UK checkout payment buttons and optional extras
For consumer orders, make the final button clearly acknowledge payment, leave paid extras unselected until the customer chooses them, and send confirmation in a format they can keep. Check the complete journey, including mobile and express checkout. This guide is for online sellers sourcing through Cambridge China Bridge.
Apply this to your consumer checkout
This guide covers an online seller’s checkout for consumer goods orders. Government guidance places these duties on traders selling to consumers. Keep your wholesale purchasing workflow separate when reviewing the customer journey.
Our e-commerce sourcing guide covers product selection, packaging and returns. Here, focus on what your customer sees, actively agrees to and receives when ordering.
Make the final action acknowledge payment
The consumer must explicitly acknowledge the obligation to pay, even if payment is collected later. Government guidance gives ‘pay now’ as an example. For an immediate-payment checkout, use ‘Pay now’ rather than an ambiguous final label such as ‘Continue’. Check the wording on express checkout routes too.
Directly before the order is placed, show the main product characteristics and total price, including delivery and other charges, clearly and prominently. Where relevant, also show the minimum obligation period and how to terminate. As a practical layout choice, put the selected variant, quantity, delivery choice and payable total beside the final button.
Let customers actively choose paid extras
Optional extras require express consent. Pre-ticked boxes and other automatic opt-ins do not provide it. Leave gift wrapping, insurance and delivery upgrades unselected, explain the charge beside each option, and let the customer actively add it.
Test removing an extra, returning from a payment provider and reopening a saved basket. Check that the total follows the customer’s choice and that an upgrade does not silently reappear. Customers who did not expressly consent to an additional charge are entitled to claim a refund of that charge.
Send confirmation the customer can keep
Provide confirmation on a durable medium within a reasonable time after concluding the contract, no later than delivery of the goods. An email is a durable medium; information available only through an embedded link to a website that may change is not.
Include the required pre-contract information unless it was already supplied on a durable medium. As a practical template, include the ordered goods and variants, selected extras, agreed total, delivery arrangements, seller contact details and applicable cancellation information. Put the information in the email or a fixed attachment, rather than relying only on your current website terms.
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Check the journey against your fulfilment plan
Run a test purchase on mobile and desktop, with and without extras. Keep the checkout wording, selected options, total and confirmation together as a review record. Ask whoever maintains the shop to repeat this check after changing payment or checkout settings.
Check delivery wording against stock you can actually fulfil. Use our shipping lead-time guide when planning replenishment from China, then review the customer-facing delivery choices against your UK stock position.
Frequently asked questions
What should my checkout payment button say?
For an immediate-payment checkout, ‘Pay now’ is a government guidance example. The final action must clearly acknowledge an obligation to pay. Avoid an ambiguous label such as ‘Continue’.
Can optional extras be pre-ticked?
No. Paid extras need express consent. Leave them unselected and let the customer actively choose them after seeing the charge.
Can my confirmation email just link to terms?
A link to a website that may change does not provide that information on a durable medium. Include the required information in the email or a fixed attachment unless already supplied on a durable medium.
When should I send order confirmation?
Send durable confirmation within a reasonable time after the contract is concluded and no later than delivery of the goods. Sending it promptly also makes missing emails easier to identify.