Set Up Stripe & PayPal in WooCommerce

WooCommerce · 5 min read

1. Prepare the shop

Use a staging copy and back up the shop. Check HTTPS, updates and the currency under WooCommerce → Settings → General. For a Canadian shop using CAD, confirm your merchant account accepts that currency. Fees and eligibility depend on the payment provider.

2. Install the official extensions

In Plugins → Add New, find WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway and WooCommerce PayPal Payments. Verify WooCommerce as the publisher before installing and activating. Avoid competing extensions for the same payment method. Labels may differ between versions.

3. Connect Stripe

Open WooCommerce → Settings → Payments → Stripe. Follow the account connection wizard, checking the correct Stripe account. Enable test mode and check the extension’s webhook status. Select payment methods suitable for your customers; availability varies.

4. Connect PayPal

Open PayPal Payments under Payments and complete merchant account connection. For testing, use sandbox mode and sandbox accounts rather than live credentials. Review enabled options and where buttons appear on the cart and checkout pages.

5. Consider GoCardless where appropriate

GoCardless handles bank debits rather than card payments. Check merchant eligibility, countries, currencies and required mandates before installing its extension. Connect the account and use its sandbox. A pending debit should not be described as an immediately settled payment.

6. Test the whole journey

Use only provider-issued test data. Verify these scenarios before launch:

Successful and declined payments, plus additional authentication where supported.
Order notes, status and notifications matching the provider’s outcome.
Test refunds, mobile checkout and protection against duplicate orders.

7. Go live and investigate errors

Connect production accounts and disable test mode only on the live shop. If payment appears stuck, inspect order notes, WooCommerce → Status → Logs and provider events before asking the customer to retry. Give support the time, order reference and error, without API keys or banking details.