Overview of the Helcim payments plugin for WooCommerce

Install the Helcim Commerce for WooCommerce plugin and take advantage of our great Interchange Plus pricing, while reducing your security and PCI compliance scope with a straight-forward payment integration. The Helcim payments plugin uses Helcim.js in order to verify customer credit card details and then processes a Purchase or Pre-Authorization transaction through the Helcim Payment API. Because Helcim.js intercepts the customers credit card details, you remain out of scope of the stricter PCI compliance requirements.

Download Instructions

The easiest way to install the plugin is to login to your WordPress account, select "Plugins" from the left hand navigation menu and then search for "Helcim Commerce" in the plugin marketplace. This will install the Helcim payments plugin in the correct directories for your WordPress site. 

Alternatively, you can download the Helcim payments plugin here. If you download the plugin you will need to follow you will need to extract the files to the following directory for your WordPress website: /wp-contents/plugins/

Web-Server Requirements

Both integration methods require your server to be able to perform CURL requests. Transactions are sent to the Helcim Payment API endpoint https://api.helcim.com/v2/payment/purchase using port 443. Helcim Commerce uses TLS1.2 and only strong TLS ciphers, you can view a list here.

You may need to work with your hosting provider to make sure that your firewall rules allow outbound access to the URL and port listed above. 

Frequently Asked Questions

What payment types can I accept?

Accept credit card payments for all major card brands including Visa, Mastercard, American Express, UnionPay, Discover, and more.

Does the Helcim payments plugin support block-based checkouts?

With the Helcim Commerce for WooCommerce version 4.0.4 release, we now support the default block elements available within WooCommerce for your checkout. For additional support on using Blocks in WooCommerce, please refer to the following WooCommerce support article and connect with them for assistance if required.

Can I process recurring payments through the Helcim payments plugin for WooCommerce?

Currently the Helcim payments plugin will process only one time transactions for either a Purchase or Pre-Authorization. If you are using a plugin that allows for recurring transactions, these would need to be processed manually on their renewal date through WooCommerce.

Is Helcim Fee Saver available for the WooCommerce plugin?

Helcim Online Fee Saver is currently only available for payments processed through Helcim Invoicing, Hosted Payment Pages, Payment Requests, or through direct integrations with HelcimPay.js. If access to Fee Saver through WooCommerce is something that would be valuable to your business, please let us know so that we may submit a feature request on your behalf.

How can I test Helcim payments through my WooCommerce plugin?

In order to test payments you have a couple of options for testing available to you after downloading and configuring your plugin. 

Testing on a Live Account

Your first $5 worth of payments through Helcim are free. If you're new to Helcim and setting up your WooCommerce plugin, then go ahead and create a test product in WooCommerce and take Helcim for a test drive!

If you're not new to Helcim but you're new to our WooCommerce plugin, then the quickest option for testing your payment plugin is still to process a standard payment through your checkout as a normal customer would. After processing the payment you should see two transactions listed in the Payments section of your Helcim account. One will be a successful Verify and the other would be a successful Purchase. 

To avoid processing fees we recommend that you then void the Purchase payment through your Helcim Payments section in order to reverse the payment, then set the Order in WooCommerce to cancelled.

Testing on a Test Account

Should you wish to test your payments in a test environment, then you can connect with the Helcim support team by opening a Support Ticket in your Helcim account to request a test account for your WooCommerce testing. 

Once your test account is set up, you will need to complete the configuration steps for your new test account. Please ensure that both Test Mode in WooCommerce and your Helcim.js Configuration are disabled. On a test account the test status of your payments would be enforced at the processing terminal level.

You would need to process test payments using our developer test credit cards shown below. Once you are ready to process live payments, you then need to complete the configuration steps on your live Helcim account to process real payments.