WooCommerce subscriptions work by charging customers on a recurring schedule, like weekly, monthly, or yearly. You create a subscription product, set the billing period, price, and optional trial or sign-up fee. When a customer buys it, an order is created and a subscription record is saved in WooCommerce. The payment gateway then processes automatic renewals on each billing date. WooCommerce updates the subscription status (active, on-hold, cancelled) and generates renewal orders. Customers can manage renewals and cancel from their account page, based on your settings.

Paying customers in WooCommerce usually means issuing refunds, store credit, or payouts for programs like affiliates or multi-vendor commissions. For refunds, go to WooCommerce → Orders, open the order, click Refund, enter amount/quantity, and choose Refund via gateway (if supported) or Manual refund. For store credit, use a gift card/credit plugin to add a credit balance customers can spend later. If you’re paying customers as affiliates/vendors, use plugins (AffiliateWP, WooCommerce Product Vendors/Dokan/WC Vendors) that calculate earnings and pay via PayPal/Stripe payouts or manual bank transfers.

To set up subscriptions in WooCommerce, install a subscriptions plugin (commonly WooCommerce Subscriptions) and activate it. Next, go to WooCommerce → Settings → Payments and enable a gateway that supports recurring payments (like Stripe or WooPayments). Then create a new product and choose Simple subscription or Variable subscription. Set the price, billing interval (monthly/yearly), and optional sign-up fee or free trial. Publish the product, place a test order in sandbox/test mode, and confirm renewal orders generate correctly.

The best PayPal plugin for WooCommerce is usually the official WooCommerce PayPal Payments plugin. It’s built to work directly with WooCommerce, supports PayPal Checkout, Pay Later messaging, and often includes card payments through PayPal. It also helps with order sync, refunds, and dispute visibility inside WooCommerce. If you need more advanced control, PayPal Checkout by Payment Plugins (third-party) is popular for extra options and compatibility, but support depends on the developer. For legacy setups, WooCommerce PayPal Payments is the safer choice because it’s maintained for current WooCommerce versions. Always confirm country availability, currency support, ...Read more

To add a custom product type in WooCommerce, you’ll need to extend WooCommerce by creating a custom plugin or adding code to your theme’s functions.php file. First, define your custom product type class by extending the WC_Product class. Then, use the woocommerce_product_class filter to register the new class. Add necessary methods for your custom product type, such ...Read more