BigCommerce Setup and Overview | PayWhirl Subscriptions Help & Support

If you're a BigCommerce customer, integrating with PayWhirl offers a variety of features including subscription plans, recurring payments, and stored customer cards. With two subscription purchase options available, you can choose the best setup for your store.

Purchase Options Overview

Merchants in BigCommerce have two primary subscription options:

BigCommerce Native Selling Plans:
- Overview: Set up subscription billing directly through the native BigCommerce checkout. This option integrates seamlessly with your existing BigCommerce store for a streamlined subscription experience.
- Features: This method allows customers to subscribe to products using BigCommerce's native checkout, handling recurring payments and subscriptions within the BigCommerce ecosystem.
- How to Set Up:
  - Enable the Native Checkout in the BigCommerce Integration settings
  - Access the Selling Plans section in PayWhirl.
  - Create Plan Groups and Plans under each group (detailed instructions)
  - Assign Products to each plan group.
  - Configure options such as One-Time Purchase availability, discounts, and billing frequency.
  - Ensure that a compatible payment gateway is connected to BigCommerce and that saved payments are enabled.
PayWhirl Widget-Based Checkout:
- Overview: Add PayWhirl widgets to your store pages to offer subscription options outside of the native BigCommerce checkout. This gives you flexibility in offering various customized subscription options.
- Features: This method allows customers to subscribe via PayWhirl widgets embedded in your store pages. All subscription data (including payment methods and customer information) is stored through PayWhirl.
- How to Set Up Widget-Based Checkout:
  - Access the Widgets section in PayWhirl.
  - Create your Subscription Widgets and generate the associated embed code or buy button. (detailed instructions)
  - Copy and paste the widget code into the HTML section of a webpage or product page on your BigCommerce store.
  - Customize widget options for a smooth user experience.
  - Connect widget(s) to your Live Payment Gateway to activate payments.
  - Note: By default, every widget is connected to the PayWhirl Test Gateway and doesn't store or charge credit cards. To begin accepting live payments, make sure to connect a gateway to each widget that is embedded in your site. Also, make sure to change the customer portal settings page.

Subscription Management for Customers on BigCommerce

Customers can also return and log in to their subscription customer portal to manage their information, cards on file, etc. The customer portal is typically embedded directly on a BigCommerce page and linked from your store's main navigation bar.

For example, a "Manage Subscriptions" page/link should be provided so customers know where to go to update their subscriptions. Additionally, each paywhirl account comes with a hosted version of your customer portal that can be accessed online if you don't want to integrate the two systems. The portal can also be disabled if required.

We recommend enabling passwordless login in PayWhirl's advanced settings to keep things simplified.

View installation process

Step-by-Step Setup Guide

Step 1: Install PayWhirl (Required for Native & Widget Checkout)

Install the PayWhirl app from the BigCommerce app store.
Once installed, you’ll see new options in PayWhirl for managing subscriptions, selling plans, and widgets. Orders will flow into BigCommerce after successful payments.

Step 2: Enable Native Checkout (recommended)

Navigate to the PayWhirl Apps & Integration Page.
On the Active Integrations table, click the name of the BigCommerce integration you installed.
In the app settings, enable the Native Checkout option to allow subscription orders to be processed directly through BigCommerce's checkout system.
Edit the payment settings in BigCommerce to ensure that payment methods can be saved. Note: Test card payments already work with subscriptions.

Step 3: Setup Your Subscription Options (Required for Both Integrations)

Decide whether to use the BigCommerce Native Checkout or PayWhirl Widgets. You can use both options simultaneously if needed.

BigCommerce Native Selling Plans:
- Navigate to the Selling Plans page in PayWhirl to create and configure your subscription plans.
- Set up Plan Groups, billing frequencies, discounts, etc.
- Assign products to each plan in PayWhirl in the plan group settings.
- Apply your changes in PayWhirl on the selling plans page to ensure the new options appear on your product page(s) when ready.
PayWhirl Widgets:
- In PayWhirl, Create Plan(s) for how you want the subscription to be billed.
- Next, Create Widget(s) to display your subscription plan(s).
- Finally, copy the embed code for your widget(s) and paste the code into your BigCommerce page (HTML section) to display subscription options to your customers.
- Each business setup is unique, but most BigCommerce customers follow a similar process. They begin by creating a single page on their BigCommerce store. For every product they wish to offer a payment plan on, they build a dedicated widget. Within each widget, they set up as many payment plans as needed for that specific product. Finally, they embed the completed widget into the original page, ensuring that each product’s payment plan options are seamlessly integrated into the store.
- You can also use our Buy Buttons to pop up the widget in a window over the page.

Step 4: Configure One-Time Purchase (Optional - Native Integration Only)

For BigCommerce Native Selling Plans, you can enable the One-Time Purchase option if you want to offer customers a choice between subscribing and making a one-time purchase.
- Navigate to your Selling Plan Settings and toggle the switch to Enable One-Time Purchase.
- Define the label for the one-time purchase (e.g., “One-Time Buy”).
- Set the default option and choose where the one-time purchase option appears (first or last).

This step is optional but can help you provide more flexibility to customers who may want to try your product before committing to a subscription.

Step 5: Activate a Live Payment Gateway

For BigCommerce Native Checkout (Required)

Connect your Payment Gateway directly in BigCommerce. This gateway will handle all payments for subscription orders processed through the native checkout.
Note: Ensure that the gateway you select is compatible with BigCommerce subscriptions, as only certain gateways support recurring payments. At the time of writing this Stripe, Braintree and Authorize.net are supported.

Steps:

In your BigCommerce admin panel, navigate to Settings > Payments.
Choose and connect an eligible gateway that supports recurring payments.
Once connected, all subscription orders made through the native BigCommerce checkout will be processed using this gateway.

For PayWhirl Widgets (Required)

Connect your Live Payment Gateway within PayWhirl to process subscription payments through the widgets. You must also assign this gateway to each widget you create.

Steps:

In your PayWhirl dashboard, go to Payment Gateways and connect your preferred gateway.
Once connected, ensure that each widget you create is configured to use this gateway:
- Navigate to the Widgets section.
- For each widget, assign the Live Payment Gateway to ensure that payments are processed with your desired gateway. Each widget must be individually connected to the gateway to ensure it processes payments as customers subscribe.

Limitations & Notes for Native Checkout Users

Taxes and shipping are only automatically calculated at checkout. Any subscription changes will trigger an email letting you know to adjust the rates
Profile Questions are only supported via widget checkout
The first payment is always captured on checkout. Trials and other billing delays are coming eventually
The customer portal for BigCommerce doesn't yet have a subscription section. Changes like pause, skip, cancel, and address must be done in the PayWhirl portal.
While we do support multiple storefronts (for a single BC store), currently, one V2 account can be associated with only one BC store.
Customers are not able to edit items in their subscriptions.
BigCommerce Groups are not yet supported for native checkouts
Only available on our monthly paid plans.