Payments guide

How to accept Mobile Money and Paystack on a website

People in Ghana pay from the phone. A Paystack button is not enough. The site has to confirm the MoMo or card payment, save it, and show your team a list that matches Paystack the next morning.

A phone over a card terminal on a dark Ghana shop counter

Updated · OceanCyber, Accra

The wallets

Paystack is the usual way to take cards and MoMo on a Ghana website. The wallets are usually MTN MoMo, Telecel Cash, and AirtelTigo Money. Check the live list with Paystack when you open the account, because the names change.

Show the amount and the fee before the customer confirms. A surprise charge is how you lose a payment that has already left their wallet.

What has to happen on a GHS 200 order

The customer taps Pay. Paystack sends a prompt to MTN MoMo, Telecel Cash, or AirtelTigo Money, or takes the card. They approve on the phone. Paystack then tells your site. The order is paid only after that message checks out. If they close the browser after approving, the sale still has to be saved. Refreshing the thank-you page must not create a second order.

The next morning, finance needs a list that matches Paystack. A button that only sends people to Paystack does not give you that list.

  1. Open the Paystack account while we are designing, not the week you want to launch. Missing papers are a common reason a shop misses the date.
  2. Show the amount, the fee, and the wallet or card before the customer confirms.
  3. Check Paystack’s message and ignore a repeat of the same payment.
  4. Mark the order paid only after that check, and show the customer a receipt.
  5. Give the person who matches the bank a daily list of payments that worked and prompts that failed.
  6. Test a timeout and a wallet with no money before you tell people the shop is open.

Which package includes this

Startup includes one Paystack or MoMo payment. Professional adds the morning list that matches Paystack, which is what a shop needs. Enterprise is for more than one payment company.

Common questions

Can Wix or Squarespace take MoMo properly?
They can show a payment link. A shop that must match Paystack and avoid sending the same order twice needs a checkout we build. The Wix page explains that choice.
How long does Paystack take to approve us?
Paystack checks the business, the bank account, and the website. Start that while we are designing. Missing papers are a common reason a shop misses the opening date.

Tell us which wallets you need

Tell us what you sell and which wallets you take. We will write the payment steps before we build.