Use Paynow's official WooCommerce plugin. You need a Paynow merchant account and an Integration ID and Key from Paynow; with those set up, customers can pay with methods such as EcoCash, OneMoney, InnBucks, O'mari, Zimswitch cards, Visa and Mastercard, depending on which you enable.
1. Open a Paynow merchant account
- Register at paynow.co.zw and set up the bank account you want paid into. According to Paynow, there is no signup or usage fee, only a commission on each transaction.
- Get the account verified. Paynow asks for a request letter on company letterhead signed by a director, a copy of that director's ID, proof of the business bank account and your logo, submitted at verify.paynow.co.zw.
2. Create an integration
- In your Paynow account, go to Other Ways To Get Paid → Create/Manage Shopping Carts → Create Advanced Integration.
- Choose the payment methods you want this integration to offer, and save. The Integration ID then appears on the page.
- Click Email Key To Company Address: the Integration Key arrives by email. Paynow's guide says to click Generate New Key when you go live.
3. Install and set up the plugin
- Download the plugin from the link in Paynow's WooCommerce guide. It is on GitHub, not in the WordPress plugin directory, so don't use copies from other sites.
- In WordPress, go to Plugins → Add New Plugin → Upload Plugin, choose the zip file, click Install Now, then Activate.
- Go to WooCommerce → Settings → Payments (Paynow's guide calls this tab Checkout, its name in older versions) and open Paynow.
- Enable it, paste the Integration ID into Merchant ID and the Integration Key into Merchant Key, and save.
- Place a small order on your phone and pay it. Check the order shows as paid in WooCommerce and the payment appears in Paynow.
Your shop must load over HTTPS before you take payments. Every Tremhost hosting plan includes free SSL: see How do I get the padlock (free SSL) on my site? and How do I make my site always use HTTPS?
- Can customers abroad pay?
- According to Paynow, both locally and internationally issued Visa and Mastercard cards work on Paynow. Other international gateways depend on your business and the gateway's own approval.
- When do I get the money?
- Paynow's merchant guide says unverified accounts are paid out once a week, on Tuesdays, and gives typical settlement times of the next day for local mobile payments, two days for local cards and three for foreign cards. Check the current terms with Paynow.
- Can you set it up for me?
- Yes: our managed e-commerce packages include payment gateway setup, including Paynow, from $1,000 a year with hosting. If you run a small store yourself, managed WordPress Business is $20 a month.
Stuck on the hosting side? Message us on WhatsApp or open a support ticket.
Updated 6 November 2026. Something here out of date? Tell us.