Tabby and Tamara in the Gulf: Instalments, Fees, Promo Codes

How buy now, pay later works

Buy now, pay later (BNPL) services such as Tabby and Tamara pay the store for your order, and you repay them in parts. At most stores you pick the service on the checkout page. The first payment is charged to your card right away, and the rest are charged automatically on their due dates.

The store pays the provider a fee, which is why the four-payment plan is usually interest-free. Not every plan is free, though. Tabby's official page says "a service fee may apply" on plans with more than four payments, and Tamara's Saudi site links to a pricing calculator for its financing products.

• Approval is usually instant but not guaranteed. Your limit varies by person and by store.
• Paying late can get your account suspended and affect your credit record, even with a provider that charges no late fee.
• Splitting doesn't remove your return rights at the store, but refunds go back through the provider and can take time.

Availability in each Gulf country

This is what each provider's official pages say as of 17 October 2026. A country version of a website doesn't always mean the service runs there, so we separate "confirmed" from "not confirmed".

The simplest check is the store's checkout page while you are in your country. If Tabby or Tamara doesn't appear as a payment option, it isn't available for that order.

Number of instalments and plans

Longer plans (6, 12 or 24 months) are the ones that usually cost money. Before you confirm, look at the total you will pay on the plan screen and compare it with the item price. Any difference is the cost of splitting.

Late and collection fees

This is where the two providers clearly differ:

• Tamara: its sites for Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain say that if you miss a payment, "no late fees will be charged whatsoever". Tamara announced it had removed late fees from 16 December 2023. It warns that repeated delays can lead to account suspension and affect your credit record.
• Tabby: its official help page says customers "will be charged collection charges" if they miss a due date, can't make new purchases until they pay what's overdue, and that persistent lateness hurts their credit record. The page gives no fee amounts for any country. An earlier Tabby help article, now removed, said Saudi orders had no collection fees from 16 December 2023. We could not confirm this on a current page.
• Tabby Card: an overdue statement adds a collection charge and may reduce your limit. The fees are set out in the card's Key Facts Statement.

Do promo codes lower your instalments?

In practice, yes in most cases, if the code is applied at the store before you choose Tabby or Tamara. The provider splits the final amount the store sends at checkout, and that amount is already discounted. A worked example: a SAR 400 order with a 10% code becomes SAR 360, so four payments are SAR 90 each instead of SAR 100.

We found no general statement on Tabby's or Tamara's official pages explaining the order in which codes are applied, so always check the first instalment amount on screen before you confirm. Three situations work differently:

• Bank card offers: many require the full amount to be paid with one card. For example, Bank Dhofar's talabat offer terms in Oman say the offer is valid only when the full transaction is paid with a single eligible card, so it usually won't combine with a split through another provider.
• Tabby Card's own offers: the terms of the Tabby Card and noon Food offer in the UAE (June and July) require full payment with one Tabby Card, exclude digital wallets such as Apple Pay, can't be combined with other promotions or credits, and require the minimum order to be met before the discount applies.
• Provider codes in their own apps: some offers appear inside the Tabby or Tamara app and may be cashback after purchase rather than a cut to the instalment base. Read each offer's terms.

Other BNPL services in the Gulf

• MISpay (Saudi Arabia): its site offers four interest-free payments with no late fees and says it is supervised by SAMA under licence no. 111/Sh/202603.
• Madfu (Saudi Arabia): the official site didn't show plan or fee details when we checked, so we could not confirm them.
• Postpay (UAE): its official web address no longer resolved when we checked in October 2026. We could not confirm whether the service is still active.

For Qatar and Oman we found no official page confirming a specific provider currently working with the major online stores. Go by what the checkout page offers, and check that the provider names its licensing authority in your country on its website.

A quick checklist before you split

1. Apply the promo code in the store's basket first and check the total went down.
2. Choose Tabby or Tamara and check the first payment amount and the number of payments.
3. If you pick more than four payments, read the total amount and look for any service fee.
4. If you want a bank card offer, read its terms. Many exclude split payments or digital wallets.
5. Turn on autopay and make sure your card has enough balance on each due date.
6. If you return something, follow the refund in the provider's app, not only at the store.