Learn how to accept credit card payments online for free. Our step-by-step guide shows you how to start accepting online payments today!
Approximate read time: 5.5 minutes
We've all heard the saying, "It takes money to make money." Well, not anymore.
💰 Formidable Forms's free plugin lets you collect online payments! 💰
That's right, you no longer need to pay for a premium plugin to process credit and debit cards. So you can start accepting payments online while keeping costs to a minimum.
Pretty sweet, right?
But before we show you how to set up online payments for free, there's a common question we want to address first. 🤔
How can I accept online payments without fees?
As much as we wish it were possible, there isn't a way to accept online payments without fees.
Credit card companies like Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express charge transaction fees to process payments. All the most popular payment gateways, including Stripe, PayPal, and Authorize.net, also charge fees.
You're probably thinking, "But wait a minute. I thought you'd show us how to accept card payments online for free. What gives?!"
Well, we mean the payment plugin is free to download and install. So there's no upfront cost to you!
Just click the button below to get it now! 👇
Our free plugin charges a small fee on each transaction. It's the perfect option for nonprofits and small businesses that don't want to pay hefty monthly fees to process online payments.
Now that we know how our free WordPress credit card payment plugin works, let's get it on your website and help you make money online! 🤑
Why use a WordPress plugin to accept credit card payments?
It may seem like adding another WordPress plugin to your website doesn't make sense.
But it makes a lot more sense when you get all the time-saving features of Formidable Forms. Here's why:
- Easy connection: Formidable integrates with Stripe, PayPal, and Authorize.net to cover all your payment needs.
- Form building: If you're taking orders, you need an order form. And Formidable is the best WordPress form plugin you can find.
- Connects to other services: Log your orders in Google Sheets? Have a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool you use? Formidable Forms connects to many other services so you can keep track of everything as you are now.
Overall, it makes your life easier and everything else a lot faster and more secure.
How to accept credit card payments online for free in WordPress
Step 1: Install and activate Formidable Forms
To get started, log into your WordPress admin. From the sidebar, select Plugins → Add New.
Search for "Formidable Forms," click Install Now, and finally Activate the plugin.
You can also manually download the free payment plugin and upload it to your WordPress site.
Step 2: Connect your website to Stripe
Now that you have Formidable on your site, head to Formidable → Global Settings → Stripe tab.
Here, select to Use the Stripe test mode while we get things set up. Then, hit the blue button to Connect to Stripe.
This opens up the Formidable Forms Stripe integration so you can log into your Stripe account.
Don't have a Stripe merchant account yet? No worries, the wizard will guide you through the steps to make one. 🧙
Once you've logged in or created your account, your website will be connected to Stripe!
Yep, it's really that quick and easy!
Step 3: Create your payment form
You must create a payment form for your site to accept credit card payments online for free.
But don't worry, that's part of what makes Formidable the best payment plugin — it's a powerful WordPress form builder, too! 💪 And you can even automatically generate PDF invoices from forms, too!
Let's not get ahead of ourselves and focus on making your form!
In the back-end of your website, go to Formidable → Forms. Then hit + Add New.
Select Blank Form to make your free online payment form from scratch.
Don't want to start from the ground up? Pre-built payment form templates are available exclusively to Formidable Pro users.
Next, use the drag-and-drop form builder to add a Payment field to your form. And we also want to add a Text field for the customer's first and last name and an Email field.
After that, add any other fields you want to your form, and when you're finished, click Update to save. 💾
Step 4: Configure your form to collect payments
Last but not least, let's get your form accepting payments!
Under the Settings tab at the top of your screen, select Actions & Notifications → Collect a Payment.
Here, you can customize the payment description and amount, choose your currency, and type (one-time or recurring payment).
⚙️ For a complete guide to configuring payments, check out our knowledge base article.
Hit Update again to save your changes, and ta-da! You're ready to start collecting online payments for free! 💸
All that's left is to publish your form on whichever page or post you choose. Add the Formidable Forms block in the WordPress editor, pick your payment form from the dropdown, and Publish your page.
What's the easiest way to accept card payments online for free?
The easiest way to accept card payments online is by using Formidable Forms Lite to collect Stripe payments on WordPress. But it isn't only debit and credit card payments you can accept online for free with Formidable...
Take your online payment forms up a level
This free plugin allows you to access 15+ Stripe payment options for your online store or subscription site. 😲
You can also offer customers a wide range of payment methods, including:
- 📱 Digital wallets and mobile payment apps - Google Pay, Cash App, Apple Pay, and AliPay
- 🏦 Bank account transfers and direct debits - ACH payments, iDEAL pay, SEPA, and more
- 📆 Buy-now-pay-later payment processors - Affirm and Klarna
And all it takes is one click in your Stripe account to add all these extra payment services.
Looking to reduce credit card transaction fees?
If you're getting tons of transactions on your site, did you know it could save you money to upgrade from our free plugin to Formidable Pro?
Our Business and Elite premium form maker plans have no transaction fee, so you can keep a bigger piece of the pie! 🥧 And who doesn't want more pie?
Click the button below to check out our Pro plans 👇
For more eCommerce tips and tricks, check us out on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
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