WPForms PayPal Commerce

A subscription plan is locked once saved

You launch a monthly fee from a form and it works. Months later you want to offer it every quarter, you open the plan and find that setting can no longer be changed. Neither can the name or the product type. To modify them you must delete that plan and create another.

A mistake in a plan's setup shows up when you can no longer correct it, so the name, type and frequency get thought through before saving.

WPForms PayPal Commerce lets you charge by card or PayPal from your forms, in one-time or recurring payments. It does not create a cart or manage a catalog.

Three methods that do not always combine

The PayPal Commerce field needs at least one active method:

• Credit Card Payments: payment with cards from supported providers, which you turn on or off by type.
• PayPal Checkout: the customer uses whatever is saved in their PayPal account. The submit button is replaced by a PayPal button.
• Fastlane: lets returning customers pay with their saved details.

Card and Fastlane cannot be enabled at the same time. In addition, card fields depend on PayPal features available only in some countries.

One-time payments and rules that decide when to charge

A one-time payment can send PayPal the billing address, the shipping address and the name, taken from your form's fields. The billing address is not shown to the customer on the site, but appears in your PayPal dashboard. If you leave the shipping address blank, it is not requested. You can also add a payment description.

Conditional logic separates both charge types. One form can hold one-time and recurring payments, and each submission uses only one, depending on your rules. You can also block a charge until a condition is met, such as ticking the terms checkbox.

Plans, frequencies and cycles

Recurring payments are stored as individual plans. A form can have as many as you like, though only one is processed per submission: if several have rules, the first to match wins. Each plan includes these settings:

• Product type: Digital, Physical or Service.
• Frequency: weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-yearly or yearly.
• Total cycles: 1 to 99 payments, or Infinite for a subscription with no end.
• Retry: PayPal tries the charge again if the first payment fails.

Card fields do not support subscriptions: a recurring charge must be offered through another method.

Connecting your Business account and setting up the form

You need WPForms installed and up to date, plus a PayPal Business account. The service is not available to users in Switzerland. If you use the PayPal Standard addon, disable it: the two cannot run at the same time. Then follow these steps:

1. Activate the addon and open WPForms, Settings, Payments.
2. Press Connect with PayPal Commerce and log in with your Business account.
3. Enable Test Mode to try transactions.
4. Add the PayPal Commerce field to the form.
5. In Payments, PayPal Commerce, choose one-time, recurring or both with rules.

Webhooks keep records up to date when a payment is completed, refunded or canceled. They are normally configured on their own when you connect the account; if not, you can create them manually.

If your form charges through another provider

If you already work with Gravity Forms, its PayPal Checkout add-on accepts one-time payments and subscriptions through PayPal. To charge with Stripe without building a cart, WP Simple Pay Pro supports one-time and recurring payments.

Within the same family, WPForms Pro is the base, and WPForms Coupons adds discount codes to payment forms.

Common situations with the addon

What does it add over WPForms Lite?

Lite already accepts one-time payments and one recurring plan. The addon adds conditional logic, multiple plans and payment management in the dashboard.

Can I change the frequency of an existing plan?

No. You must delete the plan and create a new one with the frequency you want.

Why can I not see the card fields?

Check PayPal's eligibility list for your country. Those fields are only available in some.

What does the invalid connection error mean?

Usually your account lacks support for PayPal Complete Payments. You need to ask PayPal to enable it.

Can I test Apple Pay locally?

No. Apple Pay requires registering your domain and does not work on local sites.

Can I see payments in WordPress?

Yes. They are viewed and managed from the admin area.