Billink for WooCommerce — pay later (achteraf betalen) for shoppers in the Netherlands and Belgium

Pay Later with Billink for WooCommerce adds the Billink payment method (“achteraf betalen”) to the WooCommerce checkout: the buyer gets the goods first and pays the invoice later. At the checkout the buyer chooses “Pay later with Billink”, lands on the Billink page, confirms the order there, and the shop gets the confirmation from Billink. The module uses the current Billink API (sessions and signed v3 webhooks) and works with the classic and the block checkout and HPOS. You need your own Billink merchant account. This is an independent integration by CatCode; Billink is a trademark of Billink B.V.

What the free version does

Everything is set up on one page: WooCommerce → Billink pay later. Choose the environment (test or live), enter your Billink username and the API identifier (UID, stored encrypted) and press “Check connection”: Billink checks the data without creating anything. The signed webhooks are set up from the same page: paste your signing secret or let the module generate one, and register the webhook address at Billink with one click. For every order the module creates a Billink checkout session with the customer, the billing and delivery address and every order line (products, shipping, fees) with its VAT rate; the street, the house number and the extension are sent separately, taken from the house number fields of Dutch checkout plugins or read from the street address line. The customer is sent to the Billink page. The order is paid when Billink reports the session as completed: by the signed webhook (HMAC-SHA256, deliveries older than 5 minutes are refused, each one is processed once) and by a check with Billink when the customer lands on the thank-you page. A cancelled or expired Billink page cancels the waiting order; when Billink cannot create the order, it fails and the buyer sees a neutral message (the reason is in the order notes), with the cart left intact. The “Check status at Billink” button on the order asks Billink about the session and about the payment of the invoice. The method is offered in euros for billing addresses in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. There is an order number prefix for several shops on one account, your logo on the Billink page and the official Billink badge. Optionally the official AFM warning image “Let op! Geld lenen kost geld” can be shown above the method description (off by default).

What Pro adds

Business customers (B2B): orders with a company name go to Billink as business orders, and an optional Chamber of Commerce (KvK) number field appears at the classic and the block checkout. Start of the invoice: by hand from the order screen, or automatically when the order gets a status you choose; the track & trace code (from an order field or WooCommerce Shipment Tracking) is registered at Billink first. Refunds from WooCommerce: a full or partial refund becomes a credit note on the Billink invoice. Hold and disputes: pause the reminders for up to 14 days, resume, and open a dispute with Billink categories from the order. Order webhook: the events of the invoice (started, paid, credited, on hold, disputes) appear as order notes. Billink settlement invoices: a list with a date filter and a ZIP with all their documents for reconciliation. A journal of the last Billink calls and webhooks. Limits by country and order total, separately for private and business customers. An hourly background check of checkouts whose webhook did not arrive.

Good to know before you start

• You need your own Billink merchant account: a username and an API identifier (UID). The test and live environments have different ones; the test account is set up by Billink support.
• Billink accepts billing addresses in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany and orders in euros. Outside these the method is not offered.
• The buyer confirms the order on the Billink page. There is no form in the shop and the shop never receives payment data.
• The webhook address must be HTTPS and answer without a redirect: if it redirects, Billink turns the request into an empty GET and counts it as delivered. The module checks this before registering.
• Without the webhook, a buyer who did not return from Billink leaves the order waiting until you press “Check status at Billink”; Pro checks such orders every hour.
• Starting the invoice: without it Billink usually starts it by itself a few days after the order (a setting of your account). Pro starts the invoice on your status, with the tracking code.
• The maximum amounts per order, the tracking requirement and the automatic start are set by your Billink account. The module reports Billink codes in plain words; enter the same maximums in the Pro settings so the method is not shown above them.
• B2B is not always part of the Billink contract: check that business orders are enabled for your account.
• AFM warning: the option shows the official image “Let op! Geld lenen kost geld”, unchanged, above the method description. It is off by default. Which warnings your shop needs, ask Billink or the AFM.

How it works, step by step

1. Take your username and API identifier from Billink for the environment you chose.
2. In WooCommerce → Billink pay later enter them and press “Check connection”.
3. Paste the signing secret or generate one and press “Register the webhook address”.
4. Switch Billink on in WooCommerce → Settings → Payments and place an order in the test environment.

Under the hood

• Billink API: checkout sessions, session and invoice status, signed v3 webhooks (HMAC-SHA256 over the timestamp and the body), invoice start, credit, hold, tracking, disputes, settlement invoices.
• A returning buyer is handled under an order lock: the webhook and the thank-you check together pay the order once; a repeated delivery changes nothing.
• Each further payment attempt of the same order goes to Billink with a new reference (number-2, -3…), and the old webhooks are ignored.
• The API identifier and the signing secret are stored encrypted; compatible with HPOS and the block checkout; languages: English, Nederlands.

How to install

1. Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin: choose the zip and activate it.
2. WooCommerce → Billink pay later: the username, the API identifier, “Check connection”.
3. The signing secret and the webhook registration.
4. Switch the Billink payment method on.

The module is not on wordpress.org yet: the free version and Pro are one archive from this page. Without a key it works as the free version.