WordPress WooCommerce

The official ArtsPay payment gateway plugin for WooCommerce. It adds card payments to your checkout, backed by Fat Zebra, entirely through a WordPress admin settings screen.

Unlike the other guides in this section, there's no code to write here. The plugin handles the checkout form, keeps your site out of PCI scope, and makes the API calls to Fat Zebra for you. This guide covers installing it, testing it, and going live.

Before you start

1. WordPress 6.0 or higher, with WooCommerce installed and active. PHP 8.0 or higher.
2. Nothing needed from ArtsPay or Fat Zebra to start testing: the plugin ships with Fat Zebra's public sandbox username, token and shared secret pre-filled.
3. For going live, you'll need production credentials (username, token, shared secret) from ArtsPay.

Step 1: Install and activate

1. Download the plugin ZIP from GitHub Releases. A .sha256 checksum is published alongside each ZIP.
2. In WordPress admin, go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin and choose the ZIP.
3. Click Install Now, then Activate.
4. If the plugin name appears blank at first, the gateway may be whitelabelled: open Plugins, use Manage (or the gateway settings), and save to set the name.

Step 2: Turn it on and test in sandbox

Go to WooCommerce → Settings → Payments.

Enable ArtsPay, then open it to reach its settings screen.

Confirm Enable Test Mode is checked. It's on by default, pre-filled with Fat Zebra's public sandbox credentials, so nothing else is required just to test.

Save changes.

Run a test checkout using a sandbox test card to confirm everything works end to end.

Step 3: Go live

Open WooCommerce → Settings → Payments → ArtsPay.

Under Account details, enter your production Gateway Username, Gateway Token and Gateway Shared Secret from ArtsPay or Fat Zebra.

Uncheck Enable Test Mode.

Save changes. The store now charges real cards.

Optional features

Direct Post

Enable Use Direct Post to tokenize the card in the browser via Fat Zebra's fatzebra.js, rather than posting card data to your server first. Requires the Gateway Shared Secret to be set.

Deferred payments

Enable Enable Deferred Payments to capture the customer's card details at checkout without charging immediately, useful for reviewing high-risk orders before taking payment. The order sits on hold until you manually capture it.

Deferred payments aren't used for subscription carts: subscription renewals always process in real time.

Fraud screening (Forter)

Optional, and only takes effect once ArtsPay or Fat Zebra has activated Forter on your merchant account (sandbox and production are configured separately). Enabling it before that won't do anything.

Once activated on your account:

1. Enable Enable Forter fraud screening.
2. Also enable Enable device fingerprinting. This is strongly recommended: Forter's results are much weaker without it.
3. Optionally enable Email on Forter decline to notify the site admin when a decline is a Forter Deny.

Each charge is scored Accept, Challenge, Deny, or Error. Only Deny blocks checkout the way a normal decline does; Challenge orders still complete, but are worth reviewing before fulfilment since the plugin doesn't automatically hold or cancel them. See the plugin's fraud screening reference for the full behaviour.

Captcha

Optional bot protection on checkout, using Google reCAPTCHA v3 or Cloudflare Turnstile, shown before the payment is submitted.

1. Enable Enable Captcha Protection.
2. Choose a Captcha Provider.
3. Enter the Site Key and Secret Key from that provider's own dashboard.

Testing

Sandbox mode is on by default with public test credentials pre-filled, so there's nothing to set up just to explore. Use the standard test card numbers to trigger approvals and declines.

If you've enabled fraud screening, use the billing email accept@email.com, challenge@email.com, or deny@email.com to simulate each Forter outcome in sandbox.

Before going live, exercise checkout, refunds, deferred capture (if enabled), and subscription renewals on a staging site.

FAQ