WooCommerce vs. WooCommerce Payments – And Firearms eCommerce Websites
As we’re sure you know, hosting a WordPress website for your firearms business comes with many legal and logistical hurdles, especially when it comes to WooCommerce.
Recently, WooCommerce sent out an email on their policies regarding firearms/guns and similar products. Unfortunately, this email has confused many entrepreneurs. Some eCommerce firearms website owners now think they need to find an alternative to WooCommerce. Is this the case? Not quite.
To understand this issue, you need to first understand the difference between WooCommerce the WordPress plugin and WooCommerce Payments. While they confusingly share a name, they are actually two very different products. Most importantly, they have different implications when it comes to selling firearms and similarly restricted products.
We’ll skip over the finer details and just jump to the six important points that you need to know:
- You should discuss the legalities of selling firearms with a lawyer in your local jurisdiction, as local laws may vary. This post is not legal advice.
- WooCommerce the plugin is a plugin that anyone, no matter what industry they’re in, can download and use. This plugin does not directly handle payments; it merely sets up the store (product pages, customer profile pages, coupons, etc.) on your WordPress site.
- To sell products online, you need to connect WooCommerce to a service that works with the banking and credit system. There are many options available. WooCommerce Payments is one such option, but because they are beholden to their payment processor (Stripe), they need to follow Stripe’s rules. These rules include a ban on businesses that sell firearms.
- However, you don’t have to use WooCommerce Payments. You can still use WooCommerce the plugin, but use a different solution for payments – a solution that does support firearms sales.
- Some of these other payment solutions are Authorize.net, ZenPayments, and Blue Payment Agency. However, you will typically need to first have a bank that is willing to take the risk.
- Additionally, you need to find a website host that supports selling firearms. Many popular hosts do not support firearms websites – but Convesio does! Read more about our WordPress hosting services for eCommerce firearms websites.
How Convesio Can Help
Here at Convesio, we host many eCommerce businesses in the firearms industry. If you’re an eCommerce merchant looking to use WooCommerce, we can help recommend a payment processor that fits your business. Get in touch today to discuss our WooCommerce hosting plans.
