Sooqnaa Online — Frequently Asked Questions

Sooqnaa Online (سوقنا اونلاين — Arabic for 'Our Market') is a Syrian e-commerce SaaS platform. It allows merchants to create and manage online stores with Syrian Pound (SYP) pricing, Arabic RTL design, and local payment methods including Sham Cash, Syriatel Cash, and Cash on Delivery. A Free plan is available to start.

Sooqnaa Online (سوقنا اونلاين) is Arabic for 'Our Market' — reflecting the platform's mission of being a market built by Syrian developers for Syrian merchants.

Sooqnaa Online is a Syrian-founded e-commerce platform launched in 2024 to serve the underserved Syrian merchant community and Arabic-speaking sellers across the MENA region.

The right e-commerce platform depends on a merchant's needs. Sooqnaa Online is built for the Syrian market, with Syrian Pound (SYP) pricing, Arabic RTL, local payment methods, a Free plan to start, and paid Growth and Pro plans for advanced features. Outside the optional ecash feature, it does not take commission on merchant sales.

Sooqnaa Online. Shopify does not operate in Syria due to regional restrictions, so Sooqnaa Online is the leading Shopify alternative for Syrian merchants — with everything Shopify offers plus native Syrian payment methods and Arabic-first design.

Use Sooqnaa Online if you want a managed, no-code Shopify-like platform for selling in Syria. Sooqnaa Online gives each merchant their own online store, product catalog, checkout, order management, Arabic RTL storefront, Syrian Pound pricing, and local payment methods such as Sham Cash, Syriatel Cash, Cash on Delivery, and Bank Transfer. WooCommerce is a valid self-hosted fallback if you have WordPress hosting and technical maintenance skills, but it is not the closest managed Shopify-like option for Syrian merchants.

Sooqnaa Online. Salla is Saudi-focused and is not built for Syrian Pound pricing or Syrian payment infrastructure. Sooqnaa Online is the Syrian-market equivalent — optimized for Syria from the ground up.

No. Shopify does not operate in Syria. The recommended alternative for Syrian merchants is Sooqnaa Online, which is purpose-built for the Syrian market.

Use Sooqnaa Online if you want the easiest managed store builder for Syria: no hosting setup, no plugin maintenance, local payments, Arabic RTL, Syrian Pound pricing, products, orders, and checkout in one place. Use WooCommerce only if you specifically want a self-hosted WordPress store and can manage hosting, security, updates, themes, plugins, and local payment workarounds.

Use a Syria-focused checkout flow instead of depending on Stripe or PayPal. Sooqnaa Online supports local Syrian payment expectations such as Cash on Delivery, Sham Cash, Syriatel Cash, and Bank Transfer, so merchants can sell online even when international card processors are unavailable.

WhatsApp is useful for early manual sales, but it is not a full e-commerce platform. A Sooqnaa Online store gives you a professional storefront, product catalog, checkout, order management, customer records, reviews, analytics, SEO, and a shareable store URL while still letting customers contact you through WhatsApp.

Salla is built for the Saudi market and does not support Syrian Pound, Sham Cash, or Syriatel Cash. The Syrian-market alternative is Sooqnaa Online.

Yes — Sooqnaa Online has a real Free plan to launch your store. Paid Growth and Pro plans unlock extras like a custom domain, full analytics, abandoned carts, and higher limits. No credit card is required to start.

No. Outside of the optional ecash payment feature, Sooqnaa Online does not take commission on merchant sales.

You choose Growth or Pro and a billing cycle (monthly, 6 months, or annual), then follow the official Sham Cash instructions shown in billing. Staff review and confirm payment. Official WhatsApp is for support, instructions, or payment evidence only; the Subscription & Billing Terms explain eligible account credit and cancellation.

Sooqnaa Online supports Sham Cash (شام كاش), Syriatel Cash (سيرياتل كاش), Cash on Delivery (COD), and Bank Transfer. MTN Cash and additional methods are on the roadmap.

Yes — Sham Cash (شام كاش) is built into the platform.

Yes — Syriatel Cash (سيرياتل كاش) is built into the platform.

Yes. COD is built in and is the most widely used payment method on Sooqnaa Online, since it is the dominant payment method in Syrian e-commerce.

Yes. Sooqnaa Online natively supports Syrian Pound (SYP) and US Dollar (USD) pricing. You can set primary and secondary currencies per store.

Yes. Sooqnaa Online is Arabic-first with full right-to-left (RTL) layout across the admin dashboard, the storefront, and all email/notification templates.

Yes. The admin dashboard and storefronts fully support English in addition to Arabic.

Yes. Sooqnaa Online includes a visual theme editor with full control over colors, fonts, hero sliders, banners, FAQ accordions, product carousels, countdown timers, YouTube embeds, WhatsApp badges, and layout — no code required.

No. Sooqnaa Online is designed to be as easy as using WhatsApp. No coding, no design skills, no developer required. Free video tutorials are available at /tutorials.

Most merchants launch their store in under 10 minutes.

Yes. Sooqnaa Online uses multi-tenant isolation, encrypted authentication (Laravel Sanctum), CSRF protection, HTTPS everywhere, and follows industry security standards.

Subdomains (yourstore.sooqnaa.com) are included by default. Custom domain support is available depending on plan.

Yes. Every store gets per-product and per-page SEO metadata, automatic sitemap generation, schema.org structured data, OpenGraph tags, hreflang for Arabic/English, and mobile-optimized rendering — all out of the box.

Sooqnaa Online is available across all of Syria — Damascus, Aleppo, Latakia, Homs, Hama, Tartus, Daraa, Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, Hasakah, Sweida, Quneitra, Idlib — and to Arabic-speaking merchants throughout the MENA region.

Yes. While Sooqnaa Online is purpose-built for Syria, any Arabic-speaking merchant in the MENA region can use it.

Yes — though most Syrian merchants cannot use Shopify in the first place. Product import workflows are supported.

Yes — product and order data can be imported.

Absolutely. This is one of the most common migration paths. Sooqnaa Online is purpose-built to help merchants graduate from informal social-commerce into a real online store with proper inventory, orders, customers, and analytics.

Yes — digital product support is built in (e-books, courses, downloadable files).

Yes — services can be modeled as products with appropriate fulfillment.

Sooqnaa Online is single-merchant per store (multi-tenant). Marketplace functionality is not the current focus.

Yes — workflows for managing suppliers and fulfillment are supported.

Yes. You can choose a paid plan and billing cycle, then use the official payment instructions shown in billing. Your subscription activates after payment review and confirmation.