Set up a WooCommerce payment method
Step 5 of the Configure WooCommerce Settings series.
Before opening your online shop, you should enable payment options so customers can checkout. Payment methods are displayed on your checkout page depending on which payment options you enable.
When choosing payment options, there are a few different things you should consider. First, it's important to understand how to manage orders in WooCommerce. This will also help you understand the ecommerce payment process better.
It's important to research which payment option is right for your shop based on your customers, location, fees, security, and which payment method you'd like to offer customers. There's a variety of default payment options included in WooCommerce, or you can use payment gateway plugins.
While we won't cover all of the details of choosing a payment option in this article, we'll help you get started on how to enable payment methods via the Payments tab, and provide resources that will help you choose the best payment method for your shop.
Configuring a payment option may take some time depending on what option you choose, so please be sure to set aside enough time for setting up payments.
Available payment options
WooCommerce offers both online and offline payments. Online payments requires a payment gateway, which is the "point of sale terminal" equivalent in ecommerce. When a customer checks out, the payment details are sent to the payment gateway for processing. The payment gateway you choose will provide payment methods such as paying by credit cards. Using a payment gateway will require additional set up and fees.
Offline payments allows you to accept payments in person via check or cash. As a store owner, it's your responsibility to confirm that the payment is cleared for offline payments before shipping and marking the order as complete.
- GoDaddy Payments: Accept credit and debit cards online with simple, low transaction fees. No setup fees or contracts required. This is payment option is included with the GoDaddy Managed WordPress Ecommerce and Managed WordPress plans. If you don't have either of those plans, you can still use GoDaddy Payments by downloading for free at WordPress.org.
- Direct bank transfer: Accept payments in person via the Bank Account Clearing System (BACS). Orders using this method will be set On Hold until the payment clears out of WooCommerce.
- Cheque payments: Accept payments in person via checks. This method is also useful for testing purchases before you open your shop to customers. Orders made via checks are set On Hold until the payment clears out of WooCommerce.
- Cash on delivery: Accept cash for the order in person. Orders paying with cash are set to Processing until the payment is made. Once payment is made, you'll need to manually update the order status in WooCommerce.
- PayPal Standard: Directs customers to Paypal so they can complete their purchase. This requires a Paypal account and additional set up in WooCommerce.
- Premium payment gateway extensions: If none of the included options fit the needs of your business, you can choose to install other payment gateway extensions.
Enable payment options
- Choose a payment gateway. The quickest way to get started is to Enable GoDaddy Payments on Managed WordPress.
- Navigate to WooCommerce > Settings > Payments tab.
- Add or update WooCommerce payment methods. When you enable a payment method that requires extra set up steps, you'll be redirected to the payment method's setup screen. If you're using a payment gateway plugin, please refer to that plugin's documentation for the set up instructions.
Tip: The list of installed gateways can be dragged and dropped to control their display order on your shop's checkout page.
Click Save changes and move on to the Accounts & Privacy tab.
