Paystack: how do I accept payments in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and South Africa with Paystack?

What the Paystack app does

The Paystack app sends buyers to Paystack's secure checkout page, where they pay by card, bank transfer, USSD or mobile money, depending on what Paystack supports in their country and what you turned on in Paystack. It suits stores selling in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Côte d'Ivoire and Egypt. The money goes to your Paystack account, and Paystack pays it out to your bank.

Before you start

• A Paystack business account.
• Your API keys: in the Paystack Dashboard, open Settings, then API Keys & Webhooks. You need the Public key (starts with pk_test_ or pk_live_) and the Secret key (starts with sk_test_ or sk_live_).
• A market priced in NGN, GHS, KES, ZAR, XOF, EGP or USD, in a currency your Paystack account is allowed to take. Paystack stays hidden in markets priced in any other currency, because the payment would fail.
• An Email field in your checkout form, turned on (required is best). Paystack needs the buyer's email to start a payment, so checkout asks for it when the buyer picks Paystack. If the email field is turned off, buyers cannot pay with Paystack. You set this in the checkout form settings.

Install and set up

1. Open Apps, find Paystack in the Payment gateways tab and click Install on its card.
2. Paste your Public key and your Secret key.
3. Turn on Activate and click Save.

Settings

• Activate: shows Paystack at checkout. Turn it off to hide it without losing your keys.
• Public key (required).
• Secret key (required): hidden as you type. Keep it private.

Both keys must come from the same mode: two test keys or two live keys.

What buyers see

At checkout, buyers see Paystack with the Visa and Mastercard logos. After placing the order, they pay on Paystack's page in the market's currency and come back to your thank you page. The order becomes Done with the tag Paid with Paystack. How orders are confirmed is explained in How do online card payments work?

Test it

1. Save your test keys (pk_test_ and sk_test_).
2. Place an order on your store and pay with one of Paystack's test cards. No real money moves.
3. Check that the order arrives as Done and paid.
4. Replace both keys with your live keys and save. Live keys are needed to take real payments.

Common problems

• "Public and secret keys must both be in test or live mode". You mixed a test key with a live key. Copy both from the same mode.
• "The public key you have entered is incorrect" or "The secret key you have entered is incorrect". Copy the key again in full, without spaces. Check you did not swap the two.
• Paystack does not show at checkout. Check that Activate is on, that both keys are saved, and that the buyer's market currency is one of the currencies above. See payment methods.
• Buyers see "If you are the account owner, please try reconnecting your Paystack account." Paystack refused to start the payment. Check that your keys are live and current, and that your Paystack account can take the market's currency.
• A buyer paid but the order is still Abandoned. The buyer probably closed the page before coming back. Find the payment in your Paystack Dashboard, then set the order to Done.