Force Single Payment Method restricts a cart to one specific payment method, hiding the picker. Useful for subscription-only flows, enterprise invoicing arrangements, and country-specific payment requirements.
When to Use It
- Recurring subscriptions: Force direct debit only — cheaper renewals than card.
- Enterprise contracts: Force invoice — net-30 billing.
- High-value transactions: Force bank transfer for orders over £10k.
- Regional requirements: Force iDEAL for Dutch customers, Bancontact for Belgian.
- Loyalty cashbacks: Force account-credit redemption for cashback uses.
Where to Set It
- Per-cart: Override on a specific cart record.
- Per-product: A subscription product enforces direct debit.
- Per-customer: Trusted enterprise customer forces invoice.
- Per-tenant: A B2B tenant forces invoice across all their carts.
User Experience
With force enabled, the checkout payment step shows the forced method as the only option — no “Use a different method” link, no picker. Communicate the constraint clearly on the product or cart page to avoid surprise.
Worked Examples
- SaaS subscription: Pro plan enforces direct debit; product page says “Pro is billed monthly by direct debit only”.
- Enterprise tenant: All carts force invoice; checkout skips payment step entirely and goes straight to confirmation.
- EU consumer site: Cart-level rule detects Dutch buyer → force iDEAL.
- Cashback redemption: Cart with cashback applied forces account-credit redemption rather than charging card.
Warning: Force a method only when you've validated the customer can use it. Forcing direct debit on customers who don't have a UK bank account leaves them unable to complete checkout.