How to restrict wholesale customers to specific payment gateways

If you run a B2B store, you may need control over which payment methods your wholesale customers see at checkout. You might want to limit them to bank transfers, prevent them from using PayPal, or offer payment options that your regular customers cannot access.

WooCommerce Wholesale Prices Premium includes payment gateway mapping, which lets you define exactly which payment methods each wholesale role can use at checkout. It also supports payment gateway surcharges, which automatically add a fee when a wholesale customer selects a specific payment method. This article covers how to configure both features, and how to override them for individual customers.

Requirements

• WooCommerce Wholesale Prices Premium installed and activated. Get WooCommerce Wholesale Prices Premium here.
• At least one wholesale role configured in your store.
• One or more WooCommerce payment gateways set up under WooCommerce → Settings → Payments.

Restricting payment gateways by wholesale role

Go to Wholesale → Settings → Wholesale Prices → Payment Gateway. The Wholesale Role / Payment Gateway section at the top of the page is where you map each wholesale role to the payment gateways they are allowed to use.

1. In the Wholesale Role dropdown, select the wholesale role you want to restrict.
2. In the Payment Gateways multi-select field, choose the gateways this role is allowed to use at checkout. You can select multiple gateways for a single role mapping.
3. Click Add Mapping.

Once saved, the mapping appears in the table below the form. Use the edit and delete controls in the table to manage existing mappings.

Two important things to note about how the mapping works:

• All-or-nothing restriction. When you add a mapping for a wholesale role, those are the only payment gateways that role sees at checkout. Any gateway not listed in the mapping is hidden. Make sure you include every gateway the role is permitted to use.
• Works with disabled gateways. The mapping applies regardless of whether a gateway is enabled or disabled globally in WooCommerce. This means you can create wholesale-only payment methods — such as bank transfer — that remain hidden from regular customers but appear for mapped wholesale roles.

Adding a payment gateway surcharge

The Wholesale Role / Payment Gateway Surcharge section, further down the same Payment Gateway settings tab, lets you add an automatic fee when a wholesale customer selects a specific payment method at checkout.

1. Select the Wholesale Role to apply the surcharge to.
2. Select the Payment Gateway that triggers the surcharge.
3. Enter a Surcharge Title. This label appears on the checkout page and in the order summary for the customer.
4. Choose a Surcharge Type: Fixed Price applies a flat fee in your store currency; Percentage calculates the fee as a percentage of the cart subtotal plus the shipping total.
5. Enter the Surcharge Amount. For percentage surcharges, enter the number without the percent symbol — for example, enter 3 for a 3% surcharge.
6. Set Taxable? to Yes if the surcharge should be subject to tax, or No if it should not.
7. Click Add Surcharge.

The surcharge is applied automatically at checkout when the mapped wholesale role selects the specified payment gateway. You can add multiple surcharge entries to cover different roles and gateways.

Per-user payment gateway overrides

If you need to give a specific wholesale customer different payment gateway access from what their role mapping specifies, you can override the settings on that customer’s user profile.

Go to Users → All Users, open the customer’s profile, and scroll down to the Per User Wholesale Prices Settings section.

Override Payment Gateway Options

Set Override Payment Gateway Options to Yes to enable a custom gateway list for this customer. A Payment Gateway Options multi-select field appears, where you choose which gateways this individual customer can use — independently of their role’s mapping.

Override Payment Gateway Surcharge

The Override Payment Gateway Surcharge dropdown controls how surcharges apply for this specific customer. The available options are:

• Use general wholesale role payment gateway surcharge — the customer follows the surcharge mapping set for their wholesale role. This is the default.
• Do not use general wholesale role payment gateway surcharge — surcharges are disabled entirely for this customer.
• Specify payment gateway surcharge — a custom surcharge mapping table appears, allowing you to set individual surcharge rules for this customer.

Frequently asked questions

What happens if a wholesale role has no payment gateway mapping?

If no mapping exists for a role, all available payment gateways are shown at checkout — the same experience as regular customers. The restriction only activates once you add a mapping for that role.

Can I map a wholesale role to a payment gateway that is disabled for regular customers?

Yes. The gateway mapping works regardless of whether a gateway is enabled or disabled in WooCommerce. A gateway included in the mapping is made available to that wholesale role even if it is globally disabled, which makes it possible to create wholesale-exclusive payment options.

Can I add multiple payment gateways to the same wholesale role?

Yes. The Payment Gateways field accepts multiple selections. All gateways you select are available to that role at checkout.

Can I add surcharges for more than one payment gateway per wholesale role?

Yes. You can add multiple surcharge entries for the same wholesale role — one per payment gateway. Each entry has its own title, type, amount, and taxable setting.

How is the percentage surcharge calculated?

Percentage surcharges are calculated on the cart subtotal plus the shipping total. They do not compound with other fees already applied to the order.

What if a customer’s role has a gateway mapping, but I need to give them access to an additional gateway?

Use the per-user override. On the customer’s user profile, set Override Payment Gateway Options to Yes and select all the gateways that customer should see. This takes precedence over the role-level mapping for that individual.

What happens if a payment gateway is deleted from WooCommerce but still referenced in a mapping?

The mapping table displays a warning indicating the gateway no longer exists. The mapping itself is stored but has no effect. Remove the mapping entry to keep your settings tidy.

Does the gateway restriction apply to admin users?

No. Administrator and shop manager accounts always see all enabled payment gateways at checkout, regardless of any wholesale role mapping.

Does payment gateway mapping work with the WooCommerce checkout block?

WooCommerce Wholesale Prices Premium includes compatibility with the WooCommerce checkout block. Gateway mapping and surcharges are applied when wholesale customers use the block checkout. If you notice the restriction is not working, confirm you are running a current version of WooCommerce Wholesale Prices Premium.

Why hasn’t a new mapping taken effect for a customer already on the checkout page?

Changes to gateway mappings apply on the next checkout page load. If the customer already has the checkout page open when you save the mapping, they need to reload the page to see the updated gateway options.

Help & support

We have a dedicated support team for Wholesale Suite who knows our products, WooCommerce, and the industry very well. You’re welcome to make use of their expertise at any time, worldwide.

If you are an existing customer please go to the support ticket request form and send us a message.

If you are a free plugin user, please send us a support request on the forum. We actively monitor the WordPress.org support forums for the free plugin and help our users there as best as we can.