Explaining the availability of credit card payment using the Paytabs portal to receive payments from customers on a store

In order to receive payments from customers of your online store, you need to install a payment gateway that provides the ability to easily receive payments through the store. We previously talked about the most famous electronic payment gateways available in the Arab world, but today we will talk in particular about the Paytabs payment gateway and provide a practical example of installing the payment gateway on a WooCommerce store, and preparing it to receive online payments from anywhere around the world. We will explain in a 100% experimental way, starting with the procedures necessary to contract with the payment gateway, the modifications required in the store to be accepted by the payment gateway, as well as the method of creating an account, sending the necessary documents, obtaining the API link code and activating it within the store, and in the end we will provide a practical example of trying to purchase a product in a practical way.

The following explanation was applied to a store that sells digital products, but whatever type of products you sell within your store, you can apply the same steps without the slightest difference. 1.

Uploading products into the store and reviewing prices 

The first step is to ensure that all your products are uploaded, as you add product data, such as the product title and description, and upload images of the product, through the (Products) tab in the WooCommerce add-on settings panel: After adding all the products, check the prices and set them in the correct way, and review all the products  inside the store to ensure that all the data is correct: 

2- Set the default currency for the products and store data. The next step is to ensure that the store data and address are written correctly, because the payment company will ask you to add the store data, specifically the store’s address, such as the street address, city, country, and zip code. This data can be easily set within your store by entering the (Settings) tab for adding WooCommerce: It is also necessary to verify the currency of your country, and here most electronic payment gateways require that the store’s default currency be the same as the currency. The country in which the store is located, even if you will receive payments from other countries, it is required that the virtual currency in the store be the same as the currency of the store's country. In our case, we are describing an online store located in Egypt, and indeed Paytabs requested that the virtual currency within the store be set in Egyptian pounds, and the same applies to other companies such as Paymob, Geidea, and others, and it was confirmed that the virtual currency must be equal to the local currency of the country in which the store is registered. You can set the virtual currency for your store from within the same settings page that we mentioned previously, and do not forget to save the changes: 3- Prepare the basic pages within the store 

There are some basic pages that must be prepared within the store before contacting the payment gateway company so that it does not reject your request to subscribe to it. These four pages must be prepared and published within the store and displayed in the main menu of the site, so that they are clear and easy to access, and are as follows: About Us: You write a comprehensive introductory summary about the store, its identity, the message it adopts, and any information that you believe will help your customers and visitors to the store to get to know you better. Contact Us: It provides all contact information and access to support and inquiries from visitors and customers.

Exchange and return policy: The customer must be able to return or exchange products within a certain period, and on this page you must clearly write all the terms and policies for the exchange and return process within your store. Privacy Policy: On this page, you clarify all information related to the privacy of customers and users, how you use their data, such as name, email, and phone number, and whether you use their data for marketing purposes, and the way in which you maintain the data. The absence of a privacy policy page within the store may lead to the payment company rejecting your request to subscribe to them. 4- Create an account in the Paytabs payment gateway company 

After you have prepared all the store data as we explained in the previous paragraphs, you can now access the link to the official website of the payment company Paytabs and start registering an account with them, and you will find two different registration options: The first option is social commerce: This option is if you do not have an online store and sell products via social media platforms, as the company gives you the ability to create a free store with them and use direct payment links. Digital Payments: If you have an online store and want to activate the payment gateway within it, this option is appropriate for us in this case as we already have a store and we want to install the payment gateway on it, so we will choose it. The registration form will appear, which will ask you for some basic data, such as the country, company name, personal name, email address, and phone number: After registration, you will receive a message in your email to set the password. After clicking on the link and setting the password, you will be logged into your account in the Paytabs portal, and a notification will appear in front of you asking you to click on the append button to fill in the store data in order to send the application for the payment gateway: After clicking on the append button, it will begin to request some data related to the business, such as the type of services or products that you sell, and a link. Store URL, store currency, and expected sales volume during the year and target countries for sale within: In the next step, you will be asked for your bank account data, and this bank account will be used to send your profits from your sales within the store after deducting the company’s commission percentage, which is around 2.5% of each transaction. This percentage may vary from one store to another, and the company representative will clarify the percentage of your store’s commission when communicating with you in the final steps of the subscription stage.

You can click on the (Add) button to add your bank account data: The window for entering bank account data will appear, such as the bank’s country, address, bank account number, and other data that you can obtain by contacting your bank, and after finishing, click on the Submit button: After completing the data as we explained, a notification will appear to you that your account is under review. One of the company’s representatives will also contact you by phone via the phone number that you entered during account registration to clarify all matters for you, request some additional documents and explain the percentage. Commission for your store: 5- Obtaining a WordPress plugin and linking the API code. After completing all the data that we indicated in the previous paragraphs, one of the technical support representatives at Paytabs will contact you to confirm the data and may request additional data or documents. After approval, an email will be sent to you informing you of the approval to activate your account, and also containing a link to access your account: Log in to your account using the login data that you chose in the first steps of the account creation process, and enter the (Developers) tab to begin obtaining On the WordPress plugin: Search for the woocommerce tab and then click on it: You will be directed to the payment company’s plugin installation instructions page, and on this page you will find a link to download the plugin file. Click on it to download the plugin file to your computer: After you download and save the plugin file on your computer, go to the WordPress control panel, and install and activate the plugin as you install any WordPress plugin. After activating the add-on on WordPress, it will now appear inside the Add-ons tab in WordPress. Scroll over it and enter the Settings tab for the add-on: You will be directed directly to the Payments tab for the WooCommerce add-on, and you will notice the appearance of many payment methods that were not available in your store before installing the add-on. From this page you can search for the payment method by bank cards (Paytabs-CreditCards), click on the activation button next to its name, then enter the (Setting) tab to You complete the setting of the bank card payment method: The settings page will open in front of you as follows, which contains the EnableDisable button and you can click on it to activate the bank card payment method within your store. There are some other data that you must complete as follows: the paytabs endpoint region option, from which you choose your country.

Title tab, where you write the title that you want to appear on the payment method on the checkout page in your store. Description tab: You write a text description that appears below the payment method on the payment completion page. Within the same settings page, you will also find the following data that you must complete: The Profile ID number is the identification number for your account with the payment company, and it is located inside your account, and I will explain to you how to obtain it.

Server Key ID is the link code for the payment method and is also located within your account. Client Key ID The client code for your account, and I will show you how to obtain this data in the following steps. To obtain the previous data, log in to your account with the payment company, and inside the account panel you will find the phrase “Profile ID.” Copy the number next to it and paste it in the field designated for it within the settings page in WordPress.

To obtain other data, go to the Developers tab in your account on the payment company, then go to the API Keys tab and click on Key management: You will be directed to the page that contains the Server Key ID and also the Client Key. Copy each of them and paste it into the designated box within the payment method setup page in WordPress: After that you will find some additional options on the payment method setup page such as: Auth order status option from which you choose the status of the order that appears to the customer after completing the payment, where you can choose from the drop-down list what It suits you in different cases, such as (on hold) or (awaiting payment)... Payment form type tab: From it you choose the type of payment form that appears to the customer, and I advise you to keep this option as it is, as it shows the payment form designated by the payment company. After completing these settings, do not forget to click the (Save Changes) button so that the payment method begins to appear correctly within your store. 6- Testing a complete payment process within the store 

Now visit your store, and start adding a product to the cart, and when you reach the payment completion page, you will now notice that the payment method by bank cards appears and you can choose it and complete the payment: When you choose the payment method by bank cards, the payment form tab will appear for you, inside which you enter the information of the card with which you wish to complete the payment and click on the payment button: In this way, your online store is able to receive payments from anywhere in the world using any bank card bearing the Visa or Master Card label. Of course, you can access your account with the payment company at any time to view the transactions that took place within the store and the amounts of money due: With regard to receiving the amounts of money, the payment company will send your financial dues at the beginning of each month to your bank account that you are supposed to have sent to them in the step of communicating with technical support, and the payment company’s commissions will be deducted before sending the amounts due to you. Thus, you have learned how to add a payment method via credit card for customers using the Paytabs portal. There are certainly other portals that you can add and other payment methods that you can add in your store, but this is the experience that we shared with you.

The more you can provide more than one payment method for your online store customers, the more you will help customers complete their purchase, and ensure that you rely on methods that suit your target audience to obtain a better experience tailored to them.