Depozo – Deposit & Retainer Payments for WordPress (Stripe & PayPal, No WooCommerce)

Depozo — Deposit & Retainer Payments

Tagline: Collect deposits, retainers, and one-time payments through Stripe and PayPal — no WooCommerce required.

Version: 1.0.0 Author: Syed Junaid Shah Author URL: https://syedjunaidshah.com/ Requires WordPress: 5.8 or higher Requires PHP: 7.4 or higher Tested up to: WordPress 6.6 License: GPLv2 or later Price: Free

Overview

Depozo lets you collect deposits, retainers, and one-click payments on any WordPress site using Stripe and/or PayPal — without installing WooCommerce or any other e-commerce plugin.

It’s built for service-based businesses that just need a simple, secure way to take a payment and capture a few booking details along with it: photographers, event planners, consultants, coaches, freelancers, contractors, tutors, and agencies.

Most “deposit” plugins on WordPress.org only work as an add-on inside a full WooCommerce store. Depozo works standalone — install it, set a price, drop in a shortcode, and you’re taking payments.

Who is this for?

• Photographers collecting a booking deposit
• Wedding and event vendors collecting a retainer
• Consultants and coaches taking a session fee
• Contractors collecting a project deposit
• Tutors and trainers taking course/session fees
• Freelancers collecting a project deposit or milestone payment
• Small agencies collecting a retainer
• Any service business that wants a simple “Pay Now” button with a couple of custom fields — no shopping cart needed

Key Features

No WooCommerce required Works as a fully standalone plugin. If WooCommerce’s Stripe or PayPal gateway is already configured on the site, Depozo can optionally inherit those API credentials automatically.

Two payment flows

• Multi-price form — customer picks from preset amounts (deposit tiers, retainer levels), fills in custom fields, then pays. Shortcode: [depozo_form slug="your-option"]
• Simple payment button — a single fixed-price item with direct Stripe/PayPal buttons. Shortcode: [depozo_button slug="your-option"]

Custom fields, your way Define whatever information you need collected before checkout — event date, full name, reference number, phone number, anything — with a simple field builder in the admin. Supports text, email, phone, date, number, and textarea fields, each markable as required or optional. Not locked into a fixed set of fields like most deposit plugins.

Stripe & PayPal, side by side Enable either or both gateways per payment option. Card payments, plus optional Stripe payment methods (US bank account/ACH, Cash App Pay, Klarna, Affirm, Afterpay/Clearpay).

Multi-currency Set a site-wide default currency, or override it per payment option. Currency symbols display correctly for USD, GBP, EUR, PKR, INR, JPY, AED, and 15+ other currencies — not hardcoded to a dollar sign.

Built-in dashboard See every transaction — amount, status, gateway, and the custom info your customer submitted — without leaving wp-admin. No separate database or spreadsheet needed.

Fully styleable Colors, button text, padding, and border radius are all configurable from Settings → Styling, with a live preview panel — no CSS editing required.

Security-first

• Signed and replay-protected Stripe webhooks
• Server-verified PayPal captures (amount + currency + reference cross-checked before marking a payment as paid)
• Rate-limited AJAX endpoints
• Honeypot spam protection on frontend forms
• Masked, never-echoed API secret keys in the admin UI
• Strict server-side validation and sanitization on every custom field, by type

How It Works

1. Install and activate Depozo. Two sample payment options are created automatically so you can see it working right away.
2. Go to Depozo → Settings and add your Stripe and/or PayPal API credentials.
3. Go to Depozo → Payment Options to edit the samples or create your own — set the price (fixed or multiple tiers), currency, which gateways to accept, and any custom fields you want collected (name, date, phone, etc).
4. Copy the shortcode shown next to your payment option and paste it into any page or post.
5. Track every payment from Depozo → Dashboard.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does this require WooCommerce? No. Depozo is fully standalone.

Can I collect more than a name and a date? Yes — add up to 10 custom fields per payment option: text, email, phone, date, number, or long-answer (textarea).

Can I run deposits in a currency other than USD? Yes. Set a default currency in Settings, or override it per payment option using any 3-letter ISO currency code (e.g. GBP, EUR, PKR, INR).

Is customer card data stored on my server? No. Stripe and PayPal both host the actual checkout page — Depozo never touches or stores card numbers.

Can I offer more than one deposit/payment product on the same site? Yes. Create as many Payment Options as you need, each with its own shortcode, price(s), currency, and custom fields.

Is it free? Yes, Depozo is fully free and open source (GPLv2), listed on WordPress.org.

Technical Requirements

Changelog

1.0.0 — Initial public release.

• Multi-price and simple payment shortcodes
• Dynamic custom fields builder
• Stripe & PayPal integration with optional WooCommerce credential inheritance
• Multi-currency support
• Styleable frontend with live admin preview
• Transaction dashboard
• Rate limiting, honeypot protection, signed/replay-protected webhooks, verified PayPal captures