Ozow
South Africa's leading pay-by-bank gateway. Customers pay straight from their bank account in real time, so there are no card chargebacks on the bank rail and settlement is next-day.
Ozow published fees
Read off the provider's own published pricing page.
Checked last month, on 23 Jul 2026.
ozow.com/pricingThis profile is general factual information and editorial analysis, not an endorsement, personalised recommendation, provider quote or proof that every product is authorised for your use. Check the source dates, exact contracting entity, current written terms and regulatory scope before committing.
The fees
What Ozow charges.
Every line carries the date we last checked it and where we read it. The lines our calculator models are generated from the same engine, so this table and the tool cannot disagree.
| Line | Rate | Notes | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ozow pay-by-bank rate | 1.50% | Pay-by-bank · no chargebacks | Ozow pay-by-bank rate: 1.50% Read off the provider's own published pricing page. Checked last month, on 23 Jul 2026. ozow.com/pricing |
| Ozow cards rate | 2.65–2.85% | Cards via partners | Ozow cards rate: 2.65–2.85% Read off the provider's own published pricing page. Checked last month, on 23 Jul 2026. ozow.com/pricing |
| Fixed fee per transaction | None | Added on top of the percentage | Fixed fee per transaction: None Read off the provider's own published pricing page. Checked last month, on 23 Jul 2026. ozow.com/pricing |
| Minimum per transaction | R1,00 | A floor on percentage plus fixed fee | Minimum per transaction: R1,00 Read off the provider's own published pricing page. Checked last month, on 23 Jul 2026. ozow.com/pricing |
| Monthly / setup | R0 | On the plan we model | Monthly / setup: R0 Read off the provider's own published pricing page. Checked last month, on 23 Jul 2026. ozow.com/pricing |
| Payout fee | R3,00 | Charged per payout run | Payout fee: R3,00 Read off the provider's own published pricing page. Checked last month, on 23 Jul 2026. ozow.com/pricing |
| Refund fee | R3,00 | Charged to process a refund | Refund fee: R3,00 Read off the provider's own published pricing page. Checked last month, on 23 Jul 2026. ozow.com/pricing |
| Processing fee on a refund | Kept by the provider | The hidden cost: a refunded sale usually still costs you the original fee | Processing fee on a refund: Kept by the provider Read off the provider's own published pricing page. Checked last month, on 23 Jul 2026. ozow.com/pricing |
| Chargeback penalty, ozow pay-by-bank | None on this rail | Not published by any provider. Our model provisions R120,00 per chargeback as an editorial assumption | Chargeback penalty, ozow pay-by-bank: None on this rail Read off the provider's own published pricing page. Checked last month, on 23 Jul 2026. ozow.com/pricing |
| Chargeback penalty, ozow cards | Not published | Not published by any provider. Our model provisions R120,00 per chargeback as an editorial assumption | Chargeback penalty, ozow cards: Not published Read off the provider's own published pricing page. Checked last month, on 23 Jul 2026. ozow.com/pricing |
| International cards | 3.50% | Minimum R1.00 applies | International cards: 3.50% Read off the provider's own published pricing page. Checked last month, on 23 Jul 2026. ozow.com/pricing |
| Buy now, pay later | 4.99% + R4.00 | Priced separately from the bank and card rails | Buy now, pay later: 4.99% + R4.00 Read off the provider's own published pricing page. Checked last month, on 23 Jul 2026. ozow.com/pricing |
| Vouchers | 4.5% / 6% | Low-risk and high-risk voucher categories | Vouchers: 4.5% / 6% Read off the provider's own published pricing page. Checked last month, on 23 Jul 2026. ozow.com/pricing |
| Account verification (AVS) | R0.50 | Per transaction, for high-risk category merchants, on the first successful transaction per unique bank account | Account verification (AVS): R0.50 Read off the provider's own published pricing page. Checked last month, on 23 Jul 2026. ozow.com/pricing |
| WhatsApp payment request | R0.35 | Per message sent | WhatsApp payment request: R0.35 Read off the provider's own published pricing page. Checked last month, on 23 Jul 2026. ozow.com/pricing |
| Enterprise tier | R1.5m+ | Monthly volume required to qualify for negotiated rates | Enterprise tier: R1.5m+ Read off the provider's own published pricing page. Checked last month, on 23 Jul 2026. ozow.com/pricing |
Rates ex VAT. Ozow bands its card rate by the value of the individual transaction, not by your monthly turnover, which is how its pricing page states it. We have flagged that basis for confirmation with Ozow, because it changes the maths for high-volume merchants with small baskets.
What it accepts
Payment methods.
Strengths
- No card chargebacks on the bank rail, since money moves bank to bank, which cuts fraud risk on large orders.
- At 1.5% the pay-by-bank rate undercuts every card rail on this site by a wide margin.
- Real-time payment confirmation, so you can release stock or access the moment a payment clears.
- Strong reach through bank-native flows like Capitec Pay, Nedbank Direct EFT and Absa Pay.
Watch-outs
- The 2.85% figure Ozow leads with is its CARD rate, not the pay-by-bank rate. Read the rate card carefully.
- Payouts and real-time refunds are R3.00 each. Neither is free, which is easy to miss on a low-value basket.
- EFT-first, so you will usually add a card option for shoppers who prefer cards.
- Not built for card-style recurring billing. Pair it with a card gateway for subscriptions.
For developers
Integration and API.
Ozow provides a hosted checkout plus a REST API and webhooks for payment notifications. Off-the-shelf plugins cover the common platforms, so most stores integrate without custom work.
As with any gateway, confirm every payment server-side from the webhook rather than trusting the browser redirect, verify the hash signature, and use idempotency keys so a retried notification never double-credits an order. On a bank rail this matters more than usual: there is no chargeback to reverse a mistake, so a double-credited order is a refund you pay R3.00 to process.
Regulatory records and scope
Ozow (Pty) Ltd · 2013/214663/07
Listed in PASA's June 2025 public TPPP register. The register records this entity under a sponsoring bank and payment-service columns. It is not evidence that every Ozow product or activity is authorised, or that the June 2025 status remains current.
Ozow (Pty) Ltd: record dated 2025-07-02 Read from the identified regulator or payment-system body publication. Checked this month, on 01 Aug 2026.
Ozow is not a sponsor of this site, and this profile is not a paid placement.Nothing on this page was seen by Ozow before it was published.
In context
How Ozow compares.
The whole field, ranked by what actually reaches your account, computed by the same engine that powers the calculator. Not a shortlist we picked.
| # | Provider | Rail | Headline | Chargebacks | Effective rate | Per month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ozow pay-by-bank This provider | Pay-by-bank · no chargebacks | 1.50% | None | 1.80% | R2 703 |
| 2 | Peach Pay by Bank | Pay by Bank · no chargebacks | 1.50% | None | 2.05% | R3 075 |
| 3 | Paystack EFT | EFT · no chargebacks | 2.00% | None | 2.37% | R3 553 |
| 4 | Stitch Capitec Pay | Capitec Pay · no chargebacks | 2.00% | None | 2.38% | R3 563 |
| 5 | iKhokha Instant EFT | Instant EFT · no chargebacks | 2.00% | None | 2.38% | R3 563 |
| 6 | PayFast Instant EFT | Instant EFT · no chargebacks | 2.00% | None | 2.41% | R3 609 |
| 7 | Yoco | Cards · Core plan | 2.55% | Card risk | 3.04% | R4 563 |
| 8 | iKhokha | Cards · SME payments | 2.85% | Card risk | 3.40% | R5 106 |
| 9 | Ozow cards This provider | Cards via partners | 2.85% | Card risk | 3.42% | R5 133 |
| 10 | Stitch Express | Cards · orchestration | 2.95% | Card risk | 3.52% | R5 282 |
| 11 | Paystack | Cards · best DX | 2.90% | Card risk | 3.64% | R5 458 |
| 12 | Peach Payments | Cards · subscriptions | 2.95% | Card risk | 3.79% | R5 683 |
| 13 | PayFast | Widest methods | 3.20% | Card risk | 4.21% | R6 320 |
A R650,00 average basket, R150 000,00 a month, 3% refunded, 4 payout runs a month, incl 15% VAT. Quote-based providers are absent from this table because they publish no rate to compute, not because they were excluded. Card rails carry a chargeback provision of R120 per chargeback, which is an editorial assumption, not a sourced figure: no provider on this site publishes a chargeback penalty amount. Run your own numbers in the calculator.
See Ozow against your real numbers
Set your basket, volume and refund rate to find your effective rate, then compare it with every other gateway.