The gateway settings live under WooCommerce, then Settings, then Payments, then click into Scotiabank eCom+. The screen is grouped into sections. This is what each setting does, and which plan it needs.
A note on how the free and paid builds differ: the free build from WordPress.org runs in sandbox mode only, so it shows sandbox credentials but no live ones. The Professional and Premium builds show both.
Display
- Enable / Disable. Whether the gateway appears at checkout. Leave it off until your credentials are entered and tested.
- Title. What customers see as the payment method name at checkout. Something plain like Credit or Debit Card works better than the bank name, because customers are choosing a payment type rather than a bank.
- Description. Text shown under the title at checkout. Useful for reassurance, for example noting that card details are handled by the bank.
Sandbox
- Enable Sandbox Mode. On by default. Switches the gateway between the bank’s sandbox and live endpoints. Your sandbox credentials will not work against the live endpoint, or the reverse. From version 2.7, test mode is only shown at checkout to logged-in administrators and shop managers, so customers can never pay in test mode by mistake. If you are testing and cannot see the payment method, log in first.
Turning sandbox off requires an active Professional or Premium licence. If the licence has lapsed, the plugin keeps the gateway in sandbox mode and tells you why. See the Going live article for how licence expiry is handled.
Payment Credentials
- Sandbox Store ID and Sandbox Shared Secret. Issued by Scotiabank for testing. If the bank has not sent them yet, contact us and we will provide testing credentials.
- Store ID and Shared Secret. Your live values, issued by Scotiabank once your account is approved. Professional and Premium builds only.
Shared secrets are stored exactly as Scotiabank issued them, including any special characters, and from version 2.8 they are shown as password fields so they are not visible on screen or picked up by browser autofill. Treat them like a password. Anyone with a shared secret can submit transactions against your account.
Payment Behaviour
- Timezone. The timezone the gateway stamps on each transaction request. Set it to your territory. The default is Port of Spain.
- Transaction Type. Either Sale (capture immediately) or Pre-Authorization (authorize only, capture later). See the article on choosing between them. Capturing and voiding from WooCommerce needs Scotia API access and the Professional plan or higher.
- Payment Flow. Order Pay Page redirects the customer to a dedicated payment page after they place the order. Modal Checkout opens the payment form in an overlay directly on the checkout page. Both are available on every plan. See the article on modal checkout and the redirect flow.
Scotia REST API
These settings power refunds, captures and voids from the WooCommerce order screen. They need API access enabled on your Scotiabank merchant account, which is a bank-side permission, and the Professional plan or higher for live orders. Every feature here works in sandbox on the free plan.
- Enable Scotia API Features. Turns on admin refunds, captures and voids. Refunds, captures and voids on existing orders keep working if your plan lapses.
- Sandbox API Key and Sandbox API Secret. Your Scotia sandbox REST API credentials.
- Production API Key and Production API Secret. Your Scotia live REST API credentials. Professional and Premium builds only.
Premium Features
These need the Premium plan on a live store. On the free plan they all work in sandbox so you can test them before buying.
- Save Payment Methods. Lets logged-in customers save a tokenized card for faster repeat checkout, and enables the saved-cards support that WooCommerce Subscriptions renewals rely on. Needs tokenization permitted on your Scotiabank account. See the saved cards article.
- Order ID Prefix. Prepends a tag to the order reference sent to the bank, for example WEB- produces WEB-182, so several stores sharing one merchant account stay distinguishable in Merchant Admin reports. Letters, numbers, hyphens and underscores only, up to 20 characters.
- Subscription Support. Tick this if you sell subscription products. The plugin then saves the payment method automatically at checkout whenever a subscription product is in the cart, and uses it for every renewal. Works with both payment flows. Needs Save Payment Methods on, and tokenization with recurring payments enabled on your Scotiabank account. See the WooCommerce Subscriptions article.
If your plan lapses while a Premium feature is switched on, the settings screen shows a warning next to the affected setting with a renewal link. Existing saved cards and existing subscription renewals keep working. Saving new cards and starting new subscriptions needs an active Premium plan.
Debug
- Debug Log. Writes each transaction to the WooCommerce log, under WooCommerce, then Status, then Logs. Each transaction opens and closes with a separator line. Turn it on when you are troubleshooting a specific payment and off again afterwards. Nothing chargeable is written to the log in full.
A note on the Shared Secret
If you hand your site to a developer or agency, they will need this value. When the engagement ends, ask Scotiabank to reissue it. Rotating a credential is cheap. Discovering later that it is still in someone’s notes is not.
