How to Pick the Right Payment Gateway for Moodle: eCommerce Options Explored

Rucha Gotarkar

When it comes to selling your Moodle courses, pricing your courses is probably the biggest hurdle. But that’s something only you can decide.

Once you have that out of our way, you can look for an option to accept (and manage) student payments. This means- a way for your students to pay for your courses and then be enrolled in the course once the payment is made.

It is as simple as it sounds – for the student (or at least you want it to be that way).

For you, there’s some work involved.

You’ll have to:

• pick a payment gateway,
• set up payment options,
• think of the purchase terms, handle cancellations, refunds, and buyer support!

But first, let’s get started with the basics.

What is a payment gateway?

In the sense of the term,

“A payment gateway is a merchant service provided by an e-commerce application service provider that authorizes credit card or direct payments processing for e-businesses, online retailers, bricks and clicks, or traditional brick and mortar.”

• Wikipedia

eCommerce jargon apart, a payment gateway is a portal that verifies payment information (credit card/ bank details) and processes it, to accept payments. It’s like the system where you swipe your card in a grocery story— just taken online.

A few payment gateways offer recurring payments to be set up or accept payments in instalments. But that’s as far as the options go.

Payment Gateways vs e-Commerce Platforms for Moodle

If you’re looking for more options, like running sale prices, a simplified approach to selling bundles, managing and offering coupons, automated course recommendations, you’ll want to go beyond simple payment gateways.

See, payment gateways come into play when the customer (student) in this case, comes to make the final payment. Discounts or course upsells are offered much before the final purchase is made.

Such options are offered as part of the e-commerce capabilities of a system. And Moodle has none. It’s not meant to. It’s not an e-commerce platform; it’s an e-learning platform.

For e-commerce capabilities, you’ll need an e-commerce platform along with a  payment gateway.

Payment Gateways in a nutshell

To put it simply, with payment gateways you get:-

• A platform to handle student payments
• An option to handle one-time or recurring payments for a single purchase

E-commerce platforms explained

An e-commerce platform offers far more capabilities than a payment gateway. In fact, payment gateways are a part of the platform. You get options to:

• Manage pricing,
• Market, cross-sell, and upsell your courses
• Analyze purchases

What are you looking for?

Whether you need a payment gateway or an e-commerce platform depends on your requirements and the scale of your business.

If you’re thinking…

“I’ve set up a PayPal account. I want students to be able to pay for my courses”

…and that’s about it. You most definitely need a payment gateway. And yes, PayPal is the most popular. But it’s worth taking a look at Stripe or Authorize.net too.

It helps to compare the list of currencies the payment gateway handles and the countries it supports, and transaction fees, of course.

But, in addition to the above, if you’re thinking…

“I want to provide students with some options while making the purchase. And maybe add discounts on prices, not always, sometimes. Like, run a sale or something.”

…you need an e-commerce platform.

Might not be as simple a requirement. But for complete control over the purchase process and to go beyond payments and nurture a lead (prospective student), you’ll need an e-commerce platform.

When it comes to an e-commerce platform for Moodle, the most popular choice is WooCommerce, with Course Merchant, a close second.

(Although WooCommerce is based on WordPress, it is simple to use and integrates well with Moodle to provide users a seamless experience).

How do you pick “one”?

Now, it really depends on your students or target audience. The country they reside in, the currencies they use, the language they speak.

But in all honesty, you might consider thinking past “one” option.

Try considering several payment options. Whether you go with an e-commerce platform or not, consider setting up multiple options for a student to make a payment. It could be,

• Credit/Debit card
• Bank transfers
• Mobile wallet
• Gift cards/Store credit

Wrapping Up

When it comes to selling your Moodle courses, a payment gateway does come into the picture. Whether you include a standalone gateway or go with an e-commerce platform, the choice is completely yours.

It’s easy to migrate from a payment gateway to an e-commerce platform. So, if you want to start small, consider opting for a payment gateway.

If you want to go all out from the get-go, you can’t go wrong picking an e-commerce platform.

And if you still have questions or doubts, you can go right down to the comments section and write to us! We’ll be happy to help you out 🙂

That’s all for now! Adios!