Have you ever wanted to accept a payment with your web site but didn’t know how to get started? Accepting online payments via real-time credit card authorizations requires an online merchant account, a shopping cart, and payment processor like Authorize.net. And all the monthly fees from these services will substantially increase your overhead before you’ve even accepted a payment from a customer. One additional consideration before accepting payments online is the risk of credit card fraud or worse customer data exposure. Fortunately there is a much easier solution for levering your web site to accept payments.
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You probably already have a Paypal account but integrating that into your web site’s design can be a challenge even if you’re a technical person. Fortunately WPForms which is one of the best WordPress plugins I’ve ever purchased has a PayPal Addon that makes the configuration process a breeze. Please note that the PayPal Addon is not free. It is included with the Pro edition; however, they frequently have specials running so you can usually get it at a discount. In fact this past Black Friday / Cyber Monday it was 60% off.
In this walkthrough I will demonstrate why I think the WPForms is the best PayPal WordPress plugin I have ever used – and the easiest to configure.
Activate WPForms PayPal Standard Addon
From the WordPress Dashboard, click on WPForms and then click Addons. Before we can create the new payment form you have to activate the PayPal addon. From the Addons menu, you will be presented with a screen showing the numerous addons included with your license. Scroll through the list or Search for “PayPal” and then Click Activate.
Create Billing / Order Form
Once the PayPal Standard Addon has been activated click Add New from the Forms Overview then click Create a Billing / Order Form.
Before editing the form fields you will see a friendly reminder to configure your PayPal settings. It goes without saying this needs to be completed before you can receive any payments from your new form.
By selecting each of the form fields you can change their respective properties such as setting the default State, changing the title, or making a field required. There are also advanced options and conditional logic that can be added. Once you’ve completed your changes click Save.
Configuring Payment Provider
You have the option of using PayPal Standard or Stripe which is another online payment processor. In my example below I am setting up PayPal. There are several options you can configure such as using the PayPal Test/Sandbox mode. This would allow you to test functionality without incurring any PayPal transaction fees. After entering your PayPal account email address check Enable PayPal Standard payments and click Save.
The Settings tab provides the option to change the default confirmation your customer will receive upon submitting their payment.
After saving the new billing / order form you will be presented with the form’s WordPress shortcode. This shortcode needs to be inserted into the WordPress page where you want the form to appear.
The Forms Overview screen not only shows all the forms that are configured but also shows the WordPress shortcodes for each form.
Add the New Payment Form to a Page
Once the WPForms plugin is installed a special button will be added to the WordPress Page editor. Simply click Add Form and you will be presented with a menu to select any of the forms currently configured in WPForms. Alternatively you could just cut and paste the WPForms shortcode into page editor. Either way works just fine. Next all you need to do is click Publish and your new payment form will be publicly accessible. If the page you just published is a new page (as opposed to adding the payment form to an existing page) be sure to add the page to your site’s navigation menu.
Making a Payment
Now it’s time to get paid! Once the WPForms payment form has been configured and published it’s ready for action.
Upon submitting the form you will be transferred to PayPal to confirm your payment and complete the sale.
After completing the sale PayPal with return you back to the web site where you submitted the payment form and WPForms will display the default confirmation message. As show earlier this message can be modified as needed.
In Summary
Typically with ecommerce if you want to accept payments with your web site you need a shopping cart, a merchant account, and a payment processor. All of which include a lot of monthly fees, overhead, and risk. Now with the convenience of PayPal it has never been easier to accept payments with your web site thanks to the simplicity of the WPForms PayPal Addon. Thanks for reading.
