Setting up online payments can be an absolute nightmare. First, you have to figure out which payment processing platform best suits your needs. There’s Stripe, Square, PayPal, and even more, depending on the eCommerce platform you’re using. Honestly, picking a payment provider is an easy step. Where things start to get dicey is how and where you plan to host your payment portal.
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If you Googled “best eCommerce platforms,” you may quickly find yourself sliding down a rabbit hole from which you may never return. There are a plethora of web-based platforms on which you can host a store, product page, or online shop. Some are great. Others? Not so much. If you’re a bit on the tech-savvy side, you could always spin up a free WordPress site on a cheap host and then implement some form of a resource-heavy plugin such as WooCommerce, but you would still have to build out the website, set up a WooCommerce account, create or import products, et cetera, et cetera. After doing all of that, you would still have to link some form of payment processing to handle your customer’s payments.
That’s all fine and well if you’re serious about building an online shop but what if you just need to collect some information and take payments for the t-shirt drive you’re doing for your kid’s baseball team? Perhaps you’re starting your own in-home laundry service and you simply need a quick, secure way for your customers to select a service and pay you. If only there were a way to create a free online form where you could customize your product or service offerings and take a secure payment all in one fell swoop. Maybe, say, in Google Forms?
If you have spent any amount of time using Google’s free suite of online productivity tools, you are likely familiar with Google Forms. The web-based form tool lets users create rich, customized forms for any variety of tasks. Just a few months ago, a friend of mine asked me if I could help him set up a website or something like that to collect contact information for potential applicants at the logistics company he manages. Since we didn’t need to collect any sensitive personal data, Google Forms was the perfect solution. That said, Google Forms does not have any native tools for embedding or accepting secure payments directly in a Form. Thankfully, there’s an app an add-on for that. (Don’t want to upset the folks in Cupertino.)
Just in case you weren’t aware, Google Forms is one of many tools available from Google Workspace, Google’s cloud-based productivity platform. While Workspace encompasses a wide array of apps, tools, and solutions, the core products like Google Forms, Docs, Gmail and Sheets are 100% free to consumers with the only requirement being a valid Google account. Google products at times have limited features for specific use cases, however, a growing set of 3rd party developed add-ons are available to extend those core Google product capabilities. The Marketplace is full of powerful add-ons for just about every Google Workspace product out there. One such app, Payable, gives you all the tools you need to create a Google Form with embedded payment options through the most popular payment gateways.
Accept Payment with Google Forms
The Payable add-On for Google Forms is offered by the team at Payable, a Certified Google Cloud Partner. Available directly from the Google Workspace Marketplace, Payable integrates seamlessly with Google Forms to create a powerful, integrated payment gateway that includes a customizable payout portal that connects with Stripe, Square, and PayPal payments. No need to build a website or fiddle with bloated eCommerce platforms.
The Payable add-on automatically tallies the form input and when the user is ready to check out, a payment portal pops up to take the payment. Users have the option to manually input a credit card, use Google Pay and even use their Cash App balance if they have Square connected as the payment processor. With the Cash App option, users can easily scan a QR code with a smartphone to be taken directly to the payment authorization in their Cash App. Payable will even send an email to your buyer with a Payable link just in case they weren’t ready to complete their checkout. It really couldn’t be more simple.
Not only does Payable make it extremely simple to take payments online, but the hosted checkout is also certified PCI compliant. That means that your clients can rest assured that their payments are fully secured and meet the most stringent industry standards set by all the major credit card brands. If that sounds good, just wait. There’s more…
Now you have your Google Form all set up to take payments for products, services, fundraisers, or whatever but how do you keep track of the payments? Glad you asked. The Payable add-on automatically creates a connected Google Sheet that tracks the orders, payments, and information for each and every user that fills out the form. You’ll get all the information you need to complete your orders.
Below, you can see me making a Payable Google Form from one of Payable’s pre-built templates. The entire process took less than three minutes and my form was live and ready to take payments. No coding. no websites, or hosting and the autogenerated Google Sheets keeps track of all my orders as they arrive. Easy, peasy.
Who is Payable for?
As I mentioned, anyone with a Google account has access to Google Forms and can install the add-on from the Workspace Marketplace. The use cases here are endless. Perhaps you’re heading up the PTA fundraiser and you want to set up a form where users can place orders for tasty homemade sweets. Payable can do that. Maybe you need to take orders for your little league team’s uniform orders. Yup, Payable is a perfect alternative to setting up an online storefront. Starting a dog walking business. Selling handmade crafts. Fundraisers, crowdfunding, ticket sales, conferences, and the list goes on and on. Payable Forms is the secure, user-friendly way to take payments online with no coding experience and no need for setting up your own website. You can learn more about the Payable add-on for Google Forms here.
