At a glance
Order count split by paymentMethod (Credit Card, PayPal, Bank Deposit, Apple Pay, Google Pay, etc.). The volume version of Revenue by Payment Gateway. Tells you which payment options customers actually use, which is often dramatically different from which options merchants think customers will use.
| What it counts | GROUP BY paymentMethod.keyword over orders in the last 30 days. Each order falls into exactly one bucket based on the at-checkout payment method. |
| VAT / tax treatment | n/a, count metric. |
| Shipping | n/a. |
| Discounts | n/a. |
| Refunds | Refunded orders count toward their original payment method. The method that took the money is the method that gave it back. |
| Cancelled / voided orders | Included if a payment method was assigned (which happens for Cancelled and Declined but not always for Incomplete). |
| Currency | n/a. |
| Channels / sources | All BC channels contribute. Channel-specific patterns: web orders use a wide variety (cards, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay); POS uses Square or BC POS Payments + cash; marketplace orders typically aggregate to “Marketplace Pay”; B2B portal uses Bank Deposit / ACH / Net-30 / Phone Order. |
| Why count matters more than revenue here | Revenue by gateway tells you fee impact; count by method tells you customer preference. A method that handles 30% of orders but 10% of revenue is your low-AOV-customer payment preference; removing it costs more conversion than its revenue suggests. |
| Apple Pay / Google Pay impact | Stores that enable Apple Pay and Google Pay typically see 15-35% of mobile orders shift to digital wallets within 60 days of activation. Conversion uplift on mobile checkout is 5-15%; digital-wallet checkout completes in seconds vs 30-90 seconds for card entry. |
| B2B Edition methods | B2B Edition adds Bank Deposit, Manual / Phone Order, Net-30 Invoice, and ACH options. B2B-heavy stores see 20-60% of orders flow through these vs 0% for retail-only stores. |
| Time window | 30D (rolling 30 days) |
| Alert trigger | None at this card. Pair with BC Decline Rate for per-method decline alerts. |
| Roles | owner, operations |
Calculation
Worked example
A US homewares brand on BigCommerce Pro with web + POS + B2B portal, last 30 days from 14 Mar 26 to 12 Apr 26.| Payment method | Order count | Share | Avg AOV | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Credit Card | 3,890 | 59.6% | $84 | Stripe-routed, mostly Visa / MC |
| PayPal | 940 | 14.4% | $76 | Customers using PayPal balance |
| Apple Pay | 720 | 11.0% | $58 | Mobile-heavy, low AOV |
| Google Pay | 380 | 5.8% | $62 | Android-heavy |
| Bank Deposit (B2B) | 240 | 3.7% | $720 | High-AOV B2B invoices |
| Square POS | 220 | 3.4% | $48 | In-store walk-ins |
| Manual / Phone Order | 95 | 1.5% | $580 | B2B account-managed |
| Cash on Delivery | 45 | 0.7% | $52 | Small subset of POS pickup |
| Total | 6,530 | 100% | $80 blended |
- Credit Card at 59.6% is healthy concentration. Most BC stores see 50-70% on cards; below 50% means digital wallets or alternative methods are eating share. Your concentration matches typical D2C.
- Apple Pay at 11% with $58 AOV is the mobile-impulse-purchase signal. Apple Pay completes a checkout in 5-10 seconds vs 30-90 for manual card entry; it captures purchases that would otherwise abandon. Disabling Apple Pay typically loses 8-15% of mobile orders. Keep it on.
- **B2B Bank Deposit at 720 = $173k/month from B2B invoiced orders. The 3.7% order share belies the ~25% revenue share; this is the high-leverage segment of the customer base.
- **PayPal at 14.4% with 1,469/month from the Gateway Revenue example). For most stores, keep PayPal.
- Cash on Delivery at 0.7% is unusual for the US. COD is more common in markets with less card penetration (LATAM, parts of Asia, the UK on rare items). 0.7% suggests a small POS-pickup subset where cash on collection is allowed. Operationally manageable, not strategically interesting.
- Audit checkout-completion rate per method. Some methods (Apple Pay, Google Pay) complete at 95%+ once initiated; others (manual card entry) complete at 70-85%. Methods with high abandonment are conversion-rate killers.
- For mobile-heavy stores, ensure Apple Pay and Google Pay are both enabled and prominent. Hidden behind a “more options” menu suppresses adoption by 50-80%.
- Test removing PayPal in a 4-week A/B (50% see PayPal, 50% don’t). Measure incremental orders + fee differential. Most stores find PayPal is mildly net-positive; some find it’s net-neutral and can simplify checkout by removing it.
- For B2B-heavy stores, audit ACH adoption. ACH is cheaper than card-rails (0.8-1.2% vs 2.6-3.5%). Lifting B2B ACH share from 30% to 60% saves real money on high-AOV invoices.
- Cross-reference with BC Decline Rate split by method. A method with disproportionate decline rate is hurting both revenue and customer experience.
Sibling cards merchants should reference together
| Card | Why pair it with Payment Methods |
|---|---|
| Revenue by Payment Gateway | Revenue version of this card. Method × revenue + AOV-by-method = full economic picture. |
| BC Decline Rate | Per-method decline analysis. |
| Financial Status Breakdown | State-level view. Per-method held_for_review patterns. |
| Total Revenue | Anchoring number. |
| Order Count | The denominator for share calculations. |
| BC Channel Revenue Mix | Channel decomposition; methods correlate with channels (POS = Square, Web = cards + wallets, B2B = invoices). |
stripe.stripe_payment_method_mix | Stripe-side method breakdown for the card-rail share. |
paypal.pp_method_mix | PayPal-side breakdown. |
Reconciling against the vendor’s own dashboard
Where to look in BigCommerce Control Panel: Settings → Payments shows enabled payment methods and gateway configuration. Analytics → Sales (Plus / Pro / Enterprise) has a “Payment method mix” tile that mirrors this card. For per-method behaviour analysis (decline rates, abandonment), the gateway dashboards (Stripe Dashboard, PayPal Activity, etc.) provide deeper diagnostics. Why our number may legitimately differ from BC Analytics:| Reason | Direction |
|---|---|
| Method labelling. BC may label “Credit Card” generically while we capture the gateway-specific value (e.g. “Stripe Card”, “Adyen Card”). Same data, different aggregation. | Definitional |
| Apple Pay / Google Pay. Some BC versions group these under “Credit Card” because they tokenise to a card. We surface them separately when the method is identified. | Vortex IQ MORE granular |
| Time zone. UTC vs store TZ. | Boundary effects |
| Cancelled orders. Included here, may be excluded in BC Analytics. | Vortex IQ HIGHER |
| Sync lag. Recent orders may be missing. | Vortex IQ slightly LOWER |
| B2B / manual orders. B2B Edition methods may be in a separate report; we aggregate. | Vortex IQ HIGHER total bucket count |
| Card | Expected relationship | What causes legitimate divergence |
|---|---|---|
stripe.stripe_payment_method_mix | Stripe’s card-rail share should match this card’s “Credit Card + Apple Pay + Google Pay” combined | Stripe-side breaks down by card brand; we break down by user-facing method. |
paypal.pp_method_mix | PayPal’s view should match this card’s PayPal row | Settlement timing may shift counts by 1-2%. |
shopify.payment_methods(planned)adobe_commerce.payment_methods(planned)
Known limitations / merchant FAQs
Should I enable Apple Pay and Google Pay on my BC store? Yes, for almost every store. The conversion uplift on mobile is 5-15%; setup is straightforward (BC Settings → Payments → enable). The only stores that genuinely shouldn’t enable digital wallets are pure B2B portals where customers always invoice. For everyone else, digital wallets are a no-brainer. My PayPal share is 25%, is that too high? For consumer-facing categories, 15-25% is normal. Above 25% suggests heavy reliance on PayPal-balance shoppers (often tied to community giveaways, gift-card usage, marketplace cross-sell). Concentration on PayPal as the primary method is risky because PayPal’s outage cadence is higher than Stripe’s; keep cards as a viable alternative. Why does my B2B revenue concentrate on Bank Deposit? Because B2B accounting workflows are invoice-based. Buyers expect to receive an invoice, route it through their AP team, and pay via ACH or wire. Card payments for B2B are unusual above $1,000 AOV. Healthy B2B Bank Deposit share is 40-80%; below 30% suggests your B2B sales workflow is using retail-style methods, harder to scale. Can I see decline rate by payment method? Pair this card with BC Decline Rate and split bypaymentMethod. Apple Pay typically has the lowest decline rate (3DS handled cleanly); manual card entry has the highest (typo risk + 3DS friction).
My checkout offers 8 payment methods, is that too many?
Probably yes. Choice paralysis is real. The optimal checkout offers 3-5 methods: card (Visa, MC, Amex), one digital wallet (Apple Pay or Google Pay, ideally both), one BNPL option (Klarna or Affirm), and PayPal. Beyond that the friction outweighs the choice value.
Should I disable Cash on Delivery?
For US/UK stores, almost certainly yes. COD has high abandonment (customers refuse delivery), high handling cost (cash management), and regulatory friction. Markets where COD is appropriate (parts of LATAM, India, MENA) are the exception, not the rule.
Why does my POS show only Square?
Because BC POS hardware is typically configured with one card-acceptance integration. Square is the most common. Some stores run BC POS Payments (BC’s native POS gateway) alongside Square; the choice is operational rather than financial.
Can I A/B test removing PayPal?
Yes, but carefully. BC supports per-segment payment-method visibility in custom checkout configurations. A 50/50 traffic split with vs without PayPal over 4 weeks gives you the conversion-rate impact + fee-savings calculation. Don’t run shorter than 4 weeks; PayPal’s customer retention bias means short tests undercount the impact.
My BNPL share grew from 2% to 8%, what’s driving it?
Usually category-driven. BNPL adoption climbs fast in furniture (35-50% share within 12 months), fashion (15-25%), and electronics (10-20%). For homewares and similar mid-AOV categories, 8% is healthy and likely growing. Track the AOV uplift attributable to BNPL; most stores find BNPL customers spend 20-40% more per order.
Why does my cancelled-order share concentrate on one method?
Usually method-specific friction. Manual card entry on mobile sees 30-50% abandonment (typos, expired cards, 3DS challenges). Apple Pay sees <5%. If a method’s cancellation rate is 2x average, the method is the cause; consider de-emphasising in the checkout flow or adding 3DS-aware retry logic.