---
title: "How do I hide a payment method at Shopify checkout?"
description: "Hide a payment method at Shopify checkout by country, cart total, product or customer: create a payment customization, add Hide, save and activate it."
url: "https://smart-preorder.com/help/payment-rules/hide-payment-methods"
updated: "2026-11-02"
product: "SMART Preorder & Back in stock"
section: "Help center / Payment rules"
---


# How do I hide a payment method at Shopify checkout?

In the app, open **Payment customizations**, click **Create customization**, choose **When conditions are met** and add your conditions, then add the action **Hide specific payment method(s)** with the method's name. Save, then click **Activate**: a new customization saves as Inactive and changes nothing at checkout until you activate it.

## Before you start

- **The method must already be active** in Shopify admin under **Settings > Payments**. The app hides, moves and renames methods Shopify offers; it can't add new ones.
- **Your Shopify plan** must be Basic or higher, which Shopify requires for payment customization apps ([Shopify Help Center](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/checkout-settings/checkout-customization)).
- **No app embed or pre-order campaign is needed.** Payment customizations work on their own.

## Step by step

1. Open **Payment customizations** in the app menu and click **Create customization**. If a **Choose creation mode** window opens, pick **Create by yourself**, or let our support team set it up with you.
2. In the **Customization** card, enter a **Name**, up to 50 characters, for example "Hide cash on delivery over $500". Only you see it.
3. Under **When this customization runs**, choose **Always** (it hides the method on every checkout) or **When conditions are met**.
4. For conditions, click **Add condition** and pick one from the list, for example **Country** or **Cart total amount**, then fill in its operator and value. Use **Add condition (AND)** for more conditions that must all match, and **Add group (OR)** for an alternative set.
5. In the **Actions** card, click **Add action** and choose **Hide specific payment method(s)**.
6. Pick the operator **whose name contains** (safest) or **whose name is**, then type the method's name, for example "Cash on Delivery", and press Enter to add it. Repeat for more names.
7. Click **Save** in the save bar. The banner **Customization created. What's next?** says it's still inactive.
8. Click **Activate**, then **Activate** again in the **Activate this customization?** dialog. The **Summary** card on the right now shows the status as Active.
9. Test it in a fresh checkout (see below).

## Three ways to hide

| Action | Use it when |
| --- | --- |
| **Hide specific payment method(s)** | You know which methods to remove, for example cash on delivery for some countries. |
| **Show only specific payment method(s)** | You want to keep a short list and hide everything else, for example only bank transfer for wholesale buyers. It also hides wallets and the gift card field if they don't match. |
| **Hide all payment methods** | You want to stop a checkout completely. Buyers then have no way to pay, so use it only with precise conditions. |

## Get the payment method name right

- Upper and lower case don't matter, and spaces around a name are ignored. With several names, a method that matches any of them is hidden.
- **whose name is** needs the whole name. **whose name contains** matches part of it, so "Cash on Delivery" also catches "Cash on Delivery (COD)".
- The rule sees the name Shopify gives the app, which isn't always the exact label buyers see. If a rule doesn't fire, try a shorter, distinctive part of the name with **whose name contains**.
- Actions always match the original name, even if another action renamed the method.

## Test it

1. Check the customization shows **Active**.
2. Open your store in a private browser window and go to checkout. Payment rules run only in checkout, not on the cart or product page.
3. Enter an address and choose a delivery method that match your conditions.
4. Check the payment section. Then change the address or the cart so the conditions don't match, and check the method comes back.

> **Address conditions before an address is typed** Until the buyer fills in a shipping field, conditions such as ZIP, city or state code treat it as empty: **is**, **contains**, **starts with** and **ends with** don't match, while **is not** and the **doesn't** operators do. A hide rule built on a negative operator can therefore fire early. **Country** works from the start: it uses the checkout's country, then the shipping address country once one is entered.

## Limits

- **Credit cards in the US and Canada** can only be customized on Shopify Plus. On other plans there, rules can hide non-card methods only ([Shopify Help Center](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/checkout-settings/checkout-customization)).
- **Wallets** such as Shop Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal can be hidden; the app then removes both the express button and the list entry. You can't hide only the express button.
- **Shop Pay flow.** When a buyer continues in Shop Pay, Shopify applies payment customizations only to the gift card field ([About functions in payments](https://shopify.dev/docs/apps/build/checkout/payments)).
- **Point of Sale** doesn't run payment customizations.
- **A hidden method can't be brought back** by another customization. If one rule hides cash on delivery for everyone, a second rule can't show it to VIPs: add the exception, for example **Customer tags** **is not any of** "VIP", to the hiding rule itself.
- **Up to 25 active payment customizations** per store, counting every app.
- **Draft orders.** Rules apply to draft order invoice checkouts, but not while you create a draft order in the admin.

Next: [Sort and rename payment methods](https://smart-preorder.com/help/payment-rules/sort-and-rename-payment-methods) and ready-made [payment rule recipes](https://smart-preorder.com/help/payment-rules/payment-rule-recipes).

**Hide payment methods for free** Payment customizations are included in SMART Preorder at no cost, with no code and no theme changes. [Install SMART Preorder & Back in stock on the Shopify App Store](https://apps.shopify.com/smart-preorder-back-in-stock).

## Frequently asked questions

### My rule is Active but the method still shows. Why?

Check the conditions match this checkout (address, delivery method, cart), that the name matches what Shopify sends (try **whose name contains**), and that you're not in the Shop Pay flow. In the US and Canada, credit card methods can't be hidden outside Shopify Plus.

### Can I hide a payment method for guests but not for logged-in customers?

Yes. Use the condition **Customer is not logged in** with **Hide specific payment method(s)**.

### Does hiding a method also hide it on mobile?

Yes. The rule runs in Shopify checkout, which is the same on phones and computers.

### Can I show a message explaining why a method is hidden?

No. Payment customizations can hide, move and rename methods only. A short note can go into a method's name with **Rename payment method(s)**.