Frequently asked questions

Do I need WooCommerce or another ecommerce plugin?

No. This is a complete standalone shopping cart: it needs nothing but WordPress and a Stripe account. It adds no templates and no custom database tables of its own, so it sits happily on any site.

Do I need a Stripe account?

Yes. This plugin is a shopfront for Stripe; Stripe takes the money. Creating an account is free, and you can take test payments straight away while Stripe finishes checking your details for live ones.

Does it work without the webhook?

Payments will succeed, but nothing will tell your site that they did. No emails go out, stock does not go down, and discount code uses are not counted. Set the webhook up. It is one button.

Where are my orders?

In Stripe. The Orders tab shows the recent ones and lets you tick them off as posted, but refunds and the full history live in Stripe, where they belong. Receipts are the exception: the plugin can build its own, and does when you choose Plugin receipt on the Emails tab.

Can I sell one product in several sizes or colours?

Yes, with Bang! Cart Pro. Product variants give a product up to two options - Colour and Size, say - with a price and a stock count for every combination and a picture for each colour. In the free plugin the answer is the Duplicate button: each size becomes its own product, which works perfectly well and is a little more typing on the page.

Can I use my own products, not Stripe's?

Yes, and you can mix both freely. Products added in the plugin are sold and priced normally; they are just not tracked as Stripe products in Stripe's reporting. See Products and stock.

Can customers collect in person?

Yes. Tick Offer collection in person on a zone and fill in your collection details. Stripe never asks a collecting customer for a delivery address. See Collection in person.

Which payment methods can my customers use?

Whatever your Stripe account has switched on. The payment form is Stripe's own, so you get cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Link out of the box, and methods like Klarna, iDEAL, Bancontact or Bacs Direct Debit where your country and your customer's support them.

That holds whether customers pay on Stripe's page, as they do with the free plugin, or on a checkout page of your own, which is a Bang! Cart Pro feature. The form is the same either way; what changes is the page around it.

None of it is configured in this plugin. You switch methods on in Stripe and your checkout follows. Strong Customer Authentication is handled there too, automatically. That is the point of being a lean plugin in front of a very large payment company: Stripe ships new payment methods and your shop simply has them.

Does it store card details?

No. Every card field is Stripe's own - on Stripe's page, or inside Stripe's secure frame if you use checkout on your own site - and this plugin never sees a card number.

Does it create database tables?

No custom database tables. Every setting lives in WordPress options, which is why uninstalling leaves nothing behind. The only order information kept locally is which orders you marked posted, which have been emailed, and a few short-lived caches.

Can I sell digital products?

Not today. The cart is built around physical goods: stock counts, postage, collection in person. It does not deliver files. Digital downloads are agreed for a future Bang! Cart Pro release - see the roadmap - but nothing is promised for a date, and until it ships the honest answer is no.

Which currencies can I charge in?

44 currencies - pounds, euros, dollars and dozens more, priced the way you write them, each checked against Stripe's own tables. Whole-unit currencies such as the Japanese Yen are not offered yet. See Connecting Stripe.

Does it do subscriptions or tax?

Neither, at any tier, by design. A VAT-registered shop needs Stripe Tax, which this plugin does not wire up. Recurring payments are Stripe Billing's job. These are the points at which a full store platform is the right answer, and we would rather say so than half-build them.

Does the cancellation wording in the email make my shop legally compliant?

It is compliant default wording, not legal advice. The buyer's confirmation ships with the cancellation and returns information UK distance-selling law requires in the email itself, kept close to the statute's wording and on by default. Compliance overall is wider than one email - your policy pages, how you actually handle returns and your Stripe settings all play a part, and it stays your responsibility. What the plugin does is make the starting point the right wording rather than a blank box. See Emails.

Can I get a PDF receipt for customers?

Yes, free. On the Emails tab, set Invoice / receipt document to Plugin receipt and it is attached to both order emails. Note that the default is None, so this is a choice you make rather than something already happening. You can download a receipt for your own records from the Orders tab in any case.

Why does my customer get two receipts?

Because Stripe's own Successful payments email is on as well as the plugin's receipt. Pick one. Turn Stripe's off under Settings, Business, Customer emails, and leave Refunds on.

Can I put the basket icon in my menu?

In a header built with a page builder, a widget area or a block theme, yes. Classic WordPress navigation menus do not run shortcodes inside menu items, so pasting it into a menu label will not work. That is a WordPress limitation rather than a plugin one.

Is it translation-ready?

The storefront and most of the admin are. A translation template ships in the plugin's /languages folder.

What happens if I stop paying for Pro?

Your shop carries on selling. An expired licence keeps every Pro feature working - variants, discounts, postage bands, customer-set prices, checkout on your own site and order notes all behave exactly as before. What stops is updates and support. A billing problem should never take a working shop off sale.

Removing Pro altogether is a different thing: features stand down, but nothing is deleted and every setting is kept for its return. Both cases are covered in Your Pro licence.

I renamed my plugin folder / I upgraded from the old name. Do my shortcodes still work?

Yes, permanently. Every shortcode that existed before the rename has its old alias registered alongside the new one - only [bangcart_checkout], added in 3.7.0, has no older name, because it never had one. and old order-status and receipt links in emails already sent still answer exactly as before. Nothing pasted into a page ever needs revisiting.