How to Accept Credit Cards on Your WordPress Website

WordPress is a fantastic free CMS (content management system) that is immensely popular because it’s very easy to use and allows anyone to create a fully functioning website with a few simple clicks of the mouse.

What’s more is that WordPress is incredibly flexible. This means it is a perfect fit for any kind of website you might want to create. It is extremely popular with bloggers because it’s the perfect platform to showcase their work and allow readers to follow their content via RSS feeds.

But what if you’re a business that sells products online and you want to take advantage of the fact that WordPress is so flexible?

You could always use a free micro-hosting account from Shopify or WooCommerce to create your online store. But if you want to truly take advantage of WordPress’ flexibility, you should check out the self-hosting version. This is where you’ll need to take care of the server-side of your WordPress website. (The server is what actually handles the files and content of your website, so it’s a vital aspect to consider.)

Now, you might be wondering how to accept credit cards on your WordPress website. After all, you don’t want to confuse your existing customers by asking them to pay with a different method than they are used to. Right?

Thankfully, we’ve got you covered on this front. In this article, we will discuss three different ways you can accept credit cards on your WordPress website. Each one is completely free and incredibly easy to implement, so you can get started immediately.

Payments via Square

One of the most popular and well-known companies when it comes to taking online payments is Square. They provide a variety of popular payment processing services, such as credit cards and PayPal, that can be integrated directly into your WordPress website. (Check out this awesome guide to setting up a PayPal/Square merchant account to get started.)

What’s great about Square is the fact that they offer their services at no charge. Therefore, there’s no risk of your service charge (the fee that most credit cards charge your customer to process a purchase) going directly to Square. (This is where most small businesses get into trouble. They charge a fee for accepting credit cards, but the fees typically come out of the profit of the business.)

Additionally, with Square, you don’t need to worry about setup and maintenance. They handle all of this for you. As a result, you’ll have more time to focus on growing your business.

Payments via Stripe

Another option for accepting credit cards is Stripe. Stripe is a completely free service that handles all the heavy lifting when it comes to taking credit cards online. (No setup fees or hidden charges. Just free Stripe transactions and an easy-to-use dashboard where you can monitor your business’ finances.)

What sets Stripe apart from other services is that it targets small businesses who want to accept online credit cards. While larger businesses might consider PayPal or Square, Stripe was designed with smaller companies in mind.

Additionally, any business that accepts credit cards online basically needs to have a way for their customers to make those online purchases. Otherwise, the entire purpose of creating an online store is defeated. (Think about when you visit a website and the first thing you see is a big red button that says ‘Buy Now’ or ‘Add to Cart’.)

To learn more, check out this informative guide to accepting payments via Stripe and this helpful guide for integrating Stripe into your WordPress website.

Payments via Amazon Payments

Another way to accept credit cards is to use a service called Amazon Payments. With Amazon Payments, you can integrate credit card processing with your Amazon account. (No need to set up a merchant account. Simply upload your Amazon Payments widget to your website and start accepting payments.)

You can then choose which credit cards to accept via the Amazon Payments app. Or, you can accept all of them using the Amazon Bulk Payments API. (Which is probably the simplest way to go about this. Simply add the billing address of your Amazon account to your website. Then, any time a customer checks out via that website, the payment will go through successfully.)

Note: Amazon Payments only works for items that you ship to customers within the United States. If you’re outside of the country, you’ll need to use another service to process credit cards (like Stripe).

Secure Server-Side Transactions

One of the most important things for any business that accepts credit cards online is to ensure that credit card transactions (the act of making a purchase) are secure from hackers. (Also known as ‘cardholder data security’ or ‘point of sale security’. These are usually associated with fraudulent activity, so it’s essential that you take this seriously.)

The most obvious way to achieve full security for your credit card transactions is to use a virtual private network (VPN) to encrypt all traffic between your website and customer. (A VPN shields all data traveling between your computer and the internet, preventing any unauthorized individual from snooping around. A VPN also provides the additional benefit of being a strong deterrent to cyber-hackers trying to steal your customers’ personal data.)

You can also use a service called Shopify Payments to protect your online store’s credit card transactions. With Shopify Payments, all credit card information is encrypted, and all transactions are processed using 256-bit encryption. Plus, you have the option of using either Stripe or PayPal as your payment processor. (With Shopify, you don’t need a merchant account to sell digital goods and services. Simply create a Shopify store, add products, and start accepting payments.)

The takeaway from this information is that there are multiple viable options for accepting credit cards online. And the best part is that you don’t need to commit to one particular service to implement all of this. (Think about how lucky you are that you don’t have to choose just one!)