Sometimes you want to force a particular payment method on a specific cart, customer or product — bypassing the normal checkout chooser. This article shows when and how to do that.
Use Cases
- Subscriptions on direct debit: Force BACS/SEPA for plans where the margin doesn't support card fees.
- Enterprise invoicing: Force invoice for customers on net-30 terms.
- High-value transactions: Force bank transfer for orders over £10,000 to avoid card limits.
- Country-specific: Force iDEAL for Dutch customers, Bancontact for Belgian customers, where those are dominant.
- Cash on delivery: Force COD for high-fraud-risk countries or first orders.
Configuration Levels
- Per-product: Override on the product record (see “Payment method override”).
- Per-cart rule: Apply via a cart calculation rule when conditions match (e.g. cart total > £10k).
- Per-customer: Override on the customer record (e.g. “Always invoice this customer”).
- Per-tenant: Tenant-wide default (e.g. a B2B tenant forces invoice on every order).
Worked Examples
- SaaS: Yearly enterprise plans force invoice; monthly plans force card or direct debit.
- B2B marketplace: Approved customers can pay on invoice; unapproved must use card.
- European retailer: Country-detected force — iDEAL in Netherlands, Bancontact in Belgium, card elsewhere.
- Charity: Recurring donations force direct debit (cheaper); one-off forces card (faster).
Tip: Communicate the forced method clearly on the product page. A surprised customer at checkout abandons more than a customer who knew up front.