One of the most popular payment methods that is available for Event Espresso 4 is PayPal Standard as it allows you as an event creator / organizer to accept payments via PayPal.com funds or through a credit / debit card. It is really easy to get started with PayPal by registering for a business or premier account over on PayPal.com. However, it may not be necessarily the best option for accepting payments on your website.
Offsite Payments vs. Onsite Payments
An offsite payment option will take a registrant/attendee from your website to another website to process a payment. They will then be returned to your site after their payment has been completed. An example of this payment flow would be PayPal Standard.
An onsite payment option such as Authorize.net AIM or Stripe will keep your registrants/attendees on your site. This means that their registration and payment will be taken on your site. For this reason, onsite payment methods are recommended over offsite payment methods.
Enable a Mix of Payment Options
The best option is to offer a mix of an offsite payment option along with an onsite payment option. This will offer the most flexibility for the following reasons:
- Not everyone has a PayPal account
- Not everyone will want to pay with a credit card (e.g. some may prefer using PayPal for payments)
Here are some examples of a few combinations:
Offsite payment method + Onsite payment method
PayPal Standard + Stripe
PayPal Standard + PayPal Pro
PayPal Standard + Authorize.net AIM
Note: PayPal Standard or the payment methods mentioned above may not be available for every country in the world. If they are not available for your country, then the best option is to offer a payment method that is popular in your country.
Enable Guest Checkout with PayPal Standard
PayPal offers a guest checkout option to premier and business account holders. This option is only available to merchants in certain countries.
Step 1 – Login to your PayPal.com account
Go to PayPal.com and login to your PayPal account.
Step 2 – Go to your Profile Settings
Look in the top right corner of the screen and click on the person icon. Then click on Profile and Settings.
Step 3 – Edit Website Payment Preferences
Look in the left navigation menu and click on My Selling Tools. Then locate Website Preferences under Selling Online and click on the Update link. On the next page, scroll down and look for the PayPal Account Optional setting and click on On. Then scroll to the end of the page and click on Save.
If you do not see the options mentioned above, then contact PayPal.com support.
Step 4 – Update the Payment Method Description for PayPal Standard
Next, return to your WordPress dashboard (WP-admin) and go to Event Espresso –> Payment Methods –> PayPal Standard. Now edit the Description to include a note that a PayPal.com account is not required and then save changes. Here is some sample messaging that could be used:
Upon clicking on the Finalize Registration button, you will be transferred to PayPal.com where your payment will be securely processed. A <strong>PayPal account is not required</strong> and you can pay with a credit or debit card.
The strong HTML tags in the sample messaging above will not be visible to your registrants/attendees. They will apply bold to the “PayPal account is not required” part of the messaging.
Tomorrow you will learn how to increase trust on your registration checkout page.