1Introduction

This manual describes the installation, configuration and use of the payment module for WooCommerce and Stripe.

Before you can begin with the installation, make sure that you have all the necessary data at hand. You will need:

  • Stripe Public Key
  • Stripe Secret Key
  • WooCommerce payment module from sellxed.com/shop
  • Login data for you server and shop

Note that you must use at least PHP version 5.6 for our plugins. PHP 8 or higher is currently not supported.

1.1Installation Process

This document contains all the information necessary to install the module. When activating the module each step must be followed carefully. This ensures the safe use of the module in compliance with all security regulations.

  1. Configuration of the Main Module
  2. Configuration of the accepted payment methods as well as the authorization methods
  3. Conducting a test order
  4. Activating your Stripe account
Installation Service

Our payment plugins should have per default the correct settings for most of our customers' preferences. That means once you have entered the required credentials in the plugin configuration to connect your account to your website, the plugin should be fully operational. Should you be willing to receive detailed information on a setting you do not know, you may contact our support team who will be able to assist you further.

Our support team is at your disposal during regular business hours at: http://www.sellxed.com/support. Furthermore, you have the option of ordering our installation service. We will make sure the plugin is installed correctly in your shop: http://www.sellxed.com/shop/de/integration-und-installation.html

.htaccess Directory Protection

In order to test the module, any kind of directory protection or IP blocking on your server must be deactivated. This is crucial as otherwise the payment feedback of Stripe might not get through to the shop.

1.2System Requirements

In general, the plugin has the same system requirements as WooCommerce. Below you can find the most important requirements of the plugin:
  • PHP Version: 5.4.x or higher
  • OpenSSL: Current version with support for TLS 1.2 or higher.
  • fsockopen: The PHP function fsockopen must be enabled. The plugin must be able to connect to external systems over the Internet.
  • PHP Functions: All common PHP functions must be enabled.

2Stripe Backend Configuration

You can find an overview of the transactions and settings in the backend of Stripe:

2.1Configuration of the Main Module

This is a brief installation instruction of the main and most important installation steps. It is important that you strictly follow the checklist. Only by doing so, the secure usage in correspondence with all security regulations can be guaranteed.

  • After having opened your account at Stripe, enter the access data that you received from Stripe into the main module in the space provided.
  • Copy the Secret Key that you find in the Stripe Dashboard under Developers > API Keys.
  • Copy the Publishable Key that you find in the Stripe Dashboard under Developers > API Keys.
  • Create a new endpoint in the Stripe Dashboard under Developers > Webhooks, and enter the link provided in the setup form of the plugin.
  • Open the previously created endpoint, and copy the Signing Key. The Signing Key needs to be entered in the main settings of the plugin in the field 'Webhook Secret'.
  • Select 'Update Details' and activate the endpoint for the following events: charge.failed, charge.succeeded, source.canceled, source.chargeable, source.failed
  • Optional: If you use SEPA, do not forget to configure your merchant name.
Figure 2.1: Create Webhook Endpoint
Figure 2.1: Copy Webhook Secret
Figure 2.1: Select Events

2.2Configuration of the Payment Methods

For further information about the configuration of the payment methods and the meaning of each setting, click here. After having activated and configured the payment methods you can run a test by means of the published test data in the manual. If all the tests were successful, switch the operating mode in the main module to Live.

2.3Apple Pay, Google Pay, Microsoft Pay.

These payment methods are only supported on mobile devices and with the required versions (OS and Browser)

When a customer is paying via Apple Pay, Googlr Pay, Microsoft Pay a button will be displayed on the screen. ONce this button is pushed the plugin will automatically detect the customers device and open the corresponding app. To use apple pay you need to be registered, all information on this can be found here: https://stripe.com/docs/stripe-js/elements/payment-request-button#verifying-your-domain-with-apple-pay

2.4Additional Styling via Stripe.css

It is possible to style the fields of your form with CSS. For this, you may simply edit the provided stripe.css file inside the module. The input style is defined in .StripeElement, the container is defined in .StripeWrapper. For more information you may visit this link.

3Module Installation and Update in the WooCommerce Shop

3.1Installation

At this time you should already be in possession of the module. Should this not be the case, you can download the necessary files in your customer account in the sellxed shop (Menu "My Downloads Downloads"). In order to install the module in your shop, please carry out the following steps:

  1. Download the plugin. The download can be found in your sellxed.com account under "My Downloads".
  2. Unzip the archive you have just downloaded.
  3. In the unzipped folder navigate to the folder "files"
  4. For some shops there are different versions of the plugin provided. If this is the case open the folder which corresponds to your shop version.
  5. Using your preferred FTP client upload entire content of this folder into the root directory of your shop. For some shops there is a specific folder containing the plugins. If that is the case upload the plugin into this folder. Make sure that the folders aren't replaced but merely merged.
  6. If you haven't yet done so, log back into your shop.

3.2Updates and Upgrades

You have direct and unlimited access to updates and upgrades during the duration of your support contract. In order to receive constant information about available updates we ask you to subscribe to our RSS feed that we publish for your module.

More information regarding the subscription of this RSS feed can be found under: http://www.sellxed.com/en/updates_upgrades.

We only recommend an update if something doesn't work in your shop, if you want to use new feature or if there is a necessary security update.

3.2.1Update Checklist

We ask you to strictly comply with the checklist below when doing an update:

  1. Always do a backup for your database and your files in your shop
  2. Use always a test system to test the update process.
  3. Wait until all the files are copied to the shop, clear the cache if there is one in your shop and then visit the configuration page of the main module so that the update process will be initialized.
Do not do updates directly in the live environment

Please test the update procedure first in your test shop. Our support team is able and willing to help you if you experience problems with the update process. However, if you decide to perform the update directly in your live shop there is the possibility of a downtime of the shop of more than two days depending on the availability of our support if you do not want to book our complementary support.

Depending on the version it could be that the database has to be migrated. We recommend you therefore, to perform the updates in times when the shop is not visited too frequently by your customers.

3.2.2Update Instructions

Please always read the update instruction. Those instructions can be found in the changelog. If there are no special remarks, you can proceed by just overwriting the files in your system.

4Module Configuration in the WooCommerce Shop

The configuration consists of two steps. The first step is the configuration of the main module with all the basic settings (cf. Configuration of the Main Module). During the second step you can then carry out individual configurations for each payment method . This allows for full flexibility and perfect adaptation to your processes.

Create backups!

Please create a backup of the main directory of your shop. In case of problems you will then always be able to return your shop to its original state.

We furthermore recommend testing the integration on a test system. Complications may arise with third party modules installed by you. In case of questions, our support is gladly at your disposal.

4.1Configuration of the Main Module

You can activate the plugin by clicking "activate" under the module WooCommerce Stripe in the menu Plugins.

After the Installation of the plugin a new menu on the dashboard will appear called Stripe . Enter all data in the corresponding fields. Each option is, furthermore, explained in short info texts in the shop.

4.2Defining the URL for the Transaction Feedback

To ensure correct payment processing in your shop, at least one Feedback URL has to be provided in the Stripe configuration. The URL to be entered can be found in your WooCommerce Shop under: Stripe > Setup > Setup

4.3Configuration of the Payment Module

After having successfully configured the main module, you can find the settings for the individual payment methods in your shop under WooCommerce > Settings > Checkout (In earlier version it was WooCommerce > Settings > Payment Gateways). Each payment method is listed individually. Install the payment methods you wish to offer to your customers. You can carry out individual settings for each payment method and thereby optimally adapt the payment methods to your existing processes. The most central options are described in more detail further below.

By clicking on Enable the payment method is activated in your shop. For more detailed information on the settings, please refer to information provided directly within the module configuration.

4.4Direct Capturing of Transactions

The option "Capture" allows you to specify if you wish to debit payments directly or if you first wish to authorise them and then debit the payment at a later point.

Depending on your acquiring contract, a reservation is only guaranteed for a specific period of time. Should you fail to debit the payment within that period, the authorisation may therefore no longer be guaranteed. Further information on this process can be found below.

Different settings between Stripe and the module

It may be that settings saved in the payment modules overwrite settings saved in Stripe.

4.5Uncertain Status

You can specifically label orders for which the money is not guaranteed to be received. This allows you to manually control the order before shipment.

4.5.1Setting the order state

For each payment method you may select in which state the order should be set to depending on the booking state. This is the initial state of the order.

4.6Optional: Validation

Note: It can be that this option is not visible in your module. In this case just ignore this section.

With the option 'Validation' you can define the moment when the payment method should be made visible to the customer during the checkout process. This setting is relevant for modules where the usage depends on the customer's compliance with specific preconditions. For example, if a solvency check has to be carried out or if the payment method is only available in certain countries. In order for the credit check or address validation to also work with European characters, the charset of the "Blowfish mode" must be set to "UTF-8" for certain PSP settings.

You have the choice between these options:

  • Validation before the selection of the payment method: A validation verification is carried out before the customer selects the payment method. If the customer does not fulfill the requirements, the payment method is not displayed
  • Validation after selection of the payment method: The verification of the compliance occurs after the selection of the payment method and before the confirmation of the order
  • During the authorisation: The validation verification is carried out by Stripe during the authorisation process. The payment method is displayed in any case

4.7Redirection / Payment Form Error

If the successful redirection to the payment page suddenly stops working or you are only able to see the header and footer of your template instead of the payment form, you might be affected of the following issue. As a first step, you should update your payment plugin to the latest version, deactivate it in the backend of WooCommerce and activate it again.

If you are using WPML it can happen that the page for the redirection of the customer to Stripe payment page results in a '404 Page Not Found' error. In this case, you will have to duplicate our checkout page under 'Pages' in the corresponding languages. In order to do so please follow these steps:

  1. Go to the WooCommerce backend and select: Pages > All Pages. There you should find a Page called "Stripe Checkout".
  2. Delete all existing pages called “Stripe Checkout”.
  3. In the plugin section of your Wordpress dashboard, deactivate the WooCommerce Stripe plugin and activate it again. This will help you to generate a new redirection page.
  4. Navigate again to Pages > All Pages. Open the configuration of the new redirection page.
  5. On the right hand side under 'languages' you can now duplicate the content of this page for all of your installed languages. When you have successfully saved the changes, this page will be active for all of your languages and the error should have disappeared.

5Settings / Configuration of Payment Methods

5.1General Information About the Payment Methods

The plugin contains the most common payment methods. In case a desired payment method is not included per default, please contact us directly.

In order to be able to use a payment method, it must be activated in your account with Stripe as well as in your shop. Information about the configuration of the payment methods can be found further above.

Below you can find important information for specific payment methods that deviate from the standard process.

5.2Information on Payment Status

For each payment method you can define an initial payment status (status for authorized payments etc.). You hereby define the payment status for each state depending on the processing type of the order (captured, authorized, etc.). It's the initial status which the order assumes. Depending on the mutation carried out by you, the status can change.

Important info regarding Order Status

Never set the status to Pending Stripe or any similar pending status which is implemented by the module.

5.2.1Order status "pending" / imminent payment (or similar)

Orders with the status 'pending Stripe' are pending orders. Orders are set to that status if a customer is redirected in order to pay but hasn't returned successfully or the feedback hasn't reached your shop yet (Customer closed window on the payment page and didn't complete payment). Depending on the payment method these orders will automatically be transformed into cancelled orders and the inventory will be cleared (so long as the Cronjob is activated). How long this takes depends on the characteristics of the payment method and cannot be configured.

If you have a lot of pending orders it usually means that the notifications from your webserver to Stripe are being blocked. In this case check the settings of your firewall and ask the Hoster to activate the IPs and User Agents of Stripe.

5.2.2Order status "cancelled"

Orders with the status "cancelled" have either been set to that status automatically due to a timeout, as described above, or have been cancelled directly by the customer.

6The Module in Action

Below you will find an overview of the most important features in the daily usage of the Stripe module.

6.1Useful Transaction Information on the Order

You can find an overview of the transaction information in within the order detail view. Among others, this information allows for the definite attribution of the orders to their corresponding transaction, seen in the backend of Stripe.

Figure 6.1: Transaction Information in WooCommerce.

6.2Usage of the Alias Managers / Token Solution

With the Alias Manager, your customers can securely save their credit cards with Stripe for later purchases. You can enable this by activating the option "Alias Manager" in the configuration of the Payment Method. The customer can then choose from his or her saved credit cards without having to re-enter all the details.

Figure 6.1: Alias Manager in WooCommerce
Alias Manager Options

The usage of the Alias Managers requires the activation of the correct option with Stripe. To do so, please contact the support directly.

6.3Capturing of Orders

Please note

The transaction management between your shop and Stripe is not synchronized. If you capture payments with Stripe, the status in the shop will not be updated and a second capturing in the shop is not possible.

In order to be able to capture orders you must make sure that you have set the option 'Capturing' to 'deferred' in the payment method configuration.

Open the order and look for the Stripe transaction tab at the bottom. Capturing via the internal operation of WooCommerce is not supported.

Figure 6.1: Transactiondetails in the transaction tab of a specific order.

Click on "More Details" to view the transaction details. By clicking Capture button, you get into the following context.

Figure 6.1: Deferred/Manual capture of transactions within WooCommerce

Enter the amount of your choice that you wish to capture from the customer's card. By clicking Capture a direct capturing of the order occurs with Stripe.

Please be aware that cancelling the transaction does not cause a status change of the order.

6.4Refunds

You can refund already captured transactions and automatically transmit them to Stripe.

Please note

That the default WooCommerce functionality is not supported by our plugin.

Figure 6.1: Transactionsdetails via Orders > Stripe Transactions.

By clicking Refund button, you get into the following context.

Figure 6.1: Refund of transactions within WooCommerce

Just like for the capturing, you open the order and click on the magnifying glass next to the order of your choice. Enter any refund amount of your choice in the field provided for this purpose. By clicking refund the refund request will directly be sent to Stripe and the specified amount will be credited on the customer's credit card.

Please note that you can't refund more than 100% of the original amount.

Furthermore, please be aware that processing a refund will not cause a status change of the order.

6.5Transaction Process

Each action affiliated with transaction management is logged by the module.

Figure 6.1: Transactions in the Overview of the Transaction Process

6.6Setup a Cron Job to Activate the Timed Operations

To activate the timed operations of the plugin (e.g. update service, deleting pending orders, etc.) make sure that you set up the WooCommerce Cron engine. Especially the update function allows you to automatically retrive additional information or changes of your order directly via the API of Stripe. Please note it could be that in order to use the update feature it may be necessary that Stripe activates additional options in your account.

The module uses the standard cron engine of WooCommerce. More infromation regarding the set up can be found here.

7Testing

Before switching from test to live mode it is important that you test the module extensively.

Testing

Do not forget to switch the operating mode from test to live after having successfully tested the module.

7.1Test Data

In the following section you can find the test data for the various payment methods:
Credit / Debit Card
Card number
4242424242424242
Expiry Date
12/2020
CVC
123
VISA
Card number
4000056655665556
Expiry Date
12/2020
CVC
123
VISA Debit
Card number
5555555555554444
Expiry Date
12/2020
CVC
123
MasterCard
Card number
5200828282828210
Expiry Date
12/2020
CVC
123
MasterCard Debit
Card number
378282246310005
Expiry Date
12/2020
CVC
123
American Express 1
Card number
371449635398431
Expiry Date
12/2020
CVC
123
American Express 2
Card number
6011111111111117
Expiry Date
12/2020
CVC
123
Discover 1
Card number
6011000990139424
Expiry Date
12/2020
CVC
123
Discover 2
Card number
3530111333300000
Expiry Date
12/2020
CVC
123
JCB 1
Card number
3566002020360505
Expiry Date
12/2020
CVC
123
JCB 2
Card number
30569309025904
Expiry Date
12/2020
CVC
123
Diners 1
Card number
38520000023237
Expiry Date
12/2020
CVC
123
Diners 2
Visa
Card number
4242424242424242
Expiry Date
12/2020
CVC
123
VISA
Card number
4000056655665556
Expiry Date
12/2020
CVC
123
VISA Debit
MasterCard
Card number
5555555555554444
Expiry Date
12/2020
CVC
123
MasterCard
Card number
5200828282828210
Expiry Date
12/2020
CVC
123
MasterCard Debit
American Express
Card number
378282246310005
Expiry Date
12/2020
CVC
123
American Express 1
Card number
371449635398431
Expiry Date
12/2020
CVC
123
American Express 2
Discover Card
Card number
6011111111111117
Expiry Date
12/2020
CVC
123
Discover 1
Card number
6011000990139424
Expiry Date
12/2020
CVC
123
Discover 2
JCB
Card number
3530111333300000
Expiry Date
12/2020
CVC
123
JCB 1
Card number
3566002020360505
Expiry Date
12/2020
CVC
123
JCB 2
Diners Club
Card number
30569309025904
Expiry Date
12/2020
CVC
123
Diners 1
Card number
38520000023237
Expiry Date
12/2020
CVC
123
Diners 2

8Errors and their Solutions

You can find detailed information under http://www.sellxed.com/en/faq. Should you not be able to solve your problem with the provided information, please contact us directly under: http://www.sellxed.com/en/support

8.1Page Not Found Error prior to the redirection to Payment Page

If you are using WPML it can occur that the Pages for the display of the payment methods or for the redirection to Stripe end in a Page Not Found Error.

In this case you have to duplicate our Pages in the corresponding languages. In order to do so please follow these steps:

  1. Go to the main menu and select Pages > All Pages. There you should find a Page called Stripe Checkout.
  2. Open the configurations.
  3. On the right hand side under languages you can now duplicate the content of this page for all of your installed languages. When you have successfully saved the changes this page will be active for all of your languages and the Error should have disappeared.

8.2The Referrer URL appears in my Analytics Tool

When a customer and the notification are redirected via Header Redirection, the Stripe Referrer URL might appear in your Analytics Tool thus hiding the original traffic source. However, most Analytic Tools are able to minimize this problem.

In case you are using Google Analytics as reporting tool, this step by step guide may help you to exclude the URLs: under bullet point 4.

9Compatibility with Third-Party Plugins

The plugins listed below are compatible with our payment modules and allow you to handle certain tasks in an easier way.

9.1Fee's and discount's within WooCommerce

To configure a Stripe payment gateways based fee and discount you will need the following 3rd-Party plugin.

9.2Multilingual WooCommerce sites

To run multilingual WooCommerce sites you will need the following 3rd-Party plugin.

9.3Birthday and gender in WooCommerce

For certain payment service providers it is necessary to check the birthday and the gender of a customer. WooCommerce does not check this by default.

How to enable gender and birthday checks in your shops checkout
  1. Either add custom checkout field yourself or download Flexible Checkout Fields to do so.
  2. Modify the order context getters to return the value of your custom checkout field from the order / session (or wherever the previous step saves the data).

    Order Context Getters

    • AbstractOrderContext
    • getBillingDateOfBirth()
    • getBillingGender()

    These functions can be found in "wp-plugins/woocommerce_stripecw/classes/StripeCw/AbstractOrderContext.php".

10Error Logging

The module will log different unexpected errors or information depending on the configured level. If there is any issue with the module, this log can help identify the cause.

10.1Log Levels

You can configure the log level in the Stripe settings.

  • Error: Logs unexpected errors only. (Default)
  • Info: Logs extended information.
  • Debug: Logs information helpful for debugging.

10.2Log Location

The log file is stored in wp-content/uploads/wc-logs. Please make sure the path exists and it is writable by the webserver.

11Advanced Information

This section of the manual is for advanced usage of the module. The content is for advanced users with special requirements. Everything in this section is optional and not required for the daily usage of the module.

11.1Transaction Object

This section describes how to extract information from a transaction, if you need it for further processing. E.g. you require more information of the transaction for further processing an order in your ERP system.

The code snippets in this section assume your script resides in the root folder of the shop with the default shop folder structure.

Have Wordpress initialized in your script, this is required for the database connection.
require_once( dirname(__FILE__) . '/wp-load.php' );
Include the modules Util class.
require_once ABSPATH.'wp-content/plugins/woocommerce_stripecw/classes/StripeCw/Util.php';
Now you can load the transaction and then extract the transactionObject.
Load the transaction by Id:
$transactionById = StripeCw_Util::getTransactionById($transactionId);
$transactionObject = $transactionById->getTransactionObject();
Load the transaction by the external Id:
$transactionByExternal = StripeCw_Util::getTransactionByTransactionNumber($externalId);
$transactionObject = $transactionByExternal->getTransactionObject();
Load transactions by Post ID, this is the internal WooCommerce order id:
$transactionsByPostId = StripeCw_Util::getTransactionsByPostId($orderId);
foreach($transactionsByPostId as $transaction){
	$transactionObject = $transaction->getTransactionObject();
	//Do something with each object
}