Conditional Gateways lets you control which payment gateways are available on a per-product basis in Easy Digital Downloads.
If some of your products can’t use every payment processor you offer, this feature makes sure customers only see the gateways that actually work for what’s in their cart.
Note: Conditional Gateways is available with the Extended Pass and above.
Setting Allowed Gateways for a Product
To use the Conditional Gateways feature, ensure that it’s enabled. To install it, go to Downloads » Extensions, find Conditional Gateways, and click Install.
Once Conditional Gateways is active, a metabox appears on every download product’s edit screen, in the right sidebar.
The metabox lists every payment gateway that’s active on your site. By default, nothing is checked, which means every gateway is allowed for that product.
To restrict a product to specific gateways, check the ones you want to allow and save the product. Only the gateways you checked will be offered for that product at checkout.
If you uncheck every gateway again, the product goes back to allowing all of them, not the other way around. Unchecking everything removes the restriction. It doesn’t block the product from selling.
Customizing the Checkout Error Message
Conditional Gateways needs almost no setup beyond the per-product checkboxes. The one option available is the error message shown when a customer’s cart has no gateway that works for everything in it.
Go to Downloads » Settings » Payments » Conditional Gateways to write your own version of that message.
After entering your text in the Checkout Error Message field, remember to click Save Changes.
How Conditional Gateways Works
Once you’ve restricted gateways on at least one product, Conditional Gateways checks every product in the cart at checkout and works out which gateways are still valid. The rule is simple:
A gateway is available at checkout only if every restricted product in the cart allows it.
Products you haven’t restricted don’t factor into this at all. They don’t open up extra gateways. They just go along with whatever the restricted products in the cart allow.
Here’s an example. You have two active gateways, PayPal and Stripe.
You sell ebooks along with other digital products, and PayPal’s terms of service don’t allow ebook sales through their gateway. So you check only Stripe on your ebook products, and leave your other products unrestricted.
When a customer adds an ebook and another product to their cart, Conditional Gateways checks both. The ebook only allows Stripe, and the other product is unrestricted, so it goes along with that. Therefore: Stripe shows at checkout.
Now say you’d also restricted your non-ebook products to PayPal only. Conditional Gateways checks both products again and finds no gateway that satisfies both. Instead of showing a checkout button, it displays your error message and asks the customer to remove an item before they can continue.
EDD Wallet
If you also have the EDD Wallet feature active, it doesn’t follow the simple allow or hide pattern above. Wallet behaves differently depending on the customer’s balance.
For instance, if…
- The customer’s Wallet balance covers the full cart total, Wallet shows as a normal payment option, filtered by the same rule as any other gateway.
- Wallet is the only gateway left after filtering and the balance doesn’t cover the total, checkout doesn’t just hide it. It shows an error with a link to the Wallet deposit page, so the customer can add funds and finish the purchase.
- Other gateways are still available and the balance falls short, Wallet is removed from the checkout options quietly. No error, it simply isn’t offered.
Stripe PRB, Apple Pay, and Google Pay
If you allow Stripe on a product, Stripe’s Payment Request Button is automatically allowed too, even if you didn’t check it separately. The button covers Apple Pay, Google Pay, and saved browser cards.
This means you can’t use Conditional Gateways to offer Stripe while blocking express checkout on the same product. As long as Stripe is allowed, its Payment Request Button comes along with it.
FAQs on Setting Up Conditional Gateways
Does Conditional Gateways work with the EDD Wallet feature?
Yes. Wallet follows different rules than a simple allow or hide. If the customer’s balance covers the cart, Wallet shows normally. If Wallet is the only gateway left and the balance falls short, checkout shows an error with a link to add funds instead of just hiding the option.
Can I block Apple Pay and Google Pay without blocking Stripe?
No. Stripe’s Payment Request Button, which covers Apple Pay, Google Pay, and saved browser cards, is automatically allowed whenever Stripe is allowed. There’s currently no way to allow Stripe while blocking express checkout on the same product.
What happens if a customer’s cart has no valid payment gateway?
Checkout shows the error message you set under Downloads » Settings » Payments » Conditional Gateways, and asks the customer to remove an item before they can continue.
Does restricting one product change the gateways available for my other products?
No. Conditional Gateways only restricts gateways for the product you check gateways on. Products you haven’t restricted go along with whatever the restricted products in the cart allow. They don’t add extra gateways of their own.
What happens if I uncheck every gateway on a product?
The product goes back to allowing all gateways. Deselecting everything removes the restriction. It doesn’t block the product from selling.
