users and is accepted by QR at more than 20,000 points of sale. In 2025 the Central Bank set a national AZQR standard for QR payments, and QR payments through its 24/7 Instant Payments System grew 6.2 times in the second half of the year.
Cash still has a role. PashaPay’s MilliÖN network reports 5,500 terminals, and eManat terminals are used for bill payments and account top-ups, which matters for customers who load a wallet or card in cash before paying online.
What rules shape online payments in Azerbaijan?
Foreign online sellers now have a VAT registration threshold. Law No. 355-VIIQD of 13 February 2026, brought into force by Presidential Decree No. 606 of 23 February 2026, amended Article 33.8-1 of the Tax Code. Since 23 August 2026, a non-resident selling online through an internet resource must register electronically with the tax authorities within 30 days of its calendar-year turnover from supplies to persons not registered with the tax authorities, in substance consumers, passing the manat equivalent of USD 10,000. Registration below that level is voluntary, and the VAT rate is 18%.
Unregistered sellers still bear VAT through their payment providers. Non-residents that have not registered remain subject to VAT withheld at source by Azerbaijani banks and payment service providers. In practice, a foreign merchant that registers and charges VAT itself keeps more control over pricing and reconciliation than one whose payments are taxed at the point of payment.
Selling online needs registration, not a licence. Electronic commerce is governed by a 2005 law, and the U.S. Commercial Service’s January 2026 guide notes that no specific licence is needed to sell online, although businesses must be registered with the State Tax Service and hold a tax identification number. The Ministry of Economy oversees e-commerce, and a 2017 law set out to promote non-cash payments.
How does Omno route payments in Azerbaijan?
Omno serves Azerbaijan as an e-commerce market. You connect once and set routing rules by method, currency and customer group:
- Card pay-ins in AZN can be routed by BIN, so cards from each Azerbaijani issuer go to the acquirer your rules set for that issuer, with cascading to the next acquirer in the rule until one accepts.
- Wallet payments such as Apple Pay and Google Pay are shown in the hosted checkout where the provider supports them.
- m10 can be offered as a local method for customers who keep their money in the wallet rather than on a card.
- Pay-outs use PSP eligibility rules, so they only go through providers that support AZN payouts to the customer’s card.
- Webhooks carry the final status of every transaction, which is the record your back office should use to release orders.
Eligibility rules can also separate traffic by business line, so digital goods and physical goods can run on the providers and settlement accounts set up for each, and customer groups can show m10 only to customers likely to use it.
What should merchants plan for?
Plan for cards first and wallets second. A card form with Apple Pay and Google Pay covers most buyers, and m10 adds customers who prefer to pay from a wallet balance.
Plan for 3-D Secure and issuer behaviour. With most volume on local cards, approval rate depends on authentication handling and acquirer choice, so a second acquirer and BIN-level routing are worth having from the start.
Plan for VAT on cross-border sales. A foreign seller passing USD 10,000 a year in sales to Azerbaijani consumers has 30 days to register, and until then VAT may be withheld by local banks and payment providers. Track Azerbaijani turnover by route so you know when the threshold is reached.
Plan for clear onboarding files. Acquirers and payment providers review merchants before going live, so a clear business description, refund policy and website content speed up approval.
Plan for AZN reconciliation. Settlement timing and fees differ between acquirers and wallets, and the routing-decision log in Omno shows which provider handled each payment so finance teams can match settlements by route.