Website payment processing in Israel: how to choose a provider and what to check before you sign
Website payment processing without surprises: who does what, how the fees are built, 7 technical checks and the questions to ask before you sign.
Website payment processing is the part of a store a customer barely notices, and the part a business owner feels every single month in the fee report. Most of what Google returns about payment providers in Israel was written by the providers themselves, which is exactly why they are so hard to compare. In this article we start with who does what: the credit card company, the payment provider and the aggregator. Then we break down what card processing fees are really made of, using a genuine price list that one provider publishes on its own site. We go through seven technical checks that matter specifically on a website, and finish with a checklist of questions to ask before you sign a contract.
Website payment processing: who does what — the card company, the provider and the aggregator
When a customer pays on your site, at least three parties are involved. Mixing them up is the main reason quotes look impossible to compare.
- The credit card company. Isracard or MAX, for example. It approves the merchant and transfers the money. Tranzila describes the first step on its online payment processing page: obtaining a "supplier number" and signing an online processing agreement with the card companies, in a process called underwriting.
- The payment provider, or the payment infrastructure. Tranzila, Cardcom, PayPlus and Hyp, for example. It supplies the payment page, the plugin for your site, card storage and invoicing, and connects all of that to the card company.
- A payment aggregator. By the definition on Tranzila's page about payment aggregators, the aggregator signs with the merchants on one side and with the acquirer on the other, and handles the financial settlement with you. In other words, you deal with one company, and that company is the one that pays you.
In practice the lines blur. Cardcom, for instance, writes that it is "the provider, the technology infrastructure and the invoicing system" all at once. So do not ask only "how much does this cost". Ask two questions instead: who am I signing with, and who transfers the money to me. Under a direct agreement you usually pay in two places — a fee to the card company and a usage fee to the infrastructure provider. In a one-company model there is a single price, but the money passes through that company, which makes it important to know when it lands in your bank account.
Card processing fees: what the price is really made of
The figure in the advertisement is usually just the percentage. The real price is built in layers:
- A percentage of every transaction. The visible layer.
- A monthly subscription, sometimes with a transaction quota included.
- A minimum fee per transaction. This one bites when you sell inexpensive products.
- Add-ons charged per action: 3D Secure authentication, refunds, chargebacks, a card issued abroad.
- A platform surcharge. The same provider can charge more when the store runs on Wix or Shopify.
- Instalment discounting. In an instalment sale the money arrives gradually, and getting it early costs extra.
- VAT. Check whether the prices in the quote include it.
On the pages of Tranzila, Cardcom, PayPlus and Hyp that we read on 17 September 2026, no price list for online payment processing appeared, and the price is set in a personal quote. Grow is the exception: its fees page spells out every layer, which makes it a good model for what to ask each provider to send you. This is what appeared there on that day, before VAT:
| Component | Grow plan | Grow Light plan |
|---|---|---|
| Fee per transaction | 0.75% | 1% |
| Subscription | 59 ₪ a month on an annual plan, 69 ₪ on a monthly plan | 29 ₪ a month on the annual plan |
| Included in the subscription | 100 transactions and documents a month | 20 transactions and documents a month |
| Each additional transaction or document | 0.5 ₪ | 1 ₪ |
The same page also lists the add-ons: 2.5 ₪ for every 3DS action, an extra 0.4% on the fee when processing through Wix and 0.6% through Shopify, a minimum fee of 0.5 ₪ per transaction, 6.90 ₪ per refund and 55 ₪ for every chargeback request. Advancing 12 equal instalments costs 4.813% there, based on a prime rate of 5% as at 9 July 2026.
Here is an illustration. A store on Wix selling ₪30,000 a month, on the annual Grow plan. The percentage fee comes to ₪225, the Wix surcharge adds another ₪120, and the subscription is ₪59. That is ₪404 before VAT, before 3DS and before any transactions above the quota. The point is not to disqualify a provider, but to work out every quote the same way, for your volume and your platform.
7 technical checks that matter specifically for website payments
A provider that suits a walk-in shop does not necessarily suit a website. These are the checks worth making before you connect a provider to your store:
- An official plugin for your platform. WooCommerce, Shopify or Wix. Cardcom, for example, writes on its online payments page that its official plugins turn the connection into "a matter of minutes, without a programmer in most cases". Check what the platform itself charges as well; we set that comparison out in Shopify vs WooCommerce.
- A payment page inside your site, or a jump to an external page. Providers offer either an embedded payment page (an iFrame or hosted fields) or a redirect to a page of their own. As we wrote in our guide to building an online store, the payment page should open inside the store, not in a window that looks like it belongs to someone else.
- Bit and digital wallets. Tranzila, Cardcom, PayPlus and Grow all show support on their sites for Bit — the Israeli bank-backed payment app — as well as Apple Pay and Google Pay. The question is whether it is included in the price, and how the button looks on a phone. We explained the difference between a business Bit account and a personal one in Bit for business.
- Card storage and recurring billing. Essential for any business with subscriptions. The card is saved as a "token" at the provider, so ask what happens to those tokens if you switch providers.
- Automatic invoicing. Decide who issues the invoice: the payment provider or your accounting software. Two systems issuing a document for the same sale is a headache for your accountant.
- 3D Secure. An extra verification of the cardholder, designed to reduce fraud and chargebacks. With some providers, Grow among them, it costs money per action. So ask whether it can be switched on only above a certain amount.
- PCI DSS. According to the PCI Security Standards Council, the standard applies to everyone involved in payment processing, merchants of every size included, and for questions about validating compliance the Council refers merchants to their card company. In practice, what shrinks the requirements on your side is that the card number never passes through your server — only through the provider's. The rest of your site's security is a separate subject, which we covered in website maintenance and security.
Which payment setup suits which business
There is no single "recommended payment company". There is a fit between the type of business and what you should check first:
| Type of business | What matters most | What to check first |
|---|---|---|
| A store with dozens of orders a month | A stable plugin, Bit and wallets, automatic invoicing | The platform surcharge and the cost of 3DS |
| A monthly subscription service | Card storage and recurring billing | Whether the tokens transfer to another provider |
| A small business with few sales | A low monthly subscription | How many transactions are included and what each extra one costs |
| Selling to customers abroad too | Foreign cards and PayPal | The tourist-card fee and the billing currency |
| A physical shop and a website | One report covering both channels | Whether the same provider supplies both the terminal and the website processing |
Selling a single service and don't need a store? Some providers offer a sales page or a payment link. Once you have a catalogue, stock and shipping, though, the payment flow needs to sit inside the store itself.
Before you sign: 8 questions for your payment provider
Ask for the answers in writing, and only then compare quotes:
- How long is the commitment, and what does it cost to leave before it ends?
- Is there a subscription or a minimum charge even in a month with no sales?
- When does the money reach my bank account? At Grow, for example, funds enter the Grow account and become available for use from the 1st of the following month. With another provider the answer can be completely different.
- Do the prices include VAT?
- Which add-ons are not shown in the quote? 3DS, refunds, chargebacks, tourist cards, the website plugin.
- Who exactly is the contract with? The card company directly, or an aggregator that signs with it. The answer changes all the other answers.
- Can stored cards be transferred to another provider? Without that, switching provider forces your subscription customers to enter their card again.
- What are the support hours, and who answers when a payment fails in the evening?
Mistake #1: comparing the transaction percentage alone. In the example above, the Wix surcharge on its own increased the fee by more than half.
Mistake #2: choosing a payment provider after the store has already been built. That is when you discover the plugin does not support something you planned, and the launch slips.
Mistake #3: going live without a real test purchase from a phone, refund included.
What Simple Web does about it
Simple Web is an AI-first marketing agency from Bnei Brak, certified Meta partners and Google advertising experts, working with 200+ businesses and holding 35 five-star Google reviews. In the online stores we build with AI, payments are part of the build rather than an afterthought: credit cards, Bit, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal and instalments. The store also connects to your bookkeeping — Green Invoice, iCount or Priority. We build on Shopify or on WordPress/WooCommerce, depending on the size of the catalogue.
An online store costs ₪8,000–30,000 with us depending on scope, with the final price agreed up front. It is usually ready in 3 to 5 weeks (depending on the size of the project). Every store includes 6 months of SEO content free (a value of ₪4,500) and 3 months of warranty and free fixes. It all starts with a free diagnostic call.
Summary
Website payment processing is not just a transaction percentage. First establish who you are signing with and who transfers the money to you. Then work out every quote for your own volume and platform, subscription, add-ons and VAT included. Run through the seven technical checks, and put the eight questions to every provider before you sign. Want a store where the payment flow is planned properly from day one? Get in touch for a free diagnostic call.
Sources
- Tranzila: online payment processing: the first step in online processing: a supplier number and an agreement with the card companies (underwriting)
- Tranzila: what a payment aggregator is: the definition of a payment aggregator and who signs with whom
- Grow: fee schedule: every figure in the table and in the example, as they appeared on the page on 17 September 2026 (before VAT)
- Cardcom: online payments for e-commerce sites: quotes on official plugins and on the one-provider model
- PCI Security Standards Council: Merchant Resources: the PCI DSS standard applies to merchants of every size
