Available on every plan · Updated 22 October 2026
Also asked as: “connect paystack” · “paystack keys” · “test connection failed” · “paystack webhook url” · “paystack switch is greyed out”
Paystack is a payment gateway you hold an account with. Connecting it means your checkout can take cards, bank transfers and more, and every charge runs on your Paystack account: the money settles to you on Paystack's terms, and we hold none of it. It is on every plan.
You need a Paystack account of your own first. Your keys are in the Paystack Dashboard under Settings → API Keys & Webhooks.
1. Open Paystack in Integrations
Payment gateways are connected and switched on in Integrations, not in Settings. Open Integrations and choose Paystack, or choose Connect beside Paystack under Settings → Payments; both open the same page.
2. Choose Live or Test
Mode decides which keys checkout uses: Live (real payments) or Test (no real money moves, with Paystack's test cards). Both sets of keys can stay saved, so trying test mode never means retyping your live keys. While checkout uses test keys, Admin says so at the top of Paystack's page and of Settings → Payments, with Add live keys or Use live keys. Orders taken in test mode are marked Test in your order list and are left out of your takings.
3. Add your keys
Under Live keys (or Test keys), paste the Public key and the Secret key, and choose Connect Paystack. We check them with Paystack before saving, so a wrong, truncated or regenerated key is reported here rather than by a customer at checkout. The secret key is encrypted and never shown back: it reads Saved, hidden, with Replace.
4. Add the webhook in Paystack
Webhook holds an address that belongs to your store alone. Copy it and add it in Paystack under Settings → API Keys & Webhooks. This is how we hear about a payment when the customer closes the window before coming back to your store; without it, a payment is confirmed when the customer returns, and by a check that runs afterwards.
Our server IP address matters only if you have turned on Paystack's IP whitelisting: charges from your store come from that address, so it must be on your allowed list. If you have never enabled whitelisting, ignore it.
5. Offer it at checkout
At checkout says whether Paystack is offered to shoppers, with Stop offering while it is. At checkout the method reads Pay with Paystack. Your other payment methods are under Settings → Payments.
If it does not work
- Connect Paystack is refused: the keys do not match, or one is from the other mode. Copy both again from the same mode in Paystack.
- Payments are not confirmed when customers close the window: add the webhook address in Paystack.
- Charges are refused with an IP error: add our server IP address to your Paystack whitelist, or turn whitelisting off.
- Shoppers cannot pay real money: checkout is on test keys. Add your live keys and switch Mode to Live.
Email support@shoponent.com with your store name if anything here does not match what you see. We read and answer every message.