Since 2011, WooCommerce has been empowering entrepreneurs to turn their WordPress websites into online shops. The popular eCommerce plugin helps its almost four million active users create elegant websites, manage inventory, and fulfill orders.
WooCoomerce recently released its own payment processing solution. This new feature simplifies how eCommerce entrepreneurs accept and manage financial transactions on their WooCommerce websites.
Should you switch from your current payment processor to WooCommerce Payments? That’s a decision you’ll have to make for yourself.
There’s a lot to learn about WooCommerce Payments, including:
- What WooCommerce is
- What WooCommerce Payments is and why it’s so special
- How much WooCommerce Payments costs to use
- How to add this new payment processor to your WordPress website
What Is WooCommerce?
WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin that lets you transform your website into an eCommerce shop. Just like WordPress, WooCommerce is free, open-source software. Because of its open-source nature, WooCommerce’s customization capabilities are almost endless.
What are the Benefits of WooCommerce?
WooCommerce is a great option for WordPress users who want to turn their websites into eCommerce shops. Why?
WooCommerce is an all-in-one eCommerce solution for WordPress sites. Rather than adding separate plugins for inventory management, payment processing, analytics, and marketing to your WordPress website, you can get all of those capabilities in one plugin with WooCommerce. The plugin enables you to create product pages, track inventory, print shipping labels, manage returns, and send customers order notifications. WooCommerce Payments is WooCommerce’s newest feature.
WooCommerce websites have powerful customization options for every budget and every level of technical skill. You can personalize WooCommerce’s default Storefront theme for free with some coding knowledge, or if you have $69, you can purchase WooCommerce’s Storefront Extensions bundle and customize your website without coding. You can also find inexpensive child themes for WooCommerce’s Storefront, or shop for custom WooCommerce-compatible WordPress themes anywhere that WordPress themes are sold.
The WooCommerce plugin is backed by legendary support. Its meticulously developed documentation portal houses hundreds of tutorials. Its help desk is manned by a team of 58 employees who live in different time zones and are therefore able to provide support around the clock.
WooCommerce is an ideal solution for anyone who wants to build an eCommerce website on WordPress.
How to Add WooCommerce to Your WordPress Website
Adding WooCommerce to your WordPress website is as easy as downloading a plugin.
- Login to your WordPress dashboard.
- On the menu on the left, hover over “Plugins.” Select “Add New” from the menu that appears.
- You are now in the plugins directory. Search for “WooCommerce.”
- Find the plugin that looks like this.
- Click “Install Now.”
- After the plugin has been installed, click “Activate.”
- You will then be taken to through the WooCommerce set up process. Click “yes please” to continue.
- Input your store or company address.
- Choose the industry that best describes your company.
- Select the type(s) of products you want to sell on your eCommerce website. While products and digital downloads are free to sell on WooCommerce, other types of products require paid extensions to add to your website.
- Answer a few questions about your business.
- You will be automatically opted in to download the Facebook for WooCommerce, Mailchimp for WooCommerce, and Google Ads plugins to your WordPress. Opt out if you’d like.
- Choose a theme for your WooCommerce eCommerce shop. You can select a free option or paid option.
- You can test out a theme before activating it by clicking “Live demo.”
- When you’ve found a theme that you like, activate it by clicking “Choose.”
- Decide if you want to add the Jetpack and WooCommerce Services plugins to your website.
- Next you’ll be taken to your WooCommerce dashboard. You’ll see some recommended tasks to complete in the “Finish setup.” Click on each task and follow the instructions until your eCommerce shop is ready to go.
What Is WooCommerce Payments and How Does It Benefit Your Business?
WooCommerce Payments is a payment processor created by WooCommerce for eCommerce websites that are built with the WooCommerce WordPress plugin.
This new feature simplifies how merchants manage payments. With WooCommerce Payments, you can accept credit and debit card payments directly in WordPress.
The best part of this new feature? You’ll no longer have to leave your dashboard and go to a third party payment processor like Stripe or PayPal to manage financial transactions. WooCommerce Payments also lets you handle refunds and disputes.
But WooCommerce Payments doesn’t just benefit merchants. It also improves the check out experience for customers.
With WooCommerce Payments, customers don’t have to leave your site or make an account with PayPal or Square in order to complete a purchase. They can enter their payment details directly on your online shop.
This streamlined checkout process has the added benefit of reducing abandoned cart rates. In general, the simpler the checkout process, the more likely it is that interested customers will finish it.
WooCommerce Payments is only available to U.S.-based merchants (for now).
How Much Does WooCommerce Payments Cost?
Let’s explore how WooCommerce Payments’ fees compare to those of popular competitors that are compatible with WooCommerce eCommerce shops.
WooCommerce Payments Fees
The WooCommerce Payments plugin extension is free to install.
WooCommerce Payments collects the following transaction fees:
- Domestic credit cards or debit cards: 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction
- International credit cards or debit cards: 2.9% plus 30 cents, plus an extra 1% fee on top of that
- Disputes: $15 per lost dispute
Stripe Fees
Stripe collects the following transaction fees for annual transactions of $1 million or less:
- Domestic credit cards or debit cards: 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction
- International credit cards or debit cards: 2.9% plus 30 cents, plus an extra 1% fee on top of that if a currency conversion is needed
- Disputes: $15 per lost dispute
PayPal Powered by Braintree Fees
PayPal Powered by Braintree doesn’t charge WooCommerce users fees until they reach $50,000 in transactions.
After that point, Braintree charges the following fees:
- Domestic credit cards or debit cards: 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction
- International credit cards or debit cards: 2.9% plus 30 cents, plus an extra 1% fee on top of that if a currency conversion is needed
- Disputes: $15 per lost dispute
The bottom line:
WooCommerce Payments fees are in line with what competitors charge.
How Do I Add WooCommerce Payments to My Website?
U.S. merchants can follow these steps to activate WooCommerce Payments on their WooCommerce websites.
1. Visit the WooCommerce Payments landing page and click FREE DOWNLOAD.
2. Sign in to your WordPress.com account to complete your free purchase.
3. Follow these WooCommerce setup instructions to download and activate the WooCommerce Payments plugin extension.
4. Go to your WordPress dashboard. In the left side bar, click on Payments which you’ll find nested in the WooCommerce plugin settings. Follow the set up instructions.
You are now ready to accept and manage payments via WooCommerce Payments!
The new payment processor from WooCommerce makes selling products through WordPress easier than ever. With WooCommerce Payments, you no longer have to leave your site to manage financial transactions. Your customers won’t have to leave your site either, which lowers abandoned cart rates.
WooCommerce Payments is an enticing new offering from the makers of WooCommerce. Want to try it for yourself? Host your website with a web host optimized for WordPress. Learn more about website hosting with Bluehost.
