eProcessingNetwork is a United States payment gateway built for businesses that already hold a merchant account. This guide connects it to Gravity Forms on WordPress: credentials, configuration, testing and going live.
For background on the gateway and the other integrations available, see the eProcessingNetwork overview for WordPress.
What you need first
- An eProcessingNetwork account with gateway credentials issued.
- A merchant account. The gateway carries the transaction; the merchant account receives the money.
- WordPress running Gravity Forms, on a current version.
- HTTPS across the whole site, not only the payment page.
- The eProcessingNetwork plugin for Gravity Forms.
Step 1: Install and activate
Upload the plugin ZIP under Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin and activate it. An eProcessingNetwork option appears in your Gravity Forms payment settings. If you keep a staging site, configure there first and copy the working settings across.
Step 2: Enter your credentials
Paste the gateway credentials into the plugin settings, keeping test and live values clearly separated in a password manager. The two sets look similar, and leaving test credentials in place at launch is the most common cause of a store that appears to work but never takes money. Never paste credentials into a support ticket or shared document.
Step 3: Configure a Gravity Forms payment form
Give the method a name customers recognize. “Credit or debit card” converts better than a processor name most buyers have never encountered.
Decide between capturing immediately and authorizing then capturing later. Immediate capture suits digital delivery where fulfilment is instant. Authorize-then-capture suits physical goods, letting you take the money when the item actually ships and avoiding refunds on stock you turn out not to have.
Step 4: Test before real money moves
Switch to test mode and work through a Gravity Forms payment form as a customer would:
- An approved card completes and records with the correct amount.
- A declined card returns a readable message, not a raw gateway code.
- Totals match exactly once tax and shipping are applied.
- Receipts reach both the customer and your inbox.
- Abandoning part-way leaves no order marked as paid.
Testing a decline matters more than testing a success. Most problems reported after launch are confusing messages on refusal rather than failed charges.
Step 5: Go live
Swap in live credentials, disable test mode, then make one small real payment with your own card and refund it. That single transaction proves the whole chain, from a Gravity Forms payment form through to funds reaching your account.
Recurring payments
Tokenization is what makes repeat billing possible: you charge a stored token rather than re-collecting the card. Whether recurring is available depends on both the gateway and your Gravity Forms setup, sometimes via an additional extension, so confirm both before promising customers a subscription option.
If you do run subscriptions, retry failed payments on a schedule rather than once, warn customers before a card expires, and make updating a card easy. Most lost recurring revenue is mechanical, not a decision to cancel.
Reconciliation and refunds
Issue refunds inside WordPress where supported, so your records and the gateway agree. Refunding only in the gateway portal leaves WordPress showing the original amount, and the gap surfaces later in bookkeeping when it is harder to unpick.
Reconcile settlement against your Gravity Forms records regularly. Gateways settle in batches and fees are usually deducted before payout, so a deposit rarely matches the day takings exactly. Knowing what normal looks like is what lets you spot a real problem fast.
Troubleshooting
The gateway is missing at checkout. Confirm the plugin is active, the gateway enabled, and that currency or country rules are not filtering it out.
Everything declines in test mode. Almost always live credentials against the test endpoint, or the reverse. The two are not interchangeable.
Payment succeeds but the order stays unpaid. The gateway response is not reaching your site. Check host firewalls and any security plugin filtering incoming requests.
Customers report duplicate charges. Usually an authorization and a capture showing separately on a statement rather than two real charges. Verify in the gateway before refunding.
Other integrations
Running more than one plugin? The eProcessingNetwork overview covers every available integration.
Get the plugin
The eProcessingNetwork Payment Gateway for Gravity Forms is available from wpayo with updates and support included.
Should you offer bank payments too?
If you bill the same customers repeatedly, adding ACH alongside cards is usually worth it. Bank debits cost less per transaction and do not expire, so they avoid the reissued-card problem that quietly erodes recurring revenue. The cost is slower settlement and the possibility of a return arriving days later, which suits recurring invoicing far better than one-off consumer sales.
Keeping the integration healthy
Update the gateway plugin promptly, because payment plugins track API changes and an outdated one can stop working when a provider retires an endpoint. Re-test after any significant Gravity Forms or WordPress update, since checkout is the one flow where a regression costs money the same day. And watch for failures rather than waiting for complaints: a sudden run of declines almost always points at a credential, certificate or configuration problem rather than at unlucky customers.
Frequently asked questions
Do we need a merchant account as well as the gateway?
Yes. The gateway carries the transaction to the card networks; the merchant account is where the money settles. Knowing which is which also tells you who to contact when something breaks: settlement and reserves are merchant account matters, connection and callback failures are gateway matters.
What if our site is down when a payment completes?
A payment authorized at the gateway stands even if your site cannot record it. This is exactly why reconciling gateway records against Gravity Forms matters, since it catches transactions that completed on one side but not the other.
Can we run a second gateway alongside this one?
Yes, and there is a good argument for it. Gravity Forms can present several payment methods, so an outage or an account suspension does not stop sales entirely.
How long until funds arrive?
Settlement timing comes from your merchant agreement rather than the plugin, and commonly runs a couple of business days. Fees are usually deducted before payout, so deposits will not match daily takings exactly.
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