How do people in Moldova pay online?
Cards carry online spending. The National Bank of Moldova (BNM) counted 4.21 million payment cards at the end of 2025, up 12.2% on a year earlier. Mastercard held 56.6% of them and Visa 43.3%, and the bank’s figures show no domestic card scheme. Online payments with Moldovan cards reached 40.1 million in 2025, worth MDL 18.4 billion, and their number rose 42.8% in a year.
Most of that money leaves the country. BNM found that 82.4% of online card payments with Moldovan cards in 2025 were made on foreign platforms. For cross-border merchants this is the key fact: Moldovan shoppers already buy from foreign stores with their cards. Local online selling is growing too, with 3,353 e-commerce platforms in 2025, up 52.3%.
Card costs are capped. The final stage of Moldova’s interchange cap took effect on 1 September 2025, at 0.50% for debit cards and 0.60% for credit cards.
MIA is the account-to-account alternative. The National Bank launched MIA Plăți Instant on 12 March 2024, with 10 banks and 4 payment institutions at the start. It runs 24 hours a day and moves money in at most 10 seconds, using a phone number as an alias, requests to pay and QR codes. Merchants have been able to accept it since 31 July 2024. In 2025 MIA handled 15.1 million transactions worth MDL 13.3 billion. By 31 July 2026 it had more than 985,000 users, more than 11,000 merchants and more than 23,000 acceptance points, and handled about 2 million transactions a month.
For online stores, MIA comes as a payment button or QR code. The store integrates it through its bank or payment provider, and the shopper approves in their own banking or payment app. Merchant fees are set by the National Bank’s list: 0.7% for most businesses, including e-commerce, 0.5% for social services, and a rate set by the payment provider for high-risk businesses.
E-wallets are another option. Paynet, which calls itself Moldova’s first electronic wallet and is licensed by the National Bank, lets people open a wallet with a phone number and top it up at more than 1,000 cash locations.
What rules shape online payments in Moldova?
Shoppers have 14 days to withdraw. The consumer protection agency’s guide to online shopping says a consumer may withdraw from a distance purchase within 14 days without giving a reason, and the seller must refund within 14 days. If the seller did not tell the shopper about the right to withdraw, the period extends by 12 months.
Foreign sellers of electronic services charge VAT. The standard VAT rate is 20%, with a reduced rate of 8% for listed goods and services. A non-resident that supplies electronic services to individuals in Moldova uses a simplified registration and pays the VAT quarterly.
A new personal data law applies. Law 195/2024 on personal data protection, modelled on the EU’s GDPR, applies from 23 August 2026, so stores that collect data from Moldovan shoppers need to review their notices, legal bases and transfers abroad.
Moldova is joining European payment infrastructure. The country was accepted into the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) on 6 March 2025, and SEPA payments became operational on 6 October 2025, which makes euro transfers to and from Moldovan banks simpler.
How would Omno route payments in Moldova?
A merchant would connect once and set routing rules per method, currency and customer group. In Moldova:
- Card pay-ins can be routed by BIN, so Moldovan Mastercard and Visa cards go to the provider your rule sets for each issuer, with cascading to the next provider in the rule if one is unavailable or rejects the request.
- MIA pay-ins would go to a bank or provider that offers the MIA payment button, with the hosted checkout showing the QR code or opening the banking app, and the order pending until the payment is confirmed.
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 first. Moldovan shoppers already pay foreign stores by card, so a reliable card route with good approval rates matters more than any other step.
Plan for MIA if you sell locally in MDL. It is growing fast and costs merchants 0.7% for e-commerce, but it is reached through a Moldovan bank or provider. Confirm how refunds are handled with that provider before launch.
Plan for the new data law and VAT. Review privacy notices under Law 195/2024, and register for the simplified VAT regime if you sell electronic services to individuals.