How To Accept Payments Through Forms In WordPress Without The Need For eCommerce Solution?

You don’t need an eCommerce solution to accept payments through forms in WordPress. It might seem like WooCommerce is your only option for collecting payments if you have a WordPress site. The truth is, there are other alternatives out there.

Selling goods and services automatically can be simple without the need for a complete e-commerce solution. You just need the right tools for the job.

One of the best ways to simplify the process is by creating a form and adding a payment field to it. This can quickly be done using the right plugin. In this guide, you’ll learn how to create form and use it to accept payments using WPForms plugin.

There is paid and free version of WPForms. For basic forms, including contact forms, newsletter subscription forms, and suggestion forms, you can use the free Lite version (see benefits of using WordPress form builder plugin).

The Premium version of WPForms is helpful for functions such as file uploads, reducing form abandonment, creating WordPress payment forms, conditional logic forms, etc. You’ll also need the premium version to start accepting payments on your site.

 

How To Accept Payments Through Forms In WordPress?

I highly recommend using the WPForms plugin for creating forms with payment processing. The plugin is straightforward to use as it utilizes drag and drop form builder.

The Lite version is free, but you’ll need to purchase the PRO edition to use payment add-ons. WPForms allows you to use Paypal and Stripe to accept payments on the forms you create. Here’s how to set it up:

— After you have installed and activated WPForms plugin go to “WPForms” and select the “Addons” menu.

— From there, install PayPal Standard Addon or Stripe Addon or both if you intend to offer multiple payment gateways options.

 

payment collection forms wordpress

 

— Click on “Add New” inside your WPForms menu, and this will bring you to a setup page in the form builder. Pick a name for your form, and then select the “Billing/Order Form” option.

 

billing order form wordpress

 

You can use a blank form if you want, but the billing form will give you a headstart and show you how WPForms works for accepting payments.

A billing/order form template will load commonly used fields for this purpose. Just point and click to edit individual fields. You can also add new fields by using the menu on the left column.

 

online payment forms wordpress

 

— While in the left column menu, scroll down to the “Payment Fields” option. This will let you add fields for payment options.

The item field will allow you to edit pricing and item information. With WPForms, you can add both single and multiple items that your customers can order. Once you’ve made all edits, click on the credit card field to add this option to your form.

— Now that your form is complete, you can enable payments for your form.

 

enable payment gateways wordpress form plugin

 

I will use Stripe as an example in the next series of steps.

— Click on the “Payments” tab from the menu on the left-hand side of your screen and select “Stripe.” Stripe requires costumers to use a credit card for purchases, but they don’t have to leave your site to make those transactions.

You’ll need to make sure that your website has SSL/HTTPS enabled so that you can accept credit card payments. If you don’t have SSL certificate, then check my post where I explain how to add free SSL certificate to WordPress site.

Before enabling Stripe payments, you need to set up your Stripe API keys (both Live and Test) on the WPForms Settings page under Payments.

 

adding stripe gateway to wordpress form plugin

 

— When you did that, click on the checkbox that’s next to the “Enable Stripe payments” option. You will also need to provide a description of the payment.

If you want, you can use the drop-down menu and choose the email field to send email notifications of orders to your customers.

 

accept credit card payments wordpress forms

 

— Another option is the ability to receive email notifications about customer purchases and sending your customers an email to confirm that their order has been received.

To do this, go into the “Settings” menu on the left and select “Notifications.” WPForms should have already created a form that delivers an email to your WordPress administrator’s email address whenever a new order is placed.

You can edit this email notification by adding multiple email addresses, changing the copy, subject line or whatever other details you want. If you want to send customers a separate notification, select the “Add New Notification” option.

 

send customers notifications about purchase wpforms

 

You will then need to give the notification a name. Once you’ve selected the name, you’ll see all of the notification fields that you can edit.

Select the “Show Smart Tags” option that’s next to the “Send to email address” button. Choosing the “email” field allows WPForms to send emails to the email address the customer submitted when filling out the form online.

 

smart tags wpfroms plugin

 

Add a subject line and message, and you can edit the rest of the email notification. If you want, you can add smart tags to add information such as product details, user information, and other details from the form fields.

— Click on the “Save” button when you’re done with your edits and exit the form builder menu. You’re now ready to accept credit card payments on your site. This option can be added to any WordPress page on your website.

All you need to do is to either create a new page or edit an existing one and select the “Add Form” option that’s right above the page editor.

Once you’ve done this, a pop-up will appear that lets you choose the form you want. Once you’ve selected the form, click on the “Add Form” option.

WPForms will then add the necessary shortcode to your post edit area. WPForms is one of the simplest ways to create forms and add credit card payment options in WordPress.

If you don’t want to use Stripe as I did in the above example, you can use PayPal as a payment option by using the WPForms PayPal Standard Addon.

As spam can be issue for any kind of form, for stopping spam form submissions in WordPress, WPForms offers integration with Honeypot and Google reCAPTCHA.

 

Payment Collection Forms Summary

Many small businesses or companies that only sell a few selected products or services don’t want a full-scale shopping cart for their website. All they need is a simple order form that lets their customers pay.

WPForms makes setting up this option and creating forms easy for users at any skill level. WPForms will help you set up your payment form, whether you’re accepting donations for a nonprofit (see Give vs Charitable comparison), selling digital and/or physical products or creating a user registration form for people to access restricted or premium content on your site.

Currently, WPForms only accepts Stripe and PayPal as payment options. For additional payment methods, you’ll need to buy the third-party addon for WPForms.

JetFormBuilder and WPPayForm are also great way to accept payments using your WordPress forms.

You may also want to consider the Gravity Forms plugin which supports payment gateways including 2Checkout, PayPal, Stripe, and Authorize.net. Check WPForms vs Gravity Forms comparison to see differences between these two.


DISCLOSURE: Posts may contain affiliate links. If you buy something through one of those links, I might get a small commission, without any extra cost to you. Read more about it here.

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