Regional Payment Options Guide

Show the right payment options to customers based on their location, reducing confusion and increasing conversions.

Use Case

You sell internationally and need to:

• Show region-specific payment methods (e.g., iDEAL for Netherlands, SEPA for EU)
• Hide payment options not available in certain countries
• Filter by currency to prevent payment errors
• Comply with regional payment regulations

Prerequisites

• Multiple payment gateways configured in Shopify (Stripe, PayPal, regional providers)
• Understanding of which payment methods work in which regions
• Rulebase installed with app embed enabled

Rule 1: EU-Only Payment Methods

Goal

Show SEPA Direct Debit only to customers in EU countries.

Configuration

Conditions (WHEN):

• Country → is not one of → [List of EU countries: DE, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, AT, PT, IE, etc.]

Targets (TARGET):

• Payment Method → SEPA Direct Debit

Action (THEN):

• Hide

What This Does

Customers outside the EU won’t see SEPA payment options, reducing checkout confusion.

Pro Tip

Use a group condition for all EU countries:

• Create one parent OR group
• Add each EU country as separate conditions
• Invert the logic with “is not one of”

Rule 2: US-Only Buy Now Pay Later

Goal

Show Affirm and Klarna only to US customers (where they’re available).

Configuration

Conditions (WHEN):

• Country → is not → United States

Targets (TARGET):

• Payment Method → Affirm
• Payment Method → Klarna

Action (THEN):

• Hide

What This Does

Non-US customers won’t see BNPL options that don’t work in their region.

Rule 3: Currency-Based Payment Filtering

Goal

Hide USD-only payment gateways when customers shop in other currencies.

Configuration

Conditions (WHEN):

• Currency → is not → USD

Targets (TARGET):

• Payment Gateway → Stripe USD

Action (THEN):

• Hide

What This Does

Prevents payment failures by hiding USD-specific gateways when customers use EUR, GBP, etc.

Why This Matters

Some payment processors only support specific currencies. This rule prevents errors at checkout.

Rule 4: Netherlands iDEAL Payment

Goal

Show iDEAL payment method only to customers in the Netherlands.

Configuration

Conditions (WHEN):

• Country → is not → Netherlands

Targets (TARGET):

• Payment Method → iDEAL

Action (THEN):

• Hide

What This Does

iDEAL, a popular payment method in the Netherlands, only appears for Dutch customers.

Rule 5: Block High-Risk Countries

Goal

Limit payment options in countries with high fraud rates (reduce chargebacks).

Configuration

Conditions (WHEN):

• Country → is one of → [List high-risk countries based on your fraud data]

Targets (TARGET):

• Payment Method → Credit Card

Action (THEN):

• Hide

What This Does

Customers in specified countries can only use PayPal or other secure payment methods, reducing fraud risk.

Important Note

Ensure you have alternative payment methods available. Don’t block all payments.

Advanced: Multi-Condition Regional Rules

Scenario

Show Alipay only to customers in China using CNY currency.

Configuration

Conditions (WHEN):

• Country → is not → China
• OR
• Currency → is not → CNY

Targets (TARGET):

• Payment Method → Alipay

Action (THEN):

• Hide

What This Does

Alipay appears only when BOTH conditions are met (customer in China AND using CNY).

Regional Payment Matrix

Common payment methods by region:

Best Practices

Research Local Preferences

• Check which payment methods are most popular in each target market
• Consider local regulations (e.g., PSD2 in EU)
• Test with customers in each region

Offer Alternatives

Never hide all payment methods for a region:

• Always keep PayPal as a fallback
• Credit cards work almost everywhere
• Research local alternatives

Rule Organization

Name rules by region:

• “EU - SEPA Payment”
• “US - BNPL Options”
• “APAC - Alipay”

Currency Alignment

Match payment methods to currencies:

• USD-only gateways hidden when using EUR
• Multi-currency gateways shown globally

Testing Checklist

Before publishing:

• Test with VPN or proxy in each target region
• Verify correct payment methods appear in checkout
• Ensure at least one payment method available per region
• Check currency conversion works correctly
• Test mobile and desktop checkout flows

Troubleshooting

Problem: Payment method doesn’t appear for target region

• Check: Is the payment gateway enabled in Shopify Payments settings?
• Check: Is the rule condition logic correct (NOT vs IS)?
• Check: Is the payment method name spelled exactly as it appears in Shopify?

Problem: Too many payment options confusing customers

• Solution: Be more aggressive with filtering
• Solution: Show only 2-3 most popular methods per region

Problem: Customers report payment failures

• Check: Are you hiding methods that should be available?
• Check: Currency compatibility with payment gateways
• Review: Shopify payment logs for errors

Compliance Considerations

GDPR (Europe)

• Don’t collect unnecessary location data
• Rulebase uses Shopify’s built-in location detection (compliant)

PCI DSS

• Payment filtering doesn’t affect PCI compliance
• All payments still go through Shopify’s secure checkout

Regional Regulations

• Some countries require specific payment methods (e.g., Brazil’s Boleto)
• Research local requirements before filtering

Upgrade Information

This guide requires Rulebase Core plan ($29/month) for live payment filtering. Test with the free Validation plan first.

Related Guides

• B2B Wholesale Setup - Business payment terms
• VIP Customer Experience - Premium payment options
• Getting Started Guide - Basic rule creation

Need regional payment advice? Contact support or consult the Features Documentation.