Taking payments on WooCommerce in the UK: which options do you need?

What UK shoppers expect at checkout

Most UK customers expect to pay by debit or credit card, and many prefer a wallet such as Apple Pay or Google Pay because it saves typing card details on a phone. A good share of shoppers also look for PayPal. For trade customers, bank transfer or payment on invoice is often expected. Your goal is not to offer every method, but to make sure the people you sell to see a way to pay that they trust and that is quick to use.

For most new shops, a sensible starting set is:

• Card payments through one main gateway.
• Apple Pay and Google Pay, usually through the same gateway.
• PayPal as a second option.
• Bank transfer only if you sell to businesses or very high-value items.

The main types of payment provider

WooCommerce connects to payment providers through plugins, many of them official extensions. The providers fall into a few groups:

Option	What it covers	Things to check
Card gateways (for example Stripe, WooPayments, Square)	Cards and usually wallets, taken on your checkout page	Fee structure, payout timing, supported features, dispute handling
PayPal	PayPal balance and linked cards; some PayPal plugins also take cards	Fees per transaction, how refunds and disputes work
Buy now, pay later providers	Customers spread the cost; you are usually paid upfront	Merchant fees, eligibility, rules on how you advertise it
Bank transfer or invoice	Direct payment, often for trade customers	Manual matching of payments, credit risk

Fees and features change, so compare each provider's current pricing page rather than relying on figures quoted elsewhere. The guide to essential WooCommerce plugins covers how to choose well-maintained extensions in general.

Wallets and express checkout

Apple Pay and Google Pay are not separate gateways: they run through your card gateway. Once enabled, many gateway plugins can show express payment buttons on the product page, cart and checkout, so a customer can pay in a couple of taps without filling in the full form. That matters most on mobile.

Points to check when you set wallets up:

• Apple Pay usually needs your domain to be verified with the gateway. Most plugins handle this, but confirm it worked.
• The buttons only appear on devices and browsers that support them, so test on both an iPhone and an Android phone.
• Make sure shipping costs calculate correctly in the express flow, because the customer may never see your normal checkout page.

Security and Strong Customer Authentication

Online card payments in the UK are generally subject to Strong Customer Authentication, which means the customer may be asked to confirm a payment in their banking app or by a code. Modern gateways handle this through 3D Secure automatically. If you use an old or poorly maintained plugin, payments can fail at this step without a clear error, which looks to the customer like a broken checkout.

The safest set-up is one where card details are entered into fields hosted by the gateway, so card numbers never pass through or get stored on your own server. That keeps most of the card security burden with the provider. Ask your gateway what remains your responsibility, and keep the plugin updated. Our WooCommerce security guide covers the rest of the shop.

Buy now, pay later

Pay-later options can suit higher-priced items such as furniture, electronics or jewellery. You are usually paid in full, minus a merchant fee that is often higher than a standard card fee. The rules for these products in the UK have been changing, including how they may be promoted, so check the Financial Conduct Authority's website and your provider's guidance before you advertise pay-later on product pages. For low-priced items the extra fee rarely makes sense.

What to check before you choose a provider

Use this list when comparing providers:

1. Fee structure: percentage and fixed fee per payment, and whether UK, European, international and business cards are priced differently.
2. Refunds: whether the original fee is returned when you refund an order.
3. Disputes: the fee for a chargeback and how easy it is to submit evidence.
4. Payouts: how many days until money reaches your bank, and whether new accounts start with a longer delay.
5. Reserves and holds: whether the provider can hold back part of your money, and under what conditions. This matters for pre-orders and made-to-order goods.
6. Verification: what documents you need to provide to open the account.
7. Features you need: subscriptions, saved cards for repeat customers, partial refunds, multiple currencies, in-person payments at markets.
8. Reporting: whether fee reports export cleanly for your bookkeeping.

Setting up and testing

Every serious gateway plugin has a test mode. Before you go live:

• Place test orders with the provider's test card numbers, including one that triggers 3D Secure and one that is declined.
• Check that webhooks are working, so orders move to "processing" automatically after payment and do not stay stuck as "pending".
• Issue a test refund from inside WooCommerce and confirm it reaches the gateway.
• Check the order emails the customer and you receive.
• Switch to live mode and place one small real order with your own card, then refund it.

Watch for failed payments in the weeks after launch. A sudden rise usually points to a plugin or configuration problem, and every failed payment is a potential lost order. Our guide to reducing abandoned carts covers other checkout fixes.

Gateway plugins need regular updates to keep working with your provider's systems. On Retail Web Hosting, WordPress, WooCommerce and plugin updates are applied automatically on every plan, so your payment extensions do not fall behind.

Frequently asked