Payment forms are everywhere, whether you notice them or not. Your favorite restaurant probably has a payment form to collect delivery orders. That gift shop where you bought holiday presents probably has a payment form for their online store. Even that nonprofit you volunteered for probably has its own payment form to collect online donations.

When businesses, organizations, or individuals need to collect payments or donations, they often use online payment forms as an easy way to gather and authenticate payment information. Payment forms are used to seamlessly process payments or donations from customers. By using Jotform to create your own payment forms, you can create and customize your own payment forms by choosing from one of our 160-plus payment form templates.

Types of payment forms

Because so many different types of organizations and businesses use payment forms, there are a number of subtypes, as not everyone uses them for the same types of payments.

The most common subtype of payment forms is an order form. Order forms can be used by many different types of businesses to sell their products or services. From apparel stores, restaurants, rideshare services, private contractors, and more, order forms commonly pop up as the most-used type of payment form.

Another common subtype of payment form is a donation form. Nonprofits and organizations use donation forms to seamlessly collect online donations and gifts from their audience.

Other types of payment forms include subscription renewal forms, invoice forms, refund request forms, and fee payment forms.

Key elements of payment forms

To build a payment form, there are a few key elements to include.

To start, the form should collect information about your customer or donor. Without this information, you might not be able to verify the payment down the line. Add required form fields on your payment form that collect information like the customer’s full name, contact information, and billing address.

Next, add fields for the products or services that customers are paying for, so that they can enter the quantity they’re purchasing. If you’re a nonprofit organization collecting donations, make sure to include form fields for the type of donation and donation amount.

And of course, a payment form needs to connect to a payment gateway to process the payments. Jotform integrates with a number of popular gateways like Square, Stripe, Google Pay, PayPal, and more.Select a payment gateway for your form that works best for you and your customers.

Finally, you can add extra security measures to your payment form. Though Jotform already meets security standards like PCI-DSS Level 1, you can also add a CAPTCHA field or password-protect your forms to ensure that payment data and contact information stays safe and secure.

Benefits of using payment forms

If you’re looking to speed up your payment processes or take your brick-and-mortar shop online, consider using online payment forms to grow your business and make your processes more efficient.

Save your business time and money by prioritizing automation and security. Jotform’s online payment forms reduce the cost of physical paperwork and printing, and instead prioritize quick checkout and organized payment submissions. After each submission, user data and payment information will instantly be routed to Jotform Tables — ready to be managed and analyzed.

Jotform’s payment forms are also wonderful for businesses that are looking to grow and reach more customers. With our mobile-friendly payment forms, your customers can submit orders from both mobile and desktop devices with no problem. Meet your users where they are with intuitive and easy-to-use payment forms.

Use cases for payment form templates

Payment form templates are useful for many different industries and types of businesses. Not only are payment forms great for general purchases and donations, they also work well for fundraisers, event registrations, subscription renewals, application or education fees, restaurant orders, and so much more. By using a payment form template, you save yourself the effort of building a form from scratch.

Your organization can also use a single payment form template for multiple purposes. Say, for example, a popular restaurant is looking for a quick and easy way to collect payments for both individual food orders and private event bookings. Using Jotform, the restaurant can use the same payment form template to create an order form and a private event form. They just need to customize the template for each purpose and add a payment gateway with Jotform’s drag-and-drop builder.

No matter what kind of business or organization you run — be it government, educational, commercial, or nonprofit — Jotform’s got you covered with the most efficient and intuitive payment collection forms.

How to create payment forms with Jotform

Building your own payment forms with Jotform is a breeze. Our payment forms make collecting donations and payments online quick and easy — all without any coding required.

You can build your own payment form from scratch or use one of our ready-made payment form templates to get started.

1. Choose Create Form to choose your preferred method. You’ll then be directed to the Form Builder.
2. In the Form Builder, select Add Form Element in the upper-left corner, and then go to Payments at the top. Search for and choose your preferred payment gateway — such as PayPal, Stripe, Square, and Venmo, to name a few.
3. After you’ve chosen your payment gateway, you can configure your payment form types from the following options: Sell Products, Sell Subscriptions, User Defined Amount, and Collect Donations. The type you choose depends on your specific needs. For example, if you’re a nonprofit collecting donations, Collect Donations is probably the best option. An online marketplace might select Sell Products or Sell Subscriptions.

With Jotform, you can also configure and add tax, coupons, shipping fees, unique order numbers, and more to your payment form. You can even set up automated email confirmations.

Once you’re satisfied with the look and feel of your payment form, just share it with your audience to start collecting payments or donations. You can share your form via direct link, email, or QR code, or by embedding it directly into your website.