How do people in the Dominican Republic pay online?
Cards are the most common way to pay electronically, ahead of ACH transfers. Central bank (BCRD) figures reported by Revista Mercado show card payment operations rising from 229.7 million in 2021 to 432.1 million in 2025, out of 1,236.2 million operations across all payment instruments that year. Contactless payments reached 314.4 million local transactions in 2025. Online use is growing as well: the BCRD counted more than 17 million internet purchase transactions between January and May 2026, elDinero reported.
Phone wallets matter. In June 2026 Dominican banks and other financial entities had more than 2.2 million cards enrolled in digital wallets, 63.4% of them debit cards. At commercial banks, 1,734,520 cards were in Apple Wallet and 391,788 in Google Wallet, so most cards already in a wallet are ready for Apple Pay.
Transfers are a second route. ACH direct credits and debits reached 360.9 million operations in 2025, and the BCRD’s own instant service, Pagos al Instante, processed 43,335,684 transfers, up 29.4% on 2024. Operations with electronic payment accounts grew to 11.8 million in 2025. tPago, a brand of GCS International and a subsidiary of Grupo Popular, is a mobile app that links bank accounts, credit cards and loans from several banks and lets users pay in stores and online without cash or a card.
What rules shape online payments in the Dominican Republic?
Prices cannot depend on how the customer pays. Article 87 of the consumer law, Law 358-05, requires prices to be shown clearly, in the national currency, and says they may not be changed according to the payment method used. The consumer authority Pro Consumidor has sanctioned businesses for adding a charge for card payments, with fines of 5 to 50 minimum salaries depending on the severity, El Día reported in February 2022.
Distance sales have their own duties. Article 62 of Law 358-05 covers sales made outside the provider’s premises, including by email, digital means and the internet. The seller must tell the consumer the price including taxes, the form and date of delivery and the shipping cost in advance, keep proof of delivery, and let the consumer make claims, returns or exchanges by the same kind of means used for the sale, at the seller’s cost. It must also give a reflection period of at least three business days before delivery and a trial period of at least seven business days before a return.
ITBIS is 18%. The Dominican VAT applies to goods and services at 18%, with exports, including sales to free trade zones, at 0%, according to PwC.
Data protection rests on Law 172-13. The law of 13 December 2013 makes consent the general rule and allows transfers of personal data abroad only with the data subject’s express authorisation or where needed to perform a contract with them. There is no national data protection authority for private companies, and Pro Consumidor handles consumer-related cases, according to DLA Piper.
How would Omno route payments in the Dominican Republic?
A merchant would connect once and set routing rules per method, currency and customer group. In the Dominican Republic:
- Card pay-ins would be routed by BIN, with Apple Pay and Google Pay in the hosted checkout for the cards already in phone wallets, and cascading to the next provider in the rule if one is unavailable or rejects the request.
- Bank transfers and tPago would be offered through providers that support them, with the order pending until the provider confirms the payment.
- Currency rules would keep checkout prices in Dominican pesos, as Law 358-05 requires, whatever method the shopper picks.
Webhooks would report the final status of every payment, and the routing-decision log would show which provider handled each payment and why.
What should merchants plan for?
Plan for one price per product. Surcharges for card payments are against the consumer law, so build provider fees into your pricing rather than into the checkout.
Plan for wallets on mobile. More than 2.2 million Dominican cards sit in Apple Wallet and Google Wallet, so Apple Pay and Google Pay shorten checkout for many shoppers.
Plan for the distance-sale periods. Show price, taxes, delivery and shipping before the order, and set up returns that respect the three-day reflection and seven-day trial periods in article 62.
Plan for consent-based data handling. Law 172-13 limits transfers of personal data abroad, so check where your providers store customer data and record the shopper’s consent.