Shopware payments plugin
Cardflo offers a Shopware payments plugin designed to integrate advanced payment orchestration into your Shopware store. This plugin provides secure, efficient transaction processing, smart routing capabilities, and support for a wide range of payment methods.
Merchants can enhance their Shopware checkout experience and optimise payment flows.
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- Plugins
- Capabilities
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The overview
Shopware 6 merchants often require payment infrastructure that extends beyond a single acquirer connection. A dedicated payment plugin for this ecommerce platform facilitates an integration between the store front-end and a backend payment orchestration layer.
By deploying a plugin rather than a manual API integration, retailers can standardise the collection of sensitive cardholder data through secure iframes or hosted fields, maintaining PCI-DSS compliance.
The architecture allows the merchant to configure multiple payment service providers and alternative payment methods within the Shopware administration panel. This centralisation helps manage complex transaction flows, including multi-currency settlement and automated reconciliation, while ensuring that the checkout process remains responsive.
Integrating at this level ensures that the business can adjust its payment logic, such as smart routing or failover mechanisms, without modifying the underlying PHP framework or database schema of the Shopware installation.
How it works
Plugin Installation and Configuration
The merchant installs the plugin zip file or via Composer in the Shopware 6 environment. Initial configuration involves entering API credentials and secret keys to establish a secure handshake between the store and the payment gateway.
This process registers the merchant identity and synchronises supported currencies and basic transaction settings.
Payment Method Mapping
Within the Shopware admin, the merchant activates specific payment methods such as credit cards, SEPA, or digital wallets.
These are mapped to specific sales channels, allowing for localised payment options based on the customer country or currency, which is critical for international B2B and B2C operations.
Checkout Authorisation Flow
When a customer initiates a transaction, the plugin handles the communication with the PSP. For card payments, it manages the 3DS authentication process and collects the authorisation code from the issuer.
The plugin then updates the Shopware order status from 'open' to 'authorised' or 'paid' in real time.
Post-Authorisation Management
The plugin facilitates backend operations directly from the Shopware order overview. Merchants can trigger capture requests for delayed settlement or initiate partial and full refunds.
This bidirectional sync ensures that the payment status in the gateway always matches the order status in the ecommerce database.
Why it matters
Reduced Development Overheads
Developing a custom payment bridge for Shopware requires significant engineering resources to maintain security protocols and API versioning. Using a pre-built plugin ensures that the business can utilise standard hooks within the Shopware ecosystem, reducing the time required to go live.
Maintenance and updates for new security standards, such as PSD2 or updated 3DS versions, are typically handled by the plugin provider, allowing the merchant to focus on core operations.
Optimised Conversion Rates
Checkout friction is a primary cause of cart abandonment in the Shopware environment. A robust plugin supports features like account updater services and network tokenisation, which help minimise declines for returning customers.
By offering a variety of alternative payment methods and ensuring the payment interface is responsive and localised, merchants can better address regional consumer preferences, which directly impacts the successful completion of the authorisation process.
Use cases
International Mid-Market Retailers
Businesses using Shopware to scale across multiple European borders can utilise the plugin to route transactions to local acquirers, reducing interchange costs and improving authorisation rates through local BIN recognition.
Subscription and Recurring Billing
Merchants offering recurring services can use the plugin to manage Merchant Initiated Transactions (MIT). The plugin securely stores tokens in a vault, allowing for automated billing cycles without requiring further customer action.
High Volume B2B Platforms
B2B entities often require complex settlement terms. The plugin supports specific MCC configurations and provides detailed reporting that assists in reconciled settlement for high-value orders across various business units.
By the numbers
This reflects the typical industry improvement seen when using smart routing and 3DS optimisation compared to a single legacy gateway connection.
Standard duration for a technical user to install and configure basic plugin settings within a staging environment, excluding custom templating.
Typical response time for the plugin to initiate the payment session and display the secure payment interface to the end user.
Related terms
Talk to our team about a live rollout on your acquiring stack.
What you get with Shopware payments plugin
- Native integration with Shopware 6 administration for unified payment and order management workflows.
- Support for 3D Secure 2.0 to ensure compliance with Strong Customer Authentication mandates.
- Dynamic routing of transactions based on currency, amount, or card type to optimise costs.
- Secure tokenisation of payment credentials to facilitate fast checkout for returning store customers.
- Real-time status synchronisation between the payment gateway and the Shopware database structure.
- Full support for alternative payment methods including digital wallets and bank transfers.
- Capability to process partial and full refunds directly from the Shopware order screen.
- Detailed decline reason codes provided within the admin panel to assist with customer support.
- Configurable webhooks to ensure order status updates even if the customer closes the browser.
- Integrated fraud prevention tools to analyse transaction risk before the authorisation request is sent.
A short scoping call, then a written plan for your MIDs.
Questions about Shopware payments plugin
How does the Shopware plugin handle Strong Customer Authentication (SCA)?
The plugin is designed to comply with PSD2 requirements by facilitating the 3D Secure 2. x protocol.
During the checkout process, the plugin communicates with the issuer to determine if a challenge is required. If necessary, it handles the redirect or modal window where the customer validates their identity.
This reduces the risk of soft declines by ensures that the required authentication data is passed correctly to the acquirer throughout the authorisation flow.
Can I use the plugin to manage refunds for partial shipments?
Yes, the plugin supports partial capture and partial refund functionality within the Shopware order management interface. If a merchant is unable to fulfil a complete order, they can capture only the amount corresponding to the shipped goods.
Similarly, if a customer returns a single item from a multi-item order, the merchant can trigger a partial refund to the original payment method, which the plugin then communicates to the acquirer.
Does the plugin store credit card data on the Shopware server?
No, to maintain PCI-DSS compliance, the plugin typically uses secure iframes or hosted fields. This means that sensitive cardholder data flows directly from the customer's browser to the payment processor's secure vault.
Only a non-sensitive token is stored within the Shopware environment. This architecture significantly reduces the compliance burden on the merchant as they never actually touch or store the raw card data.
What happens if a transaction is declined with a soft decline code?
When a soft decline occurs, often due to an SCA requirement, the plugin can be configured to prompt the user to re-authenticate or try a different payment method.
Because the plugin interprets decline reason codes in real time, it provides the merchant with the information needed to understand why a transaction failed, whether it was due to insufficient funds, a generic decline, or a technical error at the issuer level.
Is it possible to use multiple acquirers with the Shopware plugin?
Yes, the plugin acts as a gateway to a payment orchestration layer where multiple acquirer connections can be configured. This allows the merchant to implement smart routing rules.
For example, transactions from a specific country can be sent to a local acquirer to minimise scheme fees and improve the likelihood of authorisation, while other transactions are routed through a different provider.
How are alternative payment methods (APMs) configured?
Alternative payment methods such as iDEAL, Bancontact, or various 'Buy Now Pay Later' options are managed within the payment method settings of the plugin. Once enabled and configured with the relevant PSP credentials, these methods appear as options in the Shopware checkout.
The plugin manages the specific redirect logic and lifecycle for each APM to ensure consistent order tracking.
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