Online sales in Bosnia and Herzegovina are growing, but getting paid still confuses many shop owners. International guides recommend Stripe and PayPal, which mostly don’t help businesses registered in BiH. This is an overview of the real options on the local market, the conditions you must meet and the order of steps so your shop can take payments without delay.
Short answer
Local online shops accept cards through payment services such as Monri or through a bank’s e-commerce service, and cash on delivery is still the most common payment method. Stripe does not support companies registered in BiH, and PayPal is mainly useful for foreign customers. For card payments you need a registered business, a business account and a website that meets the bank’s requirements.
Payment methods customers in BiH use
| Method | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
| Cash on delivery | Customers trust it, no bank contract needed | Refused parcels, money arrives later, courier commission |
| Card (online) | Money immediately, fewer abandoned orders, professional impression | Contract, per-transaction fee, technical integration |
| Bank transfer | Simple, no payment service fee | Slow, manual matching of payments, mostly suitable for business customers |
| PayPal | Familiar to foreign customers | Rarely used by local customers, limited payout options in BiH |
Options for card payments
For card payments you need a payment gateway — a service that takes the card details on a secure page, checks them with the bank and tells your shop that the payment succeeded. In BiH the most common options are:
- Monri — an online payment service operating in the region, with ready-made plugins for popular platforms and documentation for custom integrations.
- Banks’ e-commerce services — some banks in BiH offer card acceptance on websites, often through a virtual POS. You get the terms and technical details directly from the bank.
- Other regional gateways — other gateway services are also available; compare fees and support for your platform before deciding.
Ask every provider the same questions: one-off setup fee, monthly fee, per-transaction commission, payout schedule to your account, supported cards and whether they offer a test environment. Fees are usually negotiated individually and depend on volume and industry.
Why not Stripe and PayPal
Stripe does not list Bosnia and Herzegovina among its supported countries (Croatia and Slovenia are listed), so a company registered in BiH cannot open an account. The workaround through a company registered abroad means accounting and tax obligations in another country.
PayPal has limited payout options in BiH, and local customers rarely use it in local shops. It makes sense as an extra option if you sell to customers abroad.
What the bank or gateway requires from your website
Before card payments are switched on, your website is reviewed. Prepare in advance:
- Company details — full name, address, ID/VAT number, phone and email, visible on the site.
- Clear prices with currency and whether VAT is included, and delivery costs shown before payment.
- Terms of sale, delivery, return and complaint rules.
- A privacy policy aligned with the new law — see the guide Bosnia’s data protection law and your website.
- HTTPS across the whole site and the card and security logos the gateway specifies.
Security: your server should never see the card number
The simplest and safest setup is for the customer to enter the card number on the gateway’s page (a redirect or the provider’s embedded form). Card data then never passes through your server, and your obligations under the PCI DSS standard shrink to the shortest questionnaire. Payments are also confirmed with 3-D Secure (Visa Secure, Mastercard Identity Check) — the customer approves the purchase in their banking app.
Order of steps
- A registered business and a business bank account.
- Enquiries to two or three providers and a comparison of fees.
- Building the shop with legal pages and company details from day one.
- Contract and website review by the bank or gateway.
- Integration and testing in the test environment: successful, declined and cancelled payments, plus 3-D Secure.
- Go-live and a test purchase with a real card.
Delivery and cash on delivery
Courier services in BiH offer cash on delivery for a commission and pay the collected money into your account. For a small shop it’s enough that the system automatically sends the customer an order confirmation and a tracking number. With a larger number of parcels it pays to connect the shop to the courier, so shipping labels aren’t retyped by hand.
Ready-made platform or custom shop
For a small catalogue and standard sales, a ready-made platform (WooCommerce or a SaaS solution) is often enough — as long as it supports your chosen gateway. A custom shop makes sense when you need special pricing rules, B2B orders, or a connection to stock or accounting. The comparison is in the guide WordPress or a custom website, and indicative prices in how much a website costs.
Planning an online shop?
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Engimotive · Published October 28, 2026