Stripe and Shopify Payments do not work in Vietnam
By Phan Trong Hung, who reads the fee pages line by line so you do not have to
Published 2026-08-29•Country lists re-read at source 30 Aug 2026•How I check these numbers
Neither one works, and no amount of paperwork changes that. Stripe lists 46 countries and Shopify Payments lists 40 regions; Vietnam is on neither list.
- Shopify the platform works fine in Vietnam. Only Shopify Payments, the built-in card processor, does not.
- If your money comes from clients or networks rather than strangers at checkout, you do not need either one.
If you sell online from Vietnam, you hit this wall early: the two payment processors every tutorial assumes you have are both closed to you.
This is not a bug, a temporary outage, or something you can fix by filling the form in differently. It is a country list, and Vietnam is not on it.
Stripe: 46 countries, Vietnam not among them
Stripe publishes its supported countries at stripe.com/global. As of August 2026 the list is:
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India (preview), Indonesia (preview), Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States.
Vietnam is absent. So are Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Egypt and the Philippines. India and Indonesia are marked preview, which means limited availability rather than a normal open signup.
Shopify Payments: 40 regions, Vietnam not among them
Shopify's supported countries page lists 40 regions. Vietnam is not on it. Neither are Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Egypt, the Philippines, India, Indonesia, Brazil, Malaysia or Thailand.
Shopify's own instruction for everyone else is one sentence: "if your country isn't listed, or if Shopify Payments doesn't support your business category, then you need to use a third-party payment provider."
Worth noting, because it confuses people constantly: Shopify the platform works fine in Vietnam. Shopify Payments, the built-in card processor, does not. You can run the store. You just cannot use the payment processor that comes with it.
Why the list is short
Card processing means the processor carries the fraud and chargeback risk on your behalf, often for months after the sale. To do that in a country they need local banking partners, a way to verify that your business is real, and a legal route to claw money back when a customer disputes a charge.
That is a slow, expensive, country-by-country build. It has nothing to do with you personally, your store, or how good your product is - which is why there is no appeal process and no amount of documentation that changes the answer.
What this leaves you with
Two different problems get confused here, and separating them saves a lot of wasted effort:
| Problem | What it means | What solves it |
|---|---|---|
| Taking card payments from customers at checkout | A stranger pays you by card on your store | A third-party gateway that supports Vietnam, or a marketplace that collects for you |
| Receiving money someone already owes you | A client, network or platform sends you money you have earned | An international receiving account |
Most people arriving here from a Shopify tutorial think they have the first problem. A large share of them - affiliates, freelancers, agencies, anyone paid by invoice or by a network - actually have the second, which is far easier and far cheaper to solve.
If your money comes from clients, affiliate networks, marketplaces or ad platforms rather than from strangers checking out on your own store, you do not need Stripe at all. You need somewhere for that money to land. That is covered in how money from a foreign client actually reaches you.
And before you default to PayPal because it is the one name that works everywhere, read what PayPal actually costs in Vietnam first. It works, but it is the most expensive door in the building.
What I would not do
Do not fake your country. Signing up with a foreign address you do not have an actual tie to is the fastest route to a frozen balance. These companies verify at payout time, not signup time, which means the freeze happens when there is money in the account - the worst possible moment.
Do not buy a "Stripe account" from anyone. An account in someone else's name is theirs, including the money in it, including your leverage if they stop replying.
Do not assume the paying side is solved. Selling from Vietnam usually means buying ads from Vietnam, and that is a separate wall with separate rules: on Meta the billing model is fixed by the first payment method you attach, and the choice cannot be undone later. If that is next on your list, start with the Facebook ads payment choice you only get to make once.
Registering a real company abroad is a different thing - legitimate, common, and a genuine business decision with tax and compliance consequences on both ends. That decision belongs with an accountant who knows both countries, not with a blog post.
Country lists change. Both pages linked above are the primary sources - check them before you act on anything here.
Where I would not use this
- Do not fake your country. These companies verify at payout time, not signup time - the freeze happens when there is money in the account.
- Do not buy a "Stripe account" from anyone. An account in someone else's name is theirs, including the balance in it.
- Do not register a company abroad on the strength of a blog post. That is a real tax and compliance decision for an accountant who knows both countries.
Common questions
Can I use Stripe in Vietnam?
No. Vietnam does not appear on Stripe's supported-country list as of August 2026. Stripe currently supports 46 countries and regions, and Vietnam is not one of them.
Does Shopify Payments work in Vietnam?
No. Shopify's own supported-countries page lists 40 regions, and Vietnam is not among them. Shopify directs merchants in unlisted countries to use a third-party payment provider instead.
Can I use a company in another country to get Stripe?
Registering a company abroad to access Stripe is legal in principle but it is a real business decision with tax, banking and compliance consequences in both countries. It is not a workaround you should take from a blog post - talk to an accountant who knows both jurisdictions.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure above was read off the page below on the date shown, not copied from another article. Open them and check me.
- Stripe global availabilitychecked 2026-08-30
46 countries are listed as available. Vietnam is not one of them. Counted from the live list, not from a summary.
- Shopify Payments supported countrieschecked 2026-08-30
Vietnam does not appear on the supported-country list.
Both companies update their country lists quietly. I counted Stripe's list by hand off the live page rather than trusting a number from another article.
General information, not financial, tax or legal advice. I am not a licensed advisor. Fees and country rules change often - open the provider's own fee page and check before you move money.
Phan Trong HungI am based in Da Nang, Vietnam, and I get paid from abroad for a living — two years buying Meta ads for a client and running my own stores, which means moving money in and out of the country every month. This site is my working notes. I am not a banker and I have not opened every account here, so instead of asking you to take my word for anything, I quote the provider’s own published page, link it, and date it. If a number is not from first-hand use, the post says so.