How do people in North Macedonia pay online?
More than half of the population shops online. Eurostat puts the share of people who bought something online in the previous 12 months at 55.91% in 2025, against an EU average of 73.56%. The US International Trade Administration reports that about 64% of internet users bought goods or services from domestic sellers in 2024, that most purchases were made on AliExpress and other foreign websites, and that Grouper.mk is the most popular domestic marketplace. It also notes that shoppers are very price sensitive and that shopping on mobile devices still lags.
Cards lead at checkout. Mordor Intelligence estimates that credit and debit cards made 46% of e-commerce payments in 2025. Most adults have an account: the World Bank’s Global Findex puts account ownership at 84.3% in 2024. Domestic card processing and e-commerce gateways are run by firms such as CaSys, an independent processor that handles card payments for banks and offers its cPay e-commerce service.
Cash on delivery has not gone away. Mordor Intelligence describes it as still common outside the cities, with return rates higher than on prepaid orders. A cash payment to the courier sits outside online payment routing.
Phone wallets are available. Apple Pay and Google Pay both appear on Apple’s and Google’s own country lists, and Apple names Halkbank Skopje, Komercijalna Banka, NLB Banka, ProCredit Bank and Stopanska Banka as Macedonian issuers.
What rules shape online payments in North Macedonia?
Payment services follow an EU model. The Law on Payment Services and Payment Systems, adopted in April 2022 and applied from 1 January 2023, is largely harmonised with EU directives including the second Payment Services Directive (EU) 2015/2366. It replaced the 2007 Law on Payment Operations and opened payment services to non-bank institutions.
VAT is 18%, with a preferential rate of 5% for food, books, pharmaceuticals and some other goods and services and 10% for restaurant and catering services. Businesses with annual turnover above MKD 2 million must register for VAT.
Online sales of prescription-only medicines have been prohibited since 2015, according to the International Trade Administration.
How would Omno route payments in North Macedonia?
A merchant would connect once and set routing rules per method, amount and customer group. In North Macedonia:
- Card pay-ins would follow rules by BIN, currency and amount, 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 shown in the hosted checkout through providers that support them, next to the card form.
- Currency rules could send denar payments to a provider with local acquiring and foreign-currency payments to another.
- Saved cards would let returning shoppers pay again without typing card details.
Webhooks would confirm each final status, and the routing-decision log would show which provider handled each payment and why.
What should merchants plan for?
Plan for cards first. They are the main prepaid method, and most adults hold a bank account.
Plan for cash on delivery outside the cities. Decide whether to offer it and how to move shoppers towards prepaid options, since cash orders are returned more often.
Plan for price-sensitive shoppers. Clear prices in denars, with delivery costs shown early, help a domestic shop compete with foreign marketplaces.
Plan for VAT. Check the 18% standard rate and the reduced rates that apply to your products.