How do people in Israel pay online?
Most Israelis shop online and pay by card. The World Bank’s Global Findex survey found that 50.75% of adults used a phone or the internet to buy something online in 2021, and 45.27% paid for an online purchase digitally. Only 5.3% paid cash on delivery. The same survey found that 79.05% of adults owned a credit card.
Cards are issued by three card companies, Isracard, Max and CAL, under five brands: Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Diners and Isracard, a local brand. The Bank of Israel counted 10.7 million active payment cards in 2022 and card transactions worth NIS 424 billion that year, up from NIS 382 billion in 2021. Deferred debit cards, which collect a month of purchases in one charge, are the most common card in Israel. Immediate debit cards exist but are less used.
Instalments are part of the card habit. A shopper can divide a payment into several instalments, either as credit given by the merchant or as credit given by the card company through its own programmes. The merchant is paid on the dates set in its acquiring agreement.
Digital wallets arrived in 2021 and grew fast. Bank of Israel figures, based on data from the card switch SHVA, show digital wallet payments of NIS 3.586 billion in July 2023, 8.71% of all payment card transactions and more than 13 times the level of July 2021. Apple and Google both list Israel among the countries where their wallets work.
Payment apps add a third option. Bit, run by Bank Hapoalim, and PayBox let people pay from a bank account or card, and Bit invites users to pay with it on websites and in apps without typing card details. In a Bank of Israel survey from October 2023, 42% of the money moved through Bit and PayBox went to businesses for goods and services. Payment cards and cash remained the most used means of payment overall.
What rules shape online payments in Israel?
VAT is 18%. PwC’s tax summary gives 18% as the 2025 standard rate of value added tax.
Shoppers can cancel distance purchases. Under the Consumer Protection Law, 5741-1981, a long-distance sale can be cancelled within 14 days of the transaction or of receiving the summary document the law requires. The cancellation fee is the lower of 5% of the price and NIS 100. When the cancellation follows a defect, a mismatch with the description or a missed delivery, the customer is entitled to a full refund within 14 days of the cancellation notice. Senior citizens, new immigrants and people with disabilities have a longer window in some cases.
Privacy rules are stricter since August 2025. Amendment 13 to the Privacy Protection Law took effect on 14 August 2025. It brings definitions closer to the EU’s GDPR, reduces database registration duties, requires a data protection officer in certain cases and gives the Privacy Protection Authority powers to impose significant administrative fines.
Card settlement follows the acquiring agreement. With deferred debit cards the merchant is credited on the dates agreed with the acquirer. For immediate debit and prepaid cards the money reaches the merchant within three business days of the transaction.
How would Omno route payments in Israel?
A merchant would connect once and set routing rules per method, currency and customer group. In Israel:
- Card pay-ins would be routed by BIN, so cards issued by Isracard, Max and CAL go to the local acquirer the rule names and foreign cards go to an international acquirer, with cascading to the next provider in the rule if one is unavailable or rejects the request.
- Instalment orders could follow a rule by amount, sending larger baskets to a provider that supports Israeli instalment plans.
- Apple Pay and Google Pay would run in the hosted checkout, and the card behind each wallet payment would follow the same BIN rules.
- Bit payments would go to a provider that supports Bit, with the order held as pending until the shopper approves the payment in the app.
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 cards in ILS first. Most Israeli online shoppers pay by card, and a checkout that prices in shekels and accepts Isracard alongside Visa and Mastercard meets them where they are.
Plan for instalments. Shoppers expect to split larger purchases, so decide which amounts qualify and who carries the credit cost: the merchant or the card company.
Plan for cancellations. Build the 14-day cancellation right and the fee cap of 5% or NIS 100 into returns, and show the summary document the law requires.
Plan for privacy compliance. Review data handling under Amendment 13, including whether a data protection officer is needed.