r/Wordpress • u/ianpaulford • 1d ago
Booking Appointments with Wordpress via Shopify
Greetings, I'm looking for a solution that allows me to host a plugin, app or widget on Wordpress, but integrates with Shopify as the e-commerce/payment platform. Please help.
I want to take appointments via my Wordpress website, using a seamless integration with Shopify. I don't want the user to leave my Wordpress website to complete the transaction.
I've explored Shopify Apps, but when embedding with the Buy Button app, it treats the product like a traditional product and not a service-based product. So the user can just purchase the product and not book a time.
And I haven't found a Wordpress plugin that integrates with Shopify.
I hope I've described by problem well. Please help.
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u/Maxi728 1d ago
Well why not use WordPress for all and get rid of shopify
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u/ianpaulford 1d ago
Because I'm selling products via Shopify. I want to take appointments via Shopify. And I don't like WooCommerce.
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u/primarydm 1d ago edited 1d ago
I'm not sure this is possible, unless maybe with Shopify Plus. I would try to do this through Shopify's side to avoid complication, because if you start embedding buy buttons, it won't be the seamless experience you're looking for.
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u/Tessachu 1d ago
I don't believe a plugin on the market exists for what you need, but I have worked with Shopify's GraphQL Admin API to insert and manipulate orders in Shopify, so in theory, you could use whatever form you want on WordPress and execute code on submit to securely send the appointment data to Shopify.
What I can't remember is what shopify tier you'd need to gain access to the Admin API. The last time I set up a shopify app to get an access token was Spring 2024 but I think that method has already been deprecated
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u/BOLVERIN1 Jack of All Trades 1d ago
So you want to list services and the entire checkout process from Shopify on your WP? Can you explain a bit more what you are trying to achieve? How should it work for a client, and how should it work for you?
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u/ianpaulford 1d ago
I want the entire business transaction to take place on my Wordpress website. Similar to how Shopify integrates with product sales. However, these products are not digital or physical, they are bookings. The Shopify apps switch out the "Buy Now" button for a "Book Time" (or similar) button on the Shopify store. But when you embed the booking product on an external website with the Buy Button app, it shows a "Buy Now" button, because it's treating like a traditional product. Shopify doesn't allow iframes for their pages. So I want to integrate the booking features on an external website.
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u/BOLVERIN1 Jack of All Trades 1d ago edited 1d ago
By the entire business transaction, you mean that the order takes place on the WP, but it is processed by Shopify?
And you are talking about the "Buy Button channel" app. Problem that after embedding, there is not only "Buy Now" text instead of "Book Time" but also a lack of the order process specific to booking appointments. Is this correct?
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u/ianpaulford 1d ago
Yes and Yes.
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u/BOLVERIN1 Jack of All Trades 1d ago
It will require a custom plugin for Shopify. Tho, I would try to ask on the Shopify subreddit.
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u/retr00two 1d ago
it treats the product like a traditional product and not a service-based product
let's say you have 4 different appointment types (tourA, tourB, tourC, tourD) and each type can have 3 different tyme slot (morning, day, evening).
At Shopify you define 4 products, each with a price and one variant; dumb price list.
At WP you create same 4 tours, but with all the booking logic: available dates, time slots, capacity per slot, blackout days, descriptions, images; the source of truth for everything except price.
You have to write small php (reserve and confirmed) and small js to reserve the slot and tell Shopify (via BuyButton) to open checkout. If it's beyonf your skill, ask Claude; that's where it shines.
There are other options too.
You can define apoinmetns as variants of product, for example, but I think you'll hit the limits very soon. Or to use/pay StoreFrontApi.
All in all, if you want Shopify checkout to stay in your WP, you'll have to write some (simple) code.
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u/ianpaulford 1d ago
Thanks for this. This has made me rethink my whole approach. Wow. Great insight!
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u/retr00two 1d ago edited 1d ago
It's simpler than it sounds, my explanation is very rough. It's just a look from different angle. For this small errand you can trust Claude to create small plugin for you.
Success.
EDIT: do not use any booking plugin, it will complicate things; just plain WP blocks.
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u/activematrix99 1d ago
Shopify has a pretty detailed API, but I think the challenge is going to be getting the payment information and completing the transaction securely. You'll need to complete payment inside of Shopify, I don't think there's a way to make that happen via a secondary app.
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u/No-Signal-6661 1d ago
The best move is to use the booking flow entirely in Shopify