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 (beta):
- 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.
  - 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:
  - Access the Widgets section in PayWhirl.
  - Create your Subscription Widgets and generate the associated embed code or buy button.
  - Copy and paste the widget code into the HTML of any page on your BigCommerce store.
  - Customize widget options for a smooth user experience.
  - Connect to the Live Payment Gateway to activate live payments.
  - Note: By default, every widget is connected to the 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

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 page in BigCommerce that is shown in the main navigation bar of your store. Something like a "Manage my subscription" page so customers know where to go to update their subscription. We also have a hosted version of your customer portal, 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.

See more details about the complete installation process

Step-by-Step Setup Guide

Step 1: Install PayWhirl (Required for Both Integrations)

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 (Optional)

Navigate to the PayWhirl Apps & Integration Page.
Click the name of the BigCommerce integration
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

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 tab in PayWhirl to create and configure your subscription plans.
- Set up Plan Groups, billing frequencies, discounts, etc
- Assign products to each plan.
PayWhirl Widgets:
- In PayWhirl, create your plans for how you want the subscription to bill.
- Create a Widget for your subscription plan(s).
- Choose which plans to display in each widget and copy the embed code.
- Paste the code into your BigCommerce page (HTML section) to display subscription options to your customers.
- Each business setup is unique, but typically, BigCommerce customers will set up ONE PAGE in BigCommerce and ONE WIDGET for EACH PRODUCT they want to offer a payment plan on... Then, they will set up however many PLANS they want to offer for each product and build a WIDGET with all the PLANS for the specific product. Finally, they will embed the WIDGET into the PAGE they created originally in BigCommerce.
- You can also use our Buy Buttons to pop-up the widget on a 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 the 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.

Steps:

In your BigCommerce admin panel, navigate to Settings > Payments.
Choose and connect an eligible gateway that supports recurring payments (such as Stripe).
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 will also need to assign this gateway to each widget you create.

Steps:

In your PayWhirl dashboard, go to Payment Gateways and connect your preferred gateway (such as Stripe, PayPal, or Authorize.net).
Once connected, ensure that each widget you create is tied to this gateway:
- Navigate to the Widgets section.
- For each widget, assign the Live Payment Gateway to ensure that payments are processed successfully.
Each widget must be individually connected to the gateway to ensure it processes payments as customers subscribe.

Limitations on the Beta for native checkout

Taxes and shipping are only automatically calculated at checkout. Any subscription changes will trigger an email letting you know to adjust the rates
Promo codes from BigCommerce will not sync to PayWhirl Subscriptions
Only works with the Stripe gateway at this time. Braintree and Auth.net coming soon
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 will need to be done in the PayWhirl portal.
Customers are not able to edit items in their subscriptions.
BigCommerce Groups are not yet supported for native checkouts