WooCommerce is right now the best solution to running an eCommerce store using WordPress. The best part of it is it allows you to handle everything, from product management and order management to receiving payments with the right WooCommerce payment gateways and charging shipping & tax fees.
In fact, you will find several other extensions that can help you make your eCommerce business more successful with features such as custom discounts, checkout page customizations, sales funnels, email marketing, etc.
But before you go live with your store, it is important to set up your WooCommerce store correctly. And one of the first things you need to set up is the payment options.
Having the right payment options set up is crucial. Some buyers want to pay cash on delivery, while others want to use a credit card or even Paypal.
Today, we will look at how you can set up your WooCommerce payment methods easily.
We will cover the default offline payment options first, and then we will cover how you can set up Stripe & Paypal as payment methods. (Most other payment gateways have a similar setup process).
So let’s begin.
How To Set Up WooCommerce Payment Options?
When thinking about receiving payments, you first need to consider how you want to charge your buyers.
For example, if it’s a digital product, then you would probably want an online payment method such as PayPal, whereas, for a physical product, you may consider cash on delivery as well.
So, we can classify the WooCommerce payment methods into two categories:
1. Online Payment Methods
2. Offline Payment Methods
Let us look at how you may set them up.
Setting Up Offline Payment Methods
By default, WooCommerce has three offline payment options:
- Direct Bank Transfer
- Check Payments
- Cash on Delivery
You may find them by navigating to WooCommerce > Settings > Payments.
These payment methods do not require extra extensions, and you may configure them quite easily by clicking on the “Finish Set Up” button beside each of them.
1. Configure Direct Bank Transfer
Direct Bank Transfer means a buyer will transfer the due payment directly to your bank account. Once you receive the payment, you will then deliver the product.
The way it works is, on the checkout page, the buyer will select Direct Bank Transfer as the payment method and complete the checkout process. He will then be redirected to the Thank You page, where he will get your business bank details. The buyer will then communicate with his bank to make the payment to your bank account.
Meanwhile, you will be notified about the order, and the order will be marked as On Hold in WooCommerce. Once you receive the payment, you may change the status to Processing and start the delivery process. And finally, once the product is delivered, you may then change the order status to Completed.
To configure it, click on “Finish Setup” beside it, and it will take you to the following page:
Checkmark “Enable bank transfer” to make this option available during checkout.
Next, fill out the rest of the information:
- Title – the tile of this payment option that the buyer will see on the checkout page.
- Description – give a short description to let the buyer know what this payment option entails.
- Instructions- explain how the buyer should make the payment and inform you.
- Account details – add your business bank details where you want the buyer to transfer the money.
You may include multiple bank accounts if you want.
**Businesses that operate in multiple countries and offer this payment method usually include multiple bank accounts, one for each country. They clarify which bank to use in the Instructions section.
Once you are ready, click on Save Changes, and your payment method is set up.
Here’s how it will look in a live store:
On the Checkout Page:
On the Thank You page, after you select Direct bank Transfer and Place Order:
2. Enable Check Payments
Check Payment is exactly what it is called. A customer will make the payment via check.
On the checkout page, the buyer may choose Check Payment and complete the order. Then, on the Thank You page, he will get details on where to send the check to make the payment. Then it’s up to the buyer how he will send over the check to you.
Once the order is placed, you will be notified, and the order will be On Hold in WooCommerce. Once you receive the check from the buyer and the payment is clear, you can then change the order status to Processing and send out the product for delivery. And after it is delivered, you can change the status to Completed.
To set it up, go to WooCommerce > Settings > Payments and click on “Finish Set Up” on the right of Check Payments.
Checkmark “Enable check payments” to make this option available during checkout.
And then, fill out the rest of the information:
- Title – the tile of this payment option that the buyer will see on the checkout page.
- Description – give a short description to let the buyer know what this payment option entails.
- Instructions – give details on where to send the check to and how to inform you when it’s sent.
Once you have inputted the details, click on Save Changes to complete the setup.
Here’s how it will look in a live store:
On the checkout page:
On the Thank You page, after you select Check Payments and Place Order:
3. Allow Cash On Delivery
Cash On Delivery (COD) is the most commonly used WooCommerce payment option when it comes to buying physical products
Since this is a method where the payment is made after delivering the product, it is mostly available in online stores or businesses that deliver within the same country as their warehouse.
How it works is a customer places an order with a commitment that he will pay in cash once he receives the product from the delivery man.
You receive the order while it is marked as Processing in WooCommerce. You will need to send out the product for delivery. Once it is delivered and you have received the payment, you may then mark the order as Complete.
To configure Cash On Delivery, go to WooCommerce > Settings > Payments and click on “Finish Setup” for it.
Checkmark “Enable cash on delivery” to make this option available during checkout.
And then, configure the following:
- Title – the tile of this payment option that the buyer will see on the checkout page.
- Instructions – give details on how the process will work.
- Enable shipping methods – if you have set up shipping methods and want the COD option available only for those methods, then you may select the respective shipping methods here. Leave it blank if you want it available for all shipping methods.
- Accept for virtual orders – if you are selling virtual services that you will deliver or serve in person, then you may enable COD for it and accept payments after providing your services.
Then click on Save Changes, and it will be ready.
Here’s how it will look in a live store on the checkout page:
Once the customer places the order, he will simply get an order summary.
Setting Up Online Payment Methods
Besides the offline payment methods, you may choose to enable online payment options where the buyers may pay using a credit card or PayPal.
To set up such options, you will need to use additional WooCommerce extensions. You will find a dedicated plugin for each payment gateway, which is mostly free to use, for example, WooCommerce PayPal Payments, WooCommerce Stripe Gateway, WooCommerce Square, Authorize.Net For WooCommerce, WooCommerce PayFast Gateway, etc.
PayPal and Stripe are the most commonly used online payment methods, and in the next section of this article, we will look at how you may set up these WooCommerce payment options.
1. Setting Up WooCommerce Stripe Gateway
Stripe checkout is considered the quickest way to create a conversion-optimized payment form. Among the safest & developer-friendly WooCommerce payment gateways, Stripe has an excellent reputation because,
- it is free to sign up for,
- there are no monthly fees,
- they’ve generally low transaction rates, and
- it supports a wide number of currencies.
To accept Credit Card payments via Stripe, you need to use the plugin WooCommerce Stripe Gateway.
Follow the steps below to configure it properly:
1. Go to Dashbaord > Plugns > Add New.
2. Search for WooCommerce Stripe Gateway, and you will find the following plugin.
3. Install and activate it.
4. Go to WooCommerce > Settings > Payments.
5. Here, look for the option Stripe – Credit Card (Stripe).
6. Enable it and click on Manage.
7. Then go to Settings.
8. Here, checkmark on Enable Stripe to make the option available on the checkout page.
9. You may give a Name and Description to this payment method which will be displayed on the checkout page.
10. Click on “Edit account keys.”
11. Here, you need to input the Live publishable key, Live secret key, and Webhook secret from your Stripe Account.
12. Once ready, click on the Save live keys.
13. Scroll down to the Payments & transactions section and you will find a few payment settings.
14. Checkmark “Enable separate credit card form.”
You may also Enable payments via saved cards to allow users to save their data on Stripe’s server and make changes to Transaction preferences if needed.
15. Scroll down and click on Save changes, and it is ready.
Here’s how it will look on the checkout page of your live store:
All orders placed will be marked as Processing, and you will be able to check the payment status from WooCommerce > Orders. Then you may deliver the product and mark the order as Complete.
Paypal
PayPal is one of the most popular, safest & widely used Woocommerce payment gateways. By using PayPal payment integration, customers can make purchases without disclosing their bank information.
Plus, there are more advantages for customers when using PayPal:
- PayPal is safe & doesn’t require any sensitive data other than just the basic information and terms & conditions.
- PayPal is inexpensive, with no fixed monthly or annual fees.
- It serves more than 200 countries around the world.
- It accepts payments in 25 currencies.
To accept payments via PayPal, you will need the plugin WooCommerce PayPal Payments.
Let us look at how you can start accepting payments via PayPal.
Follow the steps below to configure it properly:
1. Go to Dashbaord > Plugns > Add New.
2. Search for WooCommerce PayPal Payments, and you will find the following plugin.
3. Install and activate it.
4. Go to WooCommerce > Settings > Payments.
5. Here, look for the option Paypal and click on Finish Set up
6. Here, click on Activate Paypal, and it will take you through an onboarding process to connect your business PayPal account and the options you want to allow for payments.
7. Then click on Save Changes, and your option is ready.
8. You can further customize the options by going to WooCommerce > Settings Payments and clicking on Manage beside PayPal.
9. Here, on the Standard Payments tab, you can choose where you want your buyers to be able to pay via PayPal. You have the option to enable it on the Shop Page, Cart Page, Product Page, Checkout Page, etc. You may also go to the Pay Later tab to configure the Pay Later options.
Here’s how the option looks like on the checkout page if a prospect selects PayPal as the payment option:
Congratulations! You can see PayPal as a payment option on the checkout page now.
When a person chooses to pay, it takes him to the PayPal payment process window, where the buyer has to log in with his PayPal account and confirm payment.
Once the payment is made, an order is added to WooCommerce with the status Processing. You can then deliver the product and mark it as Complete.
A similar process may be followed for other WooCommerce payment gateways as well. For example, you can use PeachPay for WooCommerce checkout and payments too.
Conclusion
As you saw, it’s quite easy to set up your WooCommerce payment gateways. The best thing to do here is to make sure you are not cluttering up the checkout page with too many options and ensuring the safety and privacy of your buyers. So it’s best to allow a max 4 payment options, where one of them could be a local payment gateway.
Giving a smooth checkout process is crucial, and you may consider using custom checkout pages to optimize your buyers’ experience during checkout besides having the right payment options.
You may also choose a good checkout form layout, such as a multi-step checkout, to make it easier for buyers to complete the order without any confusion.
Let us know what WooCommerce payment options you use for your WooCommerce store in the comments below.
