Step 8 : Integrating a Secure Payment Gateway (Stripe & PayPal)

💳 Step 8 : Integrating a Secure Payment Gateway (Stripe & PayPal)

Up until now, your Laravel shop can:

Display products on the storefront
Add items to the cart
Checkout and place orders
Store order details and show order history in the admin panel

But right now, all orders are created without any actual money changing hands. That’s fine for testing, but in the real world, you need to collect secure payments from customers.

This step is all about transforming your store from a basic shop into a real revenue-generating platform by integrating Stripe and/or PayPal.

🧭 What You’ll Learn in This Step

Why payment gateways matter (and how to choose the right one)
Setting up a Stripe account and test keys
Installing and configuring Stripe in Laravel
Building a payment page connected to Stripe Checkout
Processing payments and updating order status
Setting up PayPal as an optional alternative (for more customer flexibility)
Real-world security and usability tips

⚡ Why Stripe (and PayPal) Are Popular Choices

There are hundreds of payment gateways, but Stripe and PayPal dominate small to medium e-commerce businesses for a reason:

Feature	Stripe	PayPal
Setup speed	Very easy	Easy
Developer friendly	Excellent APIs & docs	Good APIs
Global availability	40+ countries	200+ countries
Payment methods	Cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay	PayPal balance, cards, banks
Fees	~2.9% + 30¢ per transaction	Similar

Tip: It’s common to offer both: Stripe for credit/debit cards, and PayPal for customers who prefer that wallet.

🧩 Step 1 : Setting Up Stripe

1. Create a Stripe Account

Go to https://stripe.com and sign up
Verify your email and activate test mode
Get your Publishable key and Secret key from your Stripe Dashboard → Developers → API keys

For testing, you can use test cards like 4242 4242 4242 4242 with any future date and any CVC.

🧩 Step 2 : Installing Stripe PHP SDK in Laravel

In your Laravel project folder, run:

composer require stripe/stripe-php

This installs the official Stripe PHP library.

Then add your keys to .env:

STRIPE_KEY=pk_test_your_publishable_key
STRIPE_SECRET=sk_test_your_secret_key

And add them to config/services.php for convenience:

'stripe' => [
    'key' => env('STRIPE_KEY'),
    'secret' => env('STRIPE_SECRET'),
],

🧩 Step 3 : Adding a Payment Button to Checkout

Let’s connect your checkout flow to Stripe.

Create a PaymentController:

php artisan make:controller PaymentController

Open app/Http/Controllers/PaymentController.php and add:

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use Stripe\Stripe;
use Stripe\Checkout\Session as StripeSession;
use App\Models\Order;

class PaymentController extends Controller
{
    public function createCheckout($orderId)
    {
        $order = Order::with('items.product')->findOrFail($orderId);

        Stripe::setApiKey(config('services.stripe.secret'));

        $lineItems = [];
        foreach ($order->items as $item) {
            $lineItems[] = [
                'price_data' => [
                    'currency' => 'usd',
                    'product_data' => [
                        'name' => $item->product->name
                    ],
                    'unit_amount' => $item->price * 100,
                ],
                'quantity' => $item->quantity,
            ];
        }

        $checkoutSession = StripeSession::create([
            'payment_method_types' => ['card'],
            'line_items' => $lineItems,
            'mode' => 'payment',
            'success_url' => route('payment.success', $order->id) . '?session_id={CHECKOUT_SESSION_ID}',
            'cancel_url' => route('payment.cancel', $order->id),
        ]);

        return redirect($checkoutSession->url);
    }

    public function success(Request $request, $orderId)
    {
        $order = Order::findOrFail($orderId);
        $order->update(['status' => 'paid']);

        return view('payment.success', compact('order'));
    }

    public function cancel($orderId)
    {
        $order = Order::findOrFail($orderId);
        return view('payment.cancel', compact('order'));
    }
}

🧩 Step 4 : Adding Routes for Payment

In routes/web.php:

use App\Http\Controllers\PaymentController;

Route::get('/pay/{order}', [PaymentController::class, 'createCheckout'])->name('payment.checkout');
Route::get('/payment-success/{order}', [PaymentController::class, 'success'])->name('payment.success');
Route::get('/payment-cancel/{order}', [PaymentController::class, 'cancel'])->name('payment.cancel');

🧩 Step 5 : Payment Views

resources/views/payment/success.blade.php

@extends('layouts.app')

@section('content')
<div class="container text-center my-5">
  <h2 class="text-success">Payment Successful!</h2>
  <p>Thank you for your purchase. Your order #{{ $order->id }} has been paid.</p>
  <a href="{{ route('shop.index') }}" class="btn btn-primary mt-4">Back to Store</a>
</div>
@endsection

resources/views/payment/cancel.blade.php

@extends('layouts.app')

@section('content')
<div class="container text-center my-5">
  <h2 class="text-danger">Payment Canceled</h2>
  <p>Your payment was not completed. You can try again below.</p>
  <a href="{{ route('payment.checkout', $order->id) }}" class="btn btn-warning mt-4">Try Again</a>
</div>
@endsection

🧩 Step 6 : Linking Checkout to Payment

Update your thank-you page (Step 7) to show a “Pay Now” button if the order is still pending:

@if($order->status === 'pending')
  <a href="{{ route('payment.checkout', $order->id) }}" class="btn btn-success mt-3">Pay Now</a>
@endif

This lets the user pay immediately after placing their order.

🧩 Step 7 : Optional: Adding PayPal Integration

If you want to offer PayPal as well, the easiest way is to use the official PayPal Checkout JavaScript SDK.

Basic steps:

Create a PayPal business account on https://developer.paypal.com
Get your Client ID and Secret for the sandbox (test) environment
Install the PayPal SDK:

composer require paypal/rest-api-sdk-php

Create a controller PayPalController that:

Creates a payment request
Redirects user to PayPal
Handles success/cancel callbacks
Updates the order status to paid

Because Stripe and PayPal flows are similar, you can mirror the logic of PaymentController but use the PayPal SDK.

💡 Real-World Tips for Secure Payments

✅ Always use HTTPS (SSL) in production. Payment gateways will refuse callbacks if your site is not secure.
🔒 Never store raw card data — let Stripe/PayPal handle it entirely.
📩 Send a payment confirmation email after successful payment using Laravel’s Mail feature.
💰 Show order totals and items again on the payment page for user trust.
📊 Track status as pending, paid, failed, and refunded for clarity.
💳 Test thoroughly using Stripe test cards and PayPal sandbox before going live.