Choosing the default payment method

By default, the Checkout block loads with a payment method already selected. WooCommerce picks the first of these that exists: the customer's default saved card, the method they picked earlier in the same session, or the first enabled gateway. Some stores have requirements on whether a method may be preselected, or on which kind: for example, that the shopper must choose one themselves, or that a card is never selected for them.

The woocommerce_default_payment_method filter lets a store decide what the Checkout block starts with when the shopper hasn't picked a method yet. It works with gateway ids. It is not the default saved card a customer picks in My Account: that card only decides which gateway WooCommerce would otherwise preselect.

The filter

apply_filters( 'woocommerce_default_payment_method', $payment_method, $available_gateways );

Argument	Type	Description
$payment_method	string	The gateway id WooCommerce would preselect: the customer's default saved card's gateway, the method remembered in the session, or the first enabled gateway, or '' when there is none.
$available_gateways	array	The gateways available for the current cart, keyed by gateway id.

Return a gateway id from $available_gateways to preselect it, or an empty string to select nothing. Any other value selects nothing. Returning $payment_method unchanged keeps WooCommerce's answer as it is.

Attach the callback by init at the latest, so it is in place for every Store API checkout request.

What changes for shoppers

Once a callback is attached:

• The Checkout block keeps the shopper's own choice while that gateway is enabled, and it survives a reload. The filter decides what the block starts with before they choose.
• The block follows the server. When the filter returns nothing, nothing is selected, and the block doesn't fall back to the first method. When it returns a gateway, that gateway is selected as it would be today, including the customer's default saved card for it.

Without a callback, nothing changes.

Examples

Never preselect a payment method:

add_filter( 'woocommerce_default_payment_method', '__return_empty_string' );

Never preselect a credit card. WooCommerce has no "is a credit card" flag on gateways, so the callback names the card gateway. A saved card is always a card, and the customer's default one is what WooCommerce would preselect, so the callback checks for it too:

add_filter(
	'woocommerce_default_payment_method',
	function ( $payment_method ) {
		if ( 'stripe' === $payment_method ) {
			return '';
		}
		$default_token = WC_Payment_Tokens::get_customer_default_token( get_current_user_id() );
		if ( $default_token && $default_token->get_gateway_id() === $payment_method ) {
			return '';
		}
		return $payment_method;
	}
);

Forgetting the choice after each purchase

WooCommerce remembers the shopper's choice in the session until it expires, so their next purchase in the same session starts with it. A store that must have the shopper choose anew for each purchase can clear it when the cart becomes empty. Both hooks are needed: removing the last item by hand doesn't fire woocommerce_cart_emptied.

add_action( 'woocommerce_cart_emptied', 'myshop_forget_payment_choice' );
add_action(
	'woocommerce_cart_item_removed',
	function ( $cart_item_key, $cart ) {
		if ( $cart->is_empty() ) {
			myshop_forget_payment_choice();
		}
	},
	10,
	2
);

function myshop_forget_payment_choice() {
	if ( WC()->session instanceof WC_Session ) {
		WC()->session->set( 'chosen_payment_method', null );
	}
}

Things to keep in mind

• The callback must give the same answer for the same shopper on every request. The checkout page and the Store API both ask it.
• Logic based on the shopper's IP address needs the checkout page excluded from full-page caching, or one visitor's answer is served to everyone.
• The filter only covers the Checkout block. The classic checkout shortcode and the pay-for-order page still preselect a gateway.