Forcing a Single Method
A cart can be restricted to a single payment method, so checkout offers no choice.
Where to find it
Architect Panel → Commercial:
- Carts — the cart itself and its options
- Shop Insights — what buyers looked for
- Vendor Approvals — applications waiting on a decision
Architect Panel → Data:
- Datastores — then View Data on a cart table, where most shop administration lives
When it is right
- A trade shop where everything is invoiced, and offering a card would confuse the account.
- An internal shop settled by payroll deduction or a cost code.
- A collection-only shop paid for on arrival.
- During setup, where only one method has actually been tested.
What it costs
Choice at checkout is worth something. A customer who cannot pay the way they expected abandons the basket, and you do not find out why.
So restrict deliberately, for one of the reasons above, rather than because it simplifies configuration.
Say so before checkout
The frustrating version is a customer filling a basket, entering addresses, and only then discovering the shop does not take cards. If there is one method, say so on the shop rather than revealing it at the last step.
It is per cart
Which is the point. An installation can run a card-only public shop and an invoice-only trade shop side by side, each restricted appropriately, without either affecting the other.
Revisit it
A restriction added during setup, because only one method was ready, tends to survive long after the others were tested. Check what your carts actually offer against what you meant them to offer.
An offline-only shop still needs reconciliation
Arguably more, because every order is unpaid until somebody confirms it. Restricting to bank transfer does not reduce the work; it concentrates it.
Worked example
A trade shop is restricted to invoice, stated on the shop's front page, with orders released once the account is checked. The public shop on the same installation takes cards only. Neither restriction affects the other, and neither surprises a customer at checkout.
Recommendations
- Restrict for a reason, not for convenience.
- Say so up front, not at checkout.
- Review restrictions left over from setup.
- Plan reconciliation for an offline-only shop.