Accepting CIB and Edahabia payments on your website.

CIB and Edahabia: the two cards your customers carry

In Algeria, online card payment runs on two national cards. The CIB card is the interbank card issued by banks, and Edahabia is the card Algérie Poste issues to holders of a postal (CCP) account. Between them, they cover most of the customers who can pay you by card today.

Online payment by CIB card has been officially available since October 2016, first for large billers such as water and electricity providers, telecom operators, insurers and airlines. An interoperability service between the interbank network and Algérie Poste, launched in December 2021, lets holders of both cards pay online through a single interface.

In practice, a single integration is meant to accept both cards. Still, confirm with your bank that your merchant contract covers Edahabia.

The legal groundwork comes first

Before any bank talks about payment, your business has to be allowed to sell online. Law 18-05 on electronic commerce, published in the Official Journal in May 2018, makes the activity subject to registration in the commercial register or the craft register. It also requires a website or web page hosted in Algeria with a .com.dz extension.

The law sets up a national file of e-suppliers held by the CNRC, the national commercial register centre, where your domain name must be registered. Your site must clearly show who you are and how you sell: tax identification number (NIF), address, phone number, register number, prices including taxes, and delivery, return and refund terms.

This is also the first thing checked on the payment side. The CIBWEB portal lists registration in the commercial or craft register and in the national e-supplier file as eligibility conditions for a web merchant.

How you get approved, step by step

Applications go through CIBWEB, the online payment portal run by GIE Monétique, the group that brings Algerian banks and Algérie Poste together around card payment. SATIM, the interbank operator, runs the technical tests and certification. Your own bank, known as the acquiring bank, signs the merchant contract with you.

Fees, settlement times and the exact list of documents depend on each bank. Ask your bank for its current conditions before you commit to a launch date.

• Create an account on cibweb.dz and file your application, attaching your commercial register.
• GIE Monétique reviews the file and rules on whether it is admissible, in under 24 hours according to the portal.
• Sign the merchant contract with your bank, which then sends the integration and production files.
• Pass the technical integration tests on the payment platform.
• Receive the go-live authorization from GIE Monétique, then switch your site to production.

What changes on the technical side

You have two routes. You can buy a payment module that GIE Monétique has already certified and referenced, which shortens the process, or develop your own module and have it certified through tests booked on the platform.

GIE Monétique requires encrypted exchanges with the interbank platform and 3-D Secure authentication of the cardholder. In the usual flow, your site registers the order with the platform and the customer is sent to a payment page to enter their card details, then returns to a success or failure page on your site. Your server never handles or stores card numbers.

One rule worth keeping: never mark an order as paid just because the customer landed on your success page. Your server should first confirm the payment status with the platform, then update the order. Test cancellations and refunds as carefully as payments, because those are what customers call you about.

Online payment and cash on delivery, side by side

Many customers still prefer to pay the courier. The sensible setup is to offer both at checkout and let each customer choose. Agree on your refund process with your bank in advance.

Neodott builds e-commerce sites and can integrate the payment module your bank and GIE Monétique approve. If you mainly sell with cash on delivery, our NeoSell platform (neodott.app) handles order pages, phone confirmation and shipping with Yalidine, ZR Express, Maystro or Ecotrack while your e-payment file moves forward.