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Payfast Payment Gateway for VirtueMart

Accept Payfast payments on VirtueMart with the free PaymentHood plugin. Install in minutes, no gateway code.

VirtueMart · South Africa

Accept Payfast
payments on VirtueMart

Install the free PaymentHood plugin for VirtueMart, connect your Payfast account, and Payfast appears as a payment option at checkout. No custom gateway code, and no second integration when you add another provider later.

  • ZAR
Create Free Account Download the plugin
VirtueMart 4.0+
6 payment methods
Free plugin
VirtueMart
Payfast
Platform
VirtueMart 4.0+
Provider
Payfast
Install via
Extensions → Manage → Install
Billing
One-time
PaymentHood fee
None
Compatibility

Payfast on VirtueMart at a glance

VirtueMart version
VirtueMart 4.0+
Where you install it
Joomla admin → Extensions → Manage → Install
Coverage
  • South Africa
Currencies
  • ZAR
Billing models
One-time checkout payments. Recurring billing is not supported by the VirtueMart plugin yet.
Cost
The plugin is free and open source. You pay Payfast's own fees, published on their pricing page. PaymentHood adds nothing on top.

Coverage, currencies and payment methods as published by Payfast, who set and update them. For the current list see Payfast's own documentation.

Payment methods

What VirtueMart customers can pay with

Each method Payfast supports appears in your VirtueMart checkout. Enabling one is a PaymentHood dashboard setting — nothing changes on the Joomla side.

Cards

Visa and Mastercard credit and debit cards

Instant EFT

Direct bank payment, confirmed in real time

QR wallets

Scan-to-pay via mobile wallet apps

Mobicred

Revolving credit facility, checked out like a card

Store cards

Retailer-issued credit accounts

MTN MoMo

Mobile money wallet

Setup

Connect Payfast to VirtueMart

Four steps, no code. The full walkthrough with screenshots is in the VirtueMart installation guide.

1

Open a Payfast account

Register with Payfast and finish their onboarding. Funds settle from Payfast to your own bank account.

2

Add it in PaymentHood

Paste your Payfast credentials into the PaymentHood dashboard. They stay server-side and never reach your storefront.

3

Install the plugin

Download the VirtueMart plugin and install it from Extensions → Manage → Install in your Joomla admin.

4

Enable and test

Paste your PaymentHood API key into the plugin settings, run a sandbox order end to end, then switch to live.

Full VirtueMart installation guide
Why PaymentHood

Rather than a direct Payfast plugin

A single-provider plugin works until you need a second provider. These are the parts you would otherwise build and maintain yourself.

Webhook security
ITN (Instant Transaction Notification) — signature validated, source IP confirmed against Payfast's published ranges
Payment verification
Server-side confirmation before fulfilment; an ITN that fails any single check does not mark the order paid
Credentials
Merchant ID and merchant key, held server-side in PaymentHood
  • Add a second provider without touching your VirtueMart checkout
  • Automatic failover when Payfast is unreachable, instead of a failed order
  • Idempotent charge creation, so a double-submitted order is not a double charge
  • One reconciliation view across every provider you run
  • Free and open source — read the plugin on GitHub
FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

ITN stands for Instant Transaction Notification — the server-to-server callback Payfast sends when a payment completes. It is the only trustworthy signal that a payment succeeded, because the browser redirect can be tampered with or simply never happen. A correct ITN handler must validate the signature, confirm the request came from a Payfast IP address, and check that the amount paid matches the order. PaymentHood performs all three before releasing an order.

Payfast settles in South African Rand (ZAR). If you need to charge in other currencies, route those transactions to a different provider in your PaymentHood dashboard — the same checkout integration covers both.

Yes. You register directly with Payfast and connect your merchant credentials to PaymentHood. Funds settle from Payfast into your own bank account; PaymentHood never holds merchant money.

Yes — that is the main reason to run Payfast behind PaymentHood. You can keep Payfast for cards while sending Instant EFT to a different provider, or fail over automatically if one provider has an outage, without touching your store's checkout.

No. Payfast's fees are billed to you by Payfast. PaymentHood takes no percentage and no per-transaction cut — see PaymentHood pricing.
Related

Keep reading

Payfast overview

Coverage, currencies, payment methods and how PaymentHood secures the Payfast integration.

Read more

PaymentHood for VirtueMart

The plugin itself: features, billing models and every provider it can reach.

Read more

All payment providers

Every provider PaymentHood connects to, filterable by global, regional and crypto.

Browse providers

Accept Payfast on VirtueMart today

Free plugin, no PaymentHood transaction fee, and room to add another provider whenever you need one.

Create Free Account Installation guide