Multi-Platform Subscription App (Main App)

Simple instructions for getting the basics set up on PayWhirl's multi-platform subscription application. Not using Shopify? Start here!

127 articles in this collection
Written by Larry Brager, Ryan P., Brandon Swift and 1 other

PayWhirl setup & quick start guide

This setup guide covers the basics of setting up your account to process recurring payments with PayWhirl.

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

Quick Start Tutorials & How To Guides

How to create a PayWhirl account

To create a PayWhirl account click here and select the plan that suits your business best. We offer plans ranging from free

Written by Brandon Swift
Updated over a week ago

How to create payment plans

Setup plans in PayWhirl to automatically bill your customers & place orders as needed. Create subscription plans, pre-orders, layaway & more

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

How to create custom profile questions

PayWhirl's profile questions feature allows you to ask your customers different question(s) based on the plan(s) they select to purchase.

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

PayWhirl widgets & embed codes

PayWhirl's embeddable payment widgets allow you to display payment plan(s) to customers, provide a secure in-page checkout and much more.

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

Best practices for fulfilling and managing orders with PayWhirl

PayWhirl integrates with several order management systems to help automate shipping and make fulfillment easy to manage.

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How to create payment plans with a fixed number of installments

Offer layaway plans or payment plans to customers so they can select a payment schedule that works for their budget and timeline.

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How to bill customers on specific day(s) of the year with "random" billing dates.

How to automatically bill your customers on specific day(s) of the year, rather than using a set (daily, monthly, weekly) type of schedule.

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How to automatically transition customers from one plan to another (aka "chained plans")

You can create completely custom billing schedules for your customers by chaining payment plans together on PayWhirl.

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How to offer upsells to customers during checkout (recurring or one-time)

The upsell widget can be chained to other widgets to create a checkout funnel on PayWhirl. Upsell payments can be recurring and/or one time.

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How to integrate PayWhirl's customer portal login with your website.

PayWhirl offers a few options for seamlessly integrating your website's login functionality with PayWhirl's customer portal / login widget

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

How to run test charges using PayWhirl's Test Gateway

PayWhirl supports having multiple gateways connected to one account. When you first register and create your new account

Written by Brandon Swift
Updated over a week ago

How to add account managers to my account?

With PayWhirl you can add account managers to your account

Written by Brandon Swift
Updated over a week ago

Customer Portal & Hosted Checkout

Customizing your checkout & customer portal design

With PayWhirl you can completely customize the customer experience to match your own website's look and feel.

Written by Brandon Swift
Updated over a week ago

How to style widget settings to match your website's color theme

See what each color picker changes in the widgets checkout flow.

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How to forward customers to a "thank you" page on your website after checkout

When a customer goes through checkout on a PayWhirl widget, they are subsequently logged in and directed to their dashboard.

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

What is the payment calendar?

You might have noticed the new payment calendars both in the backend of PayWhirl on the dashboard

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

Notifications & Emails Settings

Email settings & testing overview

In PayWhirl there is a settings page specifically for emails. Here you can to enable or disable any of the system

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How to customize emails and email templates

On PayWhirl, you have complete control over your emails and templates. We offer some basic pre-built templates as a default.

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

How to send email from your own domain using SMTP

On PayWhirl you can send email from your domain using SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) instead of using our default mail servers

Written by Brandon Swift
Updated over a week ago

How to add custom profile questions & answers to your email templates.

This article shows how to add custom profile questions / answers to PayWhirl email templates.

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

Email template variables & objects

How to use customer data, transaction data, and account information in your email templates. Personalize or add conditional logic to Emails.

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

Configuring PayWhirl Settings For Your Business

How to control what happens when your customers try to cancel a plan

You have control over subscription cancellations and can have them cancel immediately or at the end of the billing period

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How to import customers and migrate credit card data from other payment platforms.

You can import customers, billing information and credit card numbers from any payment gateway supported by PayWhirl.

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

How to setup promo codes, coupons or discounts

Promo codes can be configured to apply to one, or multiple payments or invoices. You can manage discount codes from your paywhirl account.

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How to enable or disable promo codes

If you are not using the Promo Codes and want to remove it from your Customer Portal you can turn off the Promo Codes in Account Settings.

Written by Brandon Swift
Updated over a week ago

How to add shipping charges based on the total price of the order

On the new version of PayWhirl, you can add shipping charges to every purchase, based on the customer's location or total price of the order

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

How to add shipping charges based on location

On the new version of PayWhirl you can add shipping charges to every purchase, based on the customers location or total price of the order

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

Can I translate my widget into another language?

Of course you can! The wording in your widget is customizable and can be changed directly in the widget itself.

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How to add transaction fees based on the type of payment method used (cards or ACH)

You can pass along transaction fees to customers by adding payment method type fees to transactions. Enable these in your gateway settings.

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

How to forward an existing customer a to a specific widget using a direct link

If you have an existing customer you can send them a link to a specific widget immediately after they login

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How to charge sales tax for specific locations

On PayWhirl you can charge taxes based on your customer's location. For example, in the United States, you are required to charge sales tax

Written by Brandon Swift
Updated over a week ago

How to add a recurring donation widget to your website with PayWhirl

Setup a recurring donation widget on your website so users can select the frequency and amount of their automated donations.

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

How to offer custom subscription packages to customers

Widgets can be chained together to create a custom subscription checkout funnel. This allows your customers to order exactly what they want.

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How to connect to the Stripe gateway and configure payment methods.

Connecting to the Stripe payment gateway is quick and easy. Connect your existing account or set up a new one.

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How to connect to the PayPal or Braintree Gateway

If you'd like to connect your Braintree account or PayPal account to PayWhirl, you can do so by navigating to "Payment Gateways"

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How to setup ACH payments with Stripe

With PayWhirl you can not only take credit cards but we also support ACH banking transfers

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How to connect PayWhirl to Authorize.net for recurring payments

You can connect Authorize.net as a payment gateway in your PayWhirl account to process recurring payments and store customer credit cards.

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

How to accept Authorize.net eCheck ACH Payments with PayWhirl

You can enable eCheck for customers in your gateway settings. Customers will be able to save bank accounts & make ACH payments once enabled.

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How to override widget layouts with custom CSS

PayWhirl comes with several different types of payment widgets that can be embedded into your website.

Written by Brandon Swift
Updated over a week ago

How to use custom fonts with PayWhirl

This article will show you how to import a custom font so it can be used in both payment widgets and/or customer portals.

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

How to add a link in a profile question

When you are creating a profile question you might want to include a link to an additional page (eg. T&C's)

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How to use custom scripts to limit the max quantity of plans on payment widgets

You can use the custom scripts integration to modify your widget(s) using javascript and jQuery before they are shown to your customers

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

How to enable or disable autoscrolling on widgets

You may have noticed that PayWhirl widgets auto scroll to be in view sometimes

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How to create a pre-paid plan that generates orders on a different frequency

How to setup a payment plan to place orders on a different schedule then it bills. This is very helpful for setting up pre-paid plans.

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

How to link directly to a hosted widget in your account.

If you don't have a website you can send customers directly to a widget securely hosted by PayWhirl using a direct link.

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How to attach a digital download to a subscription plan and email the customer a link to the file after purchase.

You can attach digital download files to plans in PayWhirl and we will automatically email a link to customers who subscribe.

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How to prevent or allow checkouts from different countries and/or regions of the world.

If you need to prevent customers from checking out in specific countries, regions and/or zip codes PayWhirl can help.

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

Does PayWhirl provide any General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) features?

The GDPR legislation affects European and non-European businesses with customers in the EU that have adopted the new legislation.

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

How does pricing work on PayWhirl?

Compare the different pricing plans for PayWhirl's multi-platform app.

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How do I connect my bank account to PayWhirl?

Deposits are made into your account by the merchant processor, also called a payment gateway.

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

Is PayWhirl Secure?

How do you protect customer data? Are payment forms & widgets secure & PCI compliant? Do I need a SSL certificate? Do you have SOC Reports?

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

Does PayWhirl support Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) and 3D Secure (PSD2)

Yes! PayWhirl supports SCA and 3D secure processing to help businesses comply with the second payment services directive (PSD2) in Europe.

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How does the PayWhirl buy button work?

On PayWhirl when you create a widget or payment form, you will be presented with two embed code options.

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

What is the PayWhirl Partner Program?

PayWhirl's affiliate partner program enables businesses to earn a commission on revenue generated from users they refer to PayWhirl.

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

Does PayWhirl work with Safari on Apple devices?

Yes! PayWhirl widgets and payment forms can be used by customers with ANY modern web browser, including

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

What time are your regular live chat hours?

We are always happy to answer any questions you may have about PayWhirl

Written by Brandon Swift
Updated over a week ago

Does PayWhirl offer phone support?

Phone support and online chat support are now available by appointment and can be scheduled directly from within your PayWhirl

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

How to delete a widget?

You can delete a widget from by clicking the red "Delete" button

Written by Brandon Swift
Updated over a week ago

Can I continue using the one time checkout cart already in my existing platform?

If you already have products in BigCommerce, Shopify, or other platforms you can continue using the existing cart checkout.

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How do customers purchase gifts for other people?

You can setup a gift code purchase option for customers using a widget or have customers mange additional profiles in their own account.

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

Does PayWhirl offer bug bounties?

How to report security issues or other vulnerabilities for a reward. Information on the PayWhirl bounty program.

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

Pricing table widget

The Pricing Table is one of the more commonly used widgets. It is used when you want the customer to be able to choose from different

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How can I migrate from V1 to V2?

Are you interested in migrating to version 2 of PayWhirl but have existing customers on the classic

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

What payment processing gateways can I use with PayWhirl?

To process payments with PayWhirl you need to connect to a LIVE payment gateway and/or merchant account.

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

What types of profile questions can I ask my customers?

Here are the different types of questions and how they appear to your customers in checkout

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How to cancel/delete your PayWhirl account?

If you'd like to delete your account, please you can do so from the Account Settings > Billing page

Written by Brandon Swift
Updated over a week ago

What are the main differences between version 1 & 2

Over the last year and a half we've been listening to everyone's feature requests and have made major improvements to the new

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

Do I need a website to use PayWhirl?

Nope! The new version of paywhirl comes with a secure hosted portal (payment website) so you don't have to embed widgets

Written by Brandon Swift
Updated over a week ago

Managing Customers

How to manage customers on PayWhirl

Edit customer profiles, shipping addresses, update payment methods, subscriptions, billing cycles, and more with our Multi-Platform app.

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How customers manage their own account information

On PayWhirl customers can manage their account information and subscriptions from your online customer portal.

Written by Brandon Swift
Updated over a week ago

How to prevent cancellations by giving customers the ability to skip installment(s) rather than cancel

Reduce churn & increase LTV by giving your customers the option to skip installment(s) instead of canceling their subscription plans.

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How to easily resume a canceled subscription or installment plan

When a subscription is canceled, either by a customer or payment decline, it can be resumed.

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How to change a customer's billing cycle

How to change a customers payment date for all future invoices, or just a specific invoice.

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How to switch payment gateways

If you need to switch to a new payment gateway, PayWhirl has an import tool to make the process much easier.

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How customers verify ACH payment methods with micro-deposits

If you enable ACH payment methods for your customers, they will have to verify two micro deposits before their payments will process.

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

Invoices & Payments

How to create a manual charge

If you need to create a one-time payment for a customer, you can use the Create Invoice feature

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

How to edit upcoming invoices

You can add additional line items, discounts, promo codes, address, change the billing date and more to unpaid or open invoices on PayWhirl.

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How do failed payments work?

All PayWhirl accounts come with tools to help you manage failed payments (aka dunning) and automate your collection processes.

Written by Brandon Swift
Updated over a week ago

How to resolve pending invoices that are held for review

The payment gateways we connect with have built-in fraud protection filters that may hold charges temporarily before they can be processed.

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How do I refund customer payments?

There are a few different methods you can use within PayWhirl to refund customer payments or provide a customer with credit.

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

What's the difference between products, services & fees on invoices?

Products and fees are the types of line items you can add to an invoice.

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

How to bill multiple customers at the same with group billing & invoicing.

Charge a group of customers and/or generate multiple invoices at once using PayWhirl's built-in group billing and invoicing tools.

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

Apps & Integrations

How to embed a PayWhirl widget in your WIX site?

See this guide for help installing PayWhirl into a WIX page

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How to integrate Squarespace with PayWhirl's recurring payment widgets & buttons

This tutorial will teach you how to install a PayWhirl payment widgets or buy buttons in your Squarespace website using "code blocks."

Written by Brandon Swift
Updated over a week ago

Wix installation & troubleshooting

If your website is hosted on Wix you can use PayWhirl to process and manage subscriptions but you might need to alter your embed code.

Written by Brandon Swift
Updated over a week ago

How to integrate MailChimp with PayWhirl

You can connect your MailChimp account to PayWhirl by following the steps below

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How to add Google Analytics to PayWhirl

You can enable the Google Analytics plugin from the "Apps & Integrations" menu item under "Settings & Account" in PayWhirl

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How to integrate with Zapier and hundreds of other apps using webhooks

You can connect PayWhirl to thousands of existing 3rd party tools, apps and software systems using webhooks with services like Zapier

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How to integrate Lead Dyno affiliate tracking with PayWhirl

This article explains how to use the Lead Dyno javascript library to track affiliate sales when invoices are processed on PayWhirl

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

How to integrate with affiliatly with PayWhirl

How to install tracking scripts from affiliatly.com to track affiliate sales on PayWhirl checkouts.

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

How to integrate ReferralCandy with PayWhirl

ReferralCandy is a popular app that allows you to track and reward customers who refer their friends to your business.

Written by Brandon Swift
Updated over a week ago

How to setup Refersion affiliate tracking with PayWhirl

This article explains how to track affiliate sales on PayWhirl using Refersion tracking scripts.

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

How to install 3rd party scripts for conversion, tracking & customization

The custom scripts app on PayWhirl lets you include 3rd party scripts on your widgets, payment forms and/or customer portal pages.

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How to setup ShareASale conversion & affiliate tracking on Paywhirl

In this tutorial we will setup Share

Written by Brandon Swift
Updated over a week ago

How to integrate ShipStation with PayWhirl

Want to generate orders in ShipStation? No problem, our ShipStation integration has you covered

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

How to install apps and integrations on PayWhirl

PayWhirl has several integrations with apps and services to add functionality to your account.

Written by Brandon Swift
Updated over a week ago

BigCommerce

BigCommerce setup checklist

Learn how to use PayWhirl to save customer cards for future use, how to process recurring payments and generate orders on BigCommerce.

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How to integrate BigCommerce with PayWhirl

If you use BigCommerce we offer a native app that will enable you to sell subscriptions, payment plans

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

How to embed a PayWhirl widget into a page in BigCommerce

Covers the basics of installing a PayWhirl widget into a page on BigCommerce. Widgets can be installed via the editor in your online store.

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

Adding a PayWhirl widget to an existing BigCommerce product page

If you already have a product page on BigCommerce and want to give your customers a subscription or lay-a-way option you can use PayWhirl.

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How to control orders placed in BigCommerce

PayWhirl can place orders in BigCommerce after payments are processed. You can control how orders are generated from the plan settings page.

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How to associate BigCommerce product IDs with plans in PayWhirl

How to include product IDs in BigCommerce order metadata if a SKU from a plan in PayWhirl matches an existing product SKU.

Written by Chris Rak
Updated over a week ago

How does pricing work for BigCommerce customers?

There is no difference in pricing for BigCommerce customers.

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How to setup membership discounts with BigCommerce Groups

This can be used for many different purposes ranging from creating wholesale programs to content gating privileges to membership sales.

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How to use stored credit cards to create manual orders in BigCommerce

This article explains how to store credit or debit card numbers on BigCommerce so you can charge customers as needed & create manual orders.

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

Legacy Shopify App (2016 Version)

Shopify setup checklist & guide (2016 Version)

How to set up PayWhirl on Shopify to process recurring payments and orders. You can sell subscriptions, pre-orders, layaway products & more.

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

How does pricing work for Shopify customers? (2016 Version)

There is no difference in pricing for our Shopify customers.

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How to sign up for a PayWhirl paid plan with Shopify Billing (2016 Version)

Clients who signed up to PayWhirl through Shopify use their Shopify payment method for PayWhirl charges.

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

Does PayWhirl create orders in Shopify? (2016 Version)

Yes, PayWhirl has better order integration than ever before. Orders are generated in Shopify based on plan-specific order settings.

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How to embed a PayWhirl widget into a PAGE on Shopify (2016 Version)

Installing widgets to you Shopify store is easy. This is how your customers checkout with subscriptions you created in PayWhirl.

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

Adding a PayWhirl widget to an existing Shopify product page (2016 Version)

If you are using Shopify you can add subscription options and/or layaway payment plans by adding a PayWhirl widget to your product page(s).

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

Do plans still create hidden products on Shopify? (2016 Version)

No! On the new version of PayWhirl there are no more hidden products in Shopify.

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

How to connect PayWhirl to Shopify (2016 Version)

On the new version of PayWhirl our Shopify integration has been greatly improved. There are no more hidden products to deal with

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How to set up "content gating" or a members-only section using Shopify (2016 Version)

When a customer purchases a subscription we can add a tag to their profile in Shopify.

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How to remove Shopify from PayWhirl (2016 Version)

To remove your Shopify integration click

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

Analytics, Reporting & Data Exports

Statistics, analytics & reporting overview

One of the most improved areas of PayWhirl version 2 is the brand new reporting and analytics section

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How to export subscriber data & other information

On PayWhirl you always have access to your data and can create exports at any time

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

Custom Development & API

How to use custom shipping rates with a 3rd party API

If you have access to an API that returns shipping rates you can set up PayWhirl to use a custom shipping rate.

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

PayWhirl developers & experts

Need help customizing PayWhirl or integrating with 3rd party apps? Browse our list of experts & developers that can work with PayWhirl's API

Written by Brandon Swift
Updated over a week ago

Where can I find the API documentation?

If you'd like to use the PayWhirl API to develop on top of our system

Written by Brandon Swift
Updated over a week ago

Where can I find information on PayWhirl webhooks?

You can use certain webhooks with PayWhirl to receive push notifications. See this page for a complete list of webhook events

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

How to generate API keys for custom development

If you'd like to use the PayWhirl API to develop on top of our system you will need to generate an API key(s)

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How to add an item to a customer cart with javascript or jQuery

You can add item(s) to customer carts by making a post request to the /add-to-cart url in your customer portal with javascript or jQuery.

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

How to customize the invoice template in PayWhirl

You can completely customize PayWhirl invoices to add extra information or remove anything that you don't need to be displayed to customers.

Written by Larry Brager
Updated over a week ago

How to hide the price of a specific plan in your customer shopping cart using CSS

You can hide the price of a plan in your shopping cart (ie. remove $0.00 per month) with custom css in your customer portal.

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago

Android & iOS API development notes

If you are developing a mobile application on iOS or Android you can use PayWhirl's RESTful API

Written by Ryan P.
Updated over a week ago