Accept Credit Card Payments in Kenya for Online Services

The key idea

To accept an online card payment through Gammal Tech, verify your personal account, create a project, set its HTTPS Payment Callback URL and enable payments. Generate a guest card link for the agreed amount and supported currency. Send it with the service description, check the recorded transaction and then fulfil the order. The buyer does not need a Gammal Tech account, and you do not collect their card details yourself.

1. Make the purchase specific before creating the link

Write a short order summary with the service, price, currency, delivery deadline and what the client needs to provide. Include your revision and cancellation terms. Both parties should be able to recognise the purchase without reopening a long message thread.

Illustrative example: A Mombasa web specialist agrees to review an overseas client's five-page service website. The order includes a recorded walkthrough and a prioritised improvement list, delivered within the agreed working period. The client approves that scope before receiving the card link.

Give the order a reference in your own records. If the customer is paying for only one stage, name the stage rather than describing the payment as the entire project.

2. Put the right person behind the account

Current registration documents: Use the National ID of a country whose citizenship you hold, not a residence-only ID. An Egyptian passport is accepted only for an Egyptian living abroad without their Egyptian National ID available. An Egyptian birth certificate is accepted only for an Egyptian living in Egypt, under 15, who has neither a National ID nor a passport. Check the official registration requirements before applying.

Create your Gammal Tech account and verify your identity with the National ID of a country whose citizenship you hold. Individual onboarding does not require commercial registration with Gammal Tech. The same verified person owns the earnings and must own the receiving bank account.

Confirm your bank's international receiving instructions, account name and eligible currency before taking the first customer payment. If someone builds the checkout for you, give them the correct project details rather than collecting your income through their personal account.

The Kenya payment gateway guide explains the broader choice between an individual international-card arrangement and the needs of local or established merchants.

3. Create the project and payment return page

Open the developer dashboard, create your service project and find its public project ID. Set an HTTPS Payment Callback URL and enable payments. The platform keeps payments disabled until a callback URL is configured.

This return page is where the buyer comes back after the checkout. Make it useful: explain how the order will be checked, what happens next and how to contact you about the service. It should also accommodate a cancelled checkout without treating it as a paid order.

A full online shop is not required for a shared card link, but this setup is required. Sharing the guest link itself does not require an SDK, secret key or whitelisting the email or messaging service used to send it.

4. Build and review the card payment request

Use the Gammal Tech payment link generator. Select your project and the agreed price in a supported currency such as USD, EUR or GBP. Confirm every value before sending. Do not assume Kenyan-shilling checkout is available merely because you operate in Kenya.

Explain the full customer total, including applicable charges, before the buyer commits. Use the current central payment guide for merchant fees, customer charges and refund rules. This keeps your quotation consistent with the terms that apply at checkout.

A guest card link does not require the buyer to create a Gammal Tech account. Send the actual link with the approved order summary. Your customer should enter card information only in the checkout, never into a message, proposal document or form you improvised.

5. Review the customer journey before relying on it

Open the link and check its project, amount, currency and return page. Review the experience on a phone as well as a larger screen: a buyer should understand the service and next step without needing to ask you to translate the payment process.

Gammal Tech has no test-payment mode or test cards. A completed test purchase moves real money. Consult the current testing and refund rules before making a live transaction; do not assume that reversing it will be free.

Keep a clear order status while the buyer pays. An opened link is not a completed payment, and a return-page visit is not sufficient evidence that funds have been recorded.

6. Match the recorded payment before delivery

What to do at each point in the payment journey
What you observe	Your next action
Client opened the link	Keep the order awaiting payment until a matching transaction is confirmed.
Client cancelled checkout	Offer a clear way back to the order; do not mark it paid.
Client sends a screenshot	Check your own payment record rather than relying on the image.
Matching payment is recorded	Confirm the order and deliver according to the agreed scope.
Status is unclear	Investigate the existing transaction before asking the buyer to pay again.

For manual delivery, match the recorded project, amount, currency and order reference in your process. Keep the payment reference with the client brief and record when you deliver.

Automatic access needs a trusted validation process that checks the expected order and transaction, then records fulfilment only once. A repeated callback must not issue a duplicate download licence, appointment or service credit. Verification history is not itself a record of completed delivery.

7. Reconcile the sale, fees and bank receipt

Record the service price, platform deductions and eventual withdrawal separately. Transfer fees are deducted from the withdrawn amount; bank currency conversion may also affect what arrives. Confirm the receiving currency and route instead of treating the checkout currency as a bank-settlement promise.

Keep payment confirmation separate from the invoicing records required for your business. KRA's guidance on income and expense validation explains the role of electronic tax invoices, subject to applicable exceptions. A gateway record should not be assumed to replace an invoice you are required to issue.

Gammal Tech handles VAT and tax obligations assigned to it under its service arrangements. Your own income tax, registration and reporting requirements remain separate. Keeping the order, payment and delivery linked from the first sale makes those later checks easier.

Common questions

Do I need a physical card machine for this online service?

No. The workflow uses an online guest card payment link. The customer opens the checkout on their device and pays there; this is different from accepting a card at a physical point-of-sale terminal.

Can I share the payment link in a client message?

Yes. A guest card payment link can be shared in a message or email. Complete the project setup and HTTPS Payment Callback URL first, and send the link with an understandable order summary.

Can I deliver when the client shows me a payment screenshot?

Check the actual payment record first. Match the transaction to the intended project, amount, currency and order before delivering.

Can I test a card payment without moving money?

Gammal Tech does not provide a test mode or test cards. A completed payment is real. Review current testing and refund rules before carrying out a live test.

Can I receive a withdrawal into a colleague's account?

No. Withdrawals must go to an eligible bank account in the same name as the verified Gammal Tech account owner.

Start with an account in your own name

Follow these actions in order. An already approved account can go straight to project setup:

Create a Gammal Tech account in the name of the person who will receive the earnings and complete the registration checks. Wait for account approval before project setup; review can take up to 10 days. If that account is already approved, continue to the next step.
Sign in and open Developer Mode. Select your project or click Create Project, then open its settings.
Set the Payment Callback URL, an HTTPS page where customers return after checkout, then enable payments. Record the project ID, pid.
Check current charges, refund conditions and withdrawal rules before setting the customer price. Prepare an eligible receiving bank account in the verified person’s name. Transfer fees are deducted from the withdrawal amount.
Open the payment link generator. Enter that project ID, the agreed amount, currency and recognizable description. Review the generated link before sharing it with the customer.
After the customer pays, check the transaction record and match the project, order, amount and currency before delivery. A return-page visit or screenshot alone is not payment confirmation.

Already approved? Open your project and use the payment link generator. Review the current payment fees, withdrawal conditions and refund rules before setting your customer price.

Create your individual account Create a payment link Open your project

Sources and current service details

Service features follow Gammal Tech’s current documentation and individual-account policy. Local sources explain the specific banking or regulatory context cited above; they do not certify a Gammal Tech integration or guarantee account approval.

Gammal Tech integration, payment verification and withdrawal guide: Setup, guest links, payment checks, testing and current financial terms.
KRA: Validation of Income and Expenses in the Income Tax Returns: Local distinction between payment records and applicable tax-invoice records.

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