How-to › Start here
How to Take Your First Payment
Connect Stripe, Square or PayPal with a test account first, or take bank transfer, test with test money and switch to live. 9 parts.
Quick links
Where to find it:WP Admin › EasyCart › Settings › Payments
Before you start
What you need
Which gateways are free, which need a license, and what each one requires.
What you need
An account with the gateway, and which options cost what
What you need. A WP EasyCart store with at least one product, and an account with the payment provider you choose. Stripe and Square take cards on your own checkout page; Stripe is the one that bills subscriptions, and with PRO adds Apple Pay, Google Pay and Link.
Free or PRO. Bank transfer ( Bill later ) is free in every edition. Stripe, Square and PayPal connect through EasyCart Connect and, on the free edition, carry a 2% WP EasyCart fee on each sale, on top of the provider’s own fees. A PRO or Premium license removes that fee and unlocks 30+ more gateways, including Authorize.net, Braintree, Moneris and Intuit Payments. Amazon Pay is a PRO wallet. There is a 14-day free trial if you want to try PRO first.
Secure checkout. Stripe and Square need your site on https. PayPal does not.
The steps are: open Settings › Payments, connect a gateway with a test account, test it with test money, then switch to live.
Set it up
Four steps to a first payment
Choose, connect, test with test money and go live.
Step 1. Open Settings › Payments
Stripe, Square and PayPal side by side, a test account one link away
Open EasyCart › Settings › Payments. The first card, How do you take payments?, shows Stripe, Square and PayPal side by side, with Another gateway ( PRO ) for everything else:
Cards go through one card processor: Stripe, Square or another gateway. Shoppers type their card on your checkout page.
PayPal adds PayPal, Venmo and Pay Later buttons, on its own or beside your card processor.
Bank transfer, further down, takes the order now and you collect payment yourself.
Not taking cards yet? PayPal on its own, or bank transfer, is enough to start. Square is only offered where Square takes payments, which follows your store country in Settings › Store details.
Each provider has a button to connect your real account and a text link under it to connect a test account first. A test account is the safe way to start: checkout works, but no real money moves.
Step 2. Connect Stripe
A test account first, then your live one
Press or connect a test account under Connect Stripe, or Connect Stripe itself to go straight to your live account. The first time on the free edition you are asked to accept the EasyCart Connect terms. Stripe’s own page opens, you sign in or create an account, and you come back to Settings › Payments with a note saying Stripe is connected.
Stripe’s card now shows In use and a banner: Test mode while the test account is in use, Live once real cards are charged. Under it, Steps for Stripe lists what is left: going live, Apple Pay and Google Pay ( PRO ) and Subscriptions, which are ready as soon as Stripe is connected.
Settings on the card opens Stripe’s settings in a side panel, in tabs: your Currency and Business country, payment methods, and under Notifications from Stripe the Webhook address to add in Stripe so refunds and disputes reach your orders. Changes wait for Save at the foot of the panel. With PRO, What shoppers can pay with switches Apple Pay and Google Pay, Link, Stripe’s local ways to pay such as Klarna or Affirm, and Amazon Pay through Stripe, one switch each.
💡 Note: Stripe is the only gateway that can bill subscriptions. Every part of the Payments page is explained in Settings › Payments & Taxes › Payments.
Or connect Square
Cards on your site, kept in step with your Square account
Press Connect Square, or or connect a sandbox account to start with a Square sandbox, and finish the authorisation on Square’s side. If you stop half way, the page says Square did not finish connecting; try again. Once Square is connected, the note offers Bring your Square items into your store.
Steps for Square starts with Will you sell subscriptions? Subscriptions bill through Stripe only, so answer Yes and the page offers to take cards with Stripe instead. Then it checks the connection, Your Square location, whether you keep your items in Square ( Import from Square ), and with PRO stock that follows Square, Square gift cards and Apple Pay and Google Pay.
A store that started in the sandbox connects its live account from the card, then moves between the two with the Live / Test switch on it.
Add PayPal
PayPal, Venmo and Pay Later buttons that shoppers already know
PayPal works on its own or beside Stripe or Square, so adding it never changes your card processor. Press Connect PayPal, or or connect a sandbox account for a PayPal sandbox. No SSL certificate is required.
Once connected, PayPal’s card shows On with its own live or sandbox banner, Settings and Turn off. Its settings hold the Buttons: Venmo button ( shoppers in the US ), Debit or credit card button, Pay Later, Advertise PayPal Credit, PayPal on the cart page, and the button color and shape. With PRO, Venmo and Pay Later also have switches in What shoppers can pay with.
Or take orders and pay by bank transfer
Bank transfer, cheque, pay on pickup, no fees
Bank transfer needs no gateway. The customer completes the order and pays you offline, and you follow up yourself. It costs nothing in every edition, and a new store starts with it off.
In What shoppers can pay with, turn on the Pay by bank transfer switch, then press Wording and bank details to open the Bill later wording:
Bill later option name: what the choice is called at checkout and on the receipt. It starts as Pay by bank transfer; change it if you take cheques or payment on pickup instead.
Instructions for the shopper: shown at checkout and on the receipt. Say when to pay, where to send a cheque or your pickup notes.
Bank details: your account in your country’s format, such as sort code and account number in the UK, IBAN and BIC in Europe, BSB in Australia or routing and account number in the US. They are listed under your instructions at checkout, on the order confirmation and in invoice emails, with the order number as the payment reference.
Press Save. Orders paid this way wait as Awaiting bank transfer until you mark them paid.
Step 3. Test it
Place an order with test money
While a gateway is in test mode, orders are not charged. Its card says so in an amber banner, and What your customer sees, beside the cards, shows the payment step your shoppers will get.
In a private window, so you are not logged in as an admin, buy a product from your store.
Stripe. Use the card Stripe publishes for tests, 4242 4242 4242 4242, with any future expiry date and any security code. To see a refusal, use 4000 0000 0000 0002, which Stripe declines.
Square. Use the sandbox test card numbers listed in Square’s developer documentation.
PayPal. Sign in at checkout with a sandbox buyer account from your PayPal developer dashboard.
Already live with Stripe? Switch one staff account to Stripe test mode ( Users › Customers, the customer’s Tax & Preferences ) and it checks out with test cards while everyone else pays live.
Then open Orders. The order should be there with the right total, and Before you go live ticks An order has gone through your checkout. If it does not, see the last section.
⚠️ Careful: A gateway in test mode takes no money. Before you announce your store, check Before you go live on Settings › Payments says every way to pay takes live payments.
Step 4. Go live
Take live payments and place one real order
On Stripe’s or Square’s card, press Live on the Live / Test switch, or Take live payments in the steps. You are asked first: Take live payments? Real cards are charged from now on. If the live account is not connected yet, the card offers Connect your live account instead. PayPal has the same switch on its card, and other ways to pay with a test mode are listed under Live or test.
Then read Before you go live under the preview: your card processor connected, every way to pay live, an order through your checkout, and your terms, privacy and returns pages published.
Place one real order for a small amount, confirm it appears in Orders, and refund it. A gateway that works in test mode can still fail live, for reasons a connection check cannot see, such as an account not yet approved for live processing.
⚠️ Careful: Taking live payments charges real cards from that moment on. Place one real order to confirm it works before you promote the store.
When it goes wrong
Troubleshooting
What to check when a payment fails or nothing is charged.
If it does not work
What to check when a payment fails
Shoppers cannot pay by card. In What shoppers can pay with, Cards says Needs a card processor, or the summary says No way to pay is set up, so shoppers can’t check out. Connect Stripe or Square, or finish the gateway you chose: a card that says Not connected yet takes no cards.
Payments succeed but nothing is charged. A gateway is still in test mode. The summary says so, and Before you go live lists it under Still in test mode:. Switch it to Live.
A card says Needs a plan. A PRO gateway stays selected but takes no payments without an active license. Renew, or change to Stripe or Square with Change payment gateway.
A card says No longer takes payments. Moneris USA, Dwolla and PayPal Advanced can no longer take payments. Worth a look at the top of Settings › Payments says what to use instead, and Change payment gateway opens by itself so you can choose another.
Subscription products can’t be bought. Subscriptions bill through Stripe only. Worth a look offers Take cards with Stripe.
Stripe or Square will not load on the checkout. Both need your site on https. Check that your certificate works.
Refunds or subscription events do not reach your store. Check the webhook. Stripe must send events to the Webhook address shown under Notifications from Stripe in Stripe’s settings.
A card was refused and you cannot see why. Open Settings › Advanced › Log entries. It records the reply your gateway sent back, marked OK or Error, with the order it belongs to. A decline keeps the gateway’s reason there.
Changed something by mistake? Recent changes here, at the foot of Settings › Payments, lists every change from the last 30 days with Undo.
Still stuck? Open a ticket at wpeasycart.com/my-account.
💡 Note: What each log entry means is covered in Settings › Advanced › Log entries, and the readiness checks in Store Status.
Keep going
Related panels
Every part of the Payments page, and every gateway.
Guest checkout and the rest of the checkout settings.
The gateway replies your store recorded.
Licence state and the four readiness checks.
Ready to run your store on WP EasyCart?
Everything in this guide works with the free plugin. PRO and Premium add subscriptions, memberships, wholesale pricing and more. Try every PRO feature free for 14 days.
