How to Accept Payments With WordPress (2 Easy Options Explained)

Looking to accept payments with WordPress? Whether youre launching a full-on e-commerce store or just looking to list a few products or services for sale, WordPress has plenty of functionality to help you do just that.Two of the best options to making that happen are WooCommerce and PayPal Buy Now Button –  both  are easy to set up and use and they provide two different levels of complexity to suit your unique needs. If you just want a lightweight solution suitable for listing a small number of products or services, PayPal Buy Now Button is for you. And if youd like a more complex and flexible solution, you might prefer going with WooCommerce. Either way, were going to show you how!Introducing PayPal Buy Now Button PayPal Buy Now Button Author(s): Scott PatersonCurrent Version: 1.7.2Last Updated: June 3, 2019wp-ecommerce-paypal.1.7.2.zip 92%Ratings 128,892Downloads WP 3.0+Requires The  PayPal Buy Now Button  plugin  is a straightforward tool to help you accep t payments with WordPress. You can use it to insert a button – or several of them – anywhere on your site, and that button will enable users to pay you through PayPal. This plugin is incredibly simple to install, and configuring it shouldnt take more than a few minutes.Before we jump into the instructions, you may be interested to know that PayPal  does enable you to add payment buttons manually, without the use of a plugin. You dont need an account to do it either – just follow PayPals instructions and youll get a code snippet that you can add to a page or  post.If youre wary about dealing with code, however, PayPal Buy Now Button is a solid alternative that also will save you some time if you need to create a large number of payment buttons. Read on to find out how to use it.How to use PayPal Buy Now Button to accept online paymentsAfter installing and activating the plugin, youll see a new PayPal Button option under Settings on  your dashboard. Clicking on this option will send you to the plugins main settings screen, where you can pick a language and currency for your button:If you scroll a bit further down, youll find an option to enter your PayPal Merchant ID (a unique identifier for those of you who have merchant accounts) or a regular email address. Youll need at least one of these  to start receiving payments:Finally, you can also pick from among several button styles at the bottom of this page, as well as indicate whether PayPal should open in the same window or a new one when a user clicks on the button.After saving your settings, identify the page or post where you want to include your first PayPal button and open  its editor. Youll find a new PayPal Button option right next to Add Media:Click on it, and then all you have to do is indicate a name, price, and alignment for your button:Once youre done, click on Insert and the plugin will add a shortcode to your page. Your button will now show up on the front end of your site.Easy as pie, right? If youre looking for a more powerful option, however, read on to discover an excellent alternative you may want to try out.Introducing WooCommerce WooCommerce Author(s): AutomatticCurrent Version: 3.7.1Last Updated: October 9, 2019woocommerce.3.7.1.zip 92%Ratings 77,312,503Downloads WP 4.9+Requires WooCommerce is one of the most popular e-commerce options for WordPress users, and with good  reason. This plugin feels like a natural extension of WordPress right out of the box, and it packs all the features youll need to create and manage an online store. Plus, there are dozens of handy extensions available that can add extra functionality to your site.The core difference between this one and the PayPal Buy Now Button plugin is that WooCommerce is a fully-fledged e-commerce store solution its a complete online store. Whereas PayPal Buy Now Button is a simple buy button that only allows you to collect a payment for a specific thing, but is not connec ted with any online store functionality.One of WooCommerces core  features is, of course, accepting payments with WordPress. It  enables customers to pay you using either PayPal or Stripe  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ as long as you turn those settings on – but it also provides you with a way to add more choices. By using extensions, you can add integrate almost every major online payment gateway into your store. So if youre looking for a plugin that lets you keep your options open, this is it.Just as before, the first thing youll need to do is  install and activate the plugin. When youre done with that, proceed to the next section.How to use WooCommerce to accept payments with WordPressAs soon as you activate WooCommerce, youll be taken to a setup wizard that will help you  configure your online store from scratch. When you get to the fourth step,  youll be able to  choose the payment gateways you want to enable:By default, WooCommerce ships with two popular payment gateways: PayP al and Stripe. You can configure each by navigating to  WooCommerce → Settings → Checkout on your dashboard, and finding the corresponding option at the top of the screen:For example, clicking on PayPal will send you to a new page where you can configure where your payments will go, and customize all the other settings youll need:The payment gateways you  select  will show up when a user tries to check out, so all you have to do is enable and configure each one. Then your store will be ready to go!As we mentioned earlier, you can also use WooCommerce extensions to add more payment gateways to your roster. Setting these extensions  up works just the same as with other WordPress plugins, and you can find them  in the WooCommerce repository:After enabling the  extensions you want, youll see new options appear on your WooCommerce Settings page. You can then  configure them using the same method  we described above. Then, your customers can pick which paymen t option they want to use on the front end of your site.Once you  set up your payment options, all you need to do is create WooCommerce products for the items that you want to sell.ConclusionFiguring out the best way to accept payments with WordPress shouldnt be an afterthought to setting up your site; its a critical step to making sure your website succeeds. After all, customers will quickly become frustrated if they cant pay with ease, and you wont be able to focus on growing your site if you dont get your money promptly.If youre looking for the easiest way to start accepting payments online,  PayPal Buy Now Button may be the right plugin for you.On the other hand, if youd like to let your customers use more than one payment gateway, WooCommerce provides you with more alternatives (and comes with a lot of other excellent features that will help you set up your store). How to easily accept online payments with #WordPress Click To Tweet Do you have any questions about how to ac cept payments with WordPress? Fire away in the comments section below!Free guide5 Essential Tips to Speed Up Your WordPress SiteReduce your loading time by even 50-80% just by following simple tips.