How do people in Ireland pay online?
Online shopping is close to universal. Eurostat puts the share of people in Ireland who bought something online in the previous 12 months at 95.05% in 2025, against an EU average of 73.56%, and 87.47% had bought online in the previous three months.
Cards are the main way to pay. The Central Bank of Ireland reported EUR 7.83 billion of domestic card spending in August 2026, of which EUR 3.40 billion was online and EUR 4.43 billion at the point of sale. Online spending was 8.84% lower than a year earlier, which the Central Bank put down mainly to lower spending on financial services. Across 2025, payment service providers resident in Ireland recorded 1.00 billion online card payments worth EUR 106.73 billion, 30.8% of electronic card payments by number and 61.5% by value.
Mobile wallets are growing. Of EUR 3.01 billion of contactless spending in August 2026, EUR 2.19 billion was made with NFC and mobile wallet payments, up 26.71% year on year.
Revolut is widely held. The Irish Times reported that Revolut had 3.3 million customers in the Republic at the end of 2025, up 10% on 2024. With Revolut Pay, a Revolut customer pays from their Revolut balance or linked cards without typing card details, confirming in the app on mobile or by scanning a QR code on desktop. It supports one-time and recurring payments.
What rules shape online payments in Ireland?
VAT is 23%, with reduced rates of 13.5% and 9% and a livestock rate of 4.8%, as listed by Revenue from 1 January 2026. A seller established in another EU country whose cross-border sales to consumers across the EU pass EUR 10,000 a year charges Irish VAT on sales to Irish customers, and can declare it through the One Stop Shop instead of registering in Ireland.
Shoppers have 14 days to cancel. The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission explains that the cooling-off period for online purchases is 14 days from receipt of the goods. The trader must refund within 14 days of being told of the cancellation, and the refund can depend on the goods being returned. A shopper who paid by card may also be able to ask their bank for a chargeback.
Card surcharges are banned. Under EU rules, traders cannot charge an extra fee for using a particular consumer card, online or in store. Three-party schemes such as American Express and Diners Club, and business cards billed to an employer, are outside the ban.
Online payments need strong customer authentication. For online payments over EUR 30, the payer usually has to use at least two authentication elements, such as their phone and a PIN, or a password and a fingerprint.
Instant euro transfers are now standard. Under the EU Instant Payments Regulation, payment providers in the euro area have had to receive instant euro payments since January 2025 and, since 9 October 2025, to send them and offer a check that the payee’s name matches the account. An instant payment cannot cost more than a standard credit transfer.
How would Omno route payments in Ireland?
A merchant would connect once and set routing rules per method, currency, amount and customer group. In Ireland:
- Card pay-ins would be routed by the merchant’s rules, for example by BIN, amount or customer group, with cascading: if a provider is unavailable or rejects the request, the payment moves to the next provider in the rule until one accepts.
- Apple Pay and Google Pay would be offered on the hosted checkout next to the card form and routed to providers that support them, under the same rules as cards.
- Revolut Pay could be offered through a provider that supports it, with the order pending until the provider confirms the payment.
- Saved cards would let returning customers pay without typing their card again, and each charge would follow the merchant’s routing rules.
Webhooks would report the final status of every payment, the record a back office should trust before shipping an order, and the routing-decision log would show which provider handled each payment and why.
What should merchants plan for?
Plan for cards and wallets first. Card spending dominates online, and mobile wallet use is growing fast in store, so Apple Pay and Google Pay belong next to the card form.
Plan for a Revolut Pay option. With 3.3 million Irish customers, Revolut is a familiar app, and its checkout avoids typing card details.
Plan for no card surcharges and for strong customer authentication on payments over EUR 30, so the checkout handles the bank’s approval step cleanly.
Plan for refunds within 14 days of a cancellation, and check whether your EU sales pass the EUR 10,000 One Stop Shop threshold.