Enabling express checkouts

Express checkout methods allow customers to quickly pay for a product or service using pre-filled information from an existing account. The result is a completed purchase with very little “friction,” which can help lead to increased conversion rates.

With the Stripe extension, there are three express checkout methods available:

• Apple Pay
• Google Pay
• Link by Stripe

This guide will cover the requirements for offering express payment methods and how to enable them on your site.

To properly display express payment methods via the Stripe extension:

• Your domain must have a valid SSL certificate.
• Your entire site must be served over HTTPS.

In addition to the site requirements above, Apple Pay also requires that:

• Your server has port 443 open.
• Your server supports the TLS 1.2 protocol or later.
• Your domain is enabled on your Stripe account’s payment method domains page.

In addition to the site requirements above, Google Pay also requires that:

• Your domain is enabled on your Stripe account’s payment method domains page.

In addition to the site requirements above, Link by Stripe also requires that:

• Your Stripe account is based in one of the following countries: the United States, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, or any European country.

To enable express payment methods in the Stripe extension:

1. Navigate to WooCommerce > Settings > Payments > Stripe > Payment Methods.
2. Scroll down to the Express checkouts section.
3. Select which of the express payment methods you’d like to enable.
4. Select the Save changes button when you are finished.

After saving your payment method settings, you can customize how Apple Pay and Google Pay buttons appear on your site by selecting the Customize button.

When customizing Apple Pay and Google Pay, you can change:

• Which of the following pages these buttons will appear on:
  • The checkout page.
  • Individual product pages.
  • The cart page.
• The call to action used in the buttons.
• The size of the buttons.
• The color theme of the buttons.

A preview of the buttons is also shown so that you can see how these customizations will appear before saving your changes.

Express checkout methods are very similar to card payments. As a result, work well with most features, such as test mode and separate authorize/capture. But there are some cases in which express checkout methods won’t be shown:

• Any non-default product type
• Trial subscriptions with shipping
• Pre-orders that charge upon release
• Composite products
• File upload fields
• Free products
• Variable subscriptions where any variation is out of stock
• Products that don’t require shipping, but only if the “Calculate tax based on” setting is set to the customer billing or shipping address

Additionally, some extensions add custom fields to the checkout page(s). These extra fields are ignored if:

• They are present on the shortcode checkout page, or..
• They are present on the blocks checkout page, and not added using the woocommerce_register_additional_checkout_field hook

First, it’s important to note that express checkout methods are card payments. The payment is still processed like a card because a customer is effectively using the card details that are saved to their Apple, Google, or Link account.

That said, you may want to offer these express payment methods without displaying the card payment fields on your site’s checkout page. If this is the case, then you can hide the card fields by adding some CSS to your site.

/* Hide the Stripe card fields on shortcode checkout page */
body.woocommerce-checkout .payment_method_stripe {
    display: none;
}