Using Include and Exclude Logic

Include/Exclude logic is a Premium feature that gives you a second dimension of control beyond simply selecting which gateways to show.

The difference between Include and Exclude

• Include — only the gateways you select will be shown for this product, category, or tag. All others are hidden.
• Exclude — all active WooCommerce gateways are shown except the ones you select.

Exclude mode is useful when you have many gateways and only want to hide one or two — it's much faster than selecting every allowed gateway individually.

How to switch between Include and Exclude

When editing a product, category, or tag, the Payment Gateways panel shows a toggle or dropdown to choose the rule mode. Select Include or Exclude, then pick the relevant gateways from the list.

Practical examples

Scenario 1 — Include: You sell a digital product and want only PayPal and Stripe. Set rule to Include → select PayPal and Stripe. At checkout, customers see only those two options.

Scenario 2 — Exclude: You sell a fragile item and want to block Cash on Delivery, but keep all other gateways. Set rule to Exclude → select Cash on Delivery. At checkout, customers see every gateway except COD.

Rule precedence

Include/Exclude rules are applied per level (product, category, tag) and then intersected. If a product-level Include rule allows Stripe and PayPal, but a category-level Exclude rule removes PayPal, the result at checkout is Stripe only.

When rules conflict in a way that leaves zero gateways, the configured fallback behavior takes over. See Configuring Fallback Behavior for details.