How to Set Up a Stripe Webhook for WooCommerce Security DepositsA practical webhook setup guide for reliable deposit workflows

Why webhooks matter for security deposits

A webhook is how Stripe sends real-time event notifications to your WooCommerce site. When a payment succeeds, a hold is updated, a PaymentIntent changes state or a capture is confirmed, Stripe sends an HTTP POST request to a URL on your server. Your site processes that event and updates orders, hold status and other records accordingly.

For security deposit workflows, webhooks play an important role. Without a correctly configured and reachable webhook, your site may not receive the events it needs to keep deposit status accurate.

• Events confirm hold creation, capture and release. SecureHold WP and the WooCommerce Stripe Gateway rely on webhook events to update order status and deposit records reliably.
• A missing webhook creates silent failures. If Stripe cannot reach your site, payment and deposit events may not be processed, leading to orders stuck in pending status or holds that appear active but have already changed state in Stripe.
• Checkout appearing to work is not enough. The checkout flow itself may complete successfully even if the webhook is broken. The deposit workflow may only fail at a later stage when an event is expected and never arrives.

Before you create the webhook

Make sure the following are in place before configuring your Stripe webhook. Skipping any of these steps is a common source of webhook delivery failures.

• Access to the Stripe Dashboard. You need to be logged in to your Stripe account as an owner or admin to create and manage webhooks.
• WooCommerce installed and running. Your site must be active and publicly accessible for Stripe to deliver events.
• WooCommerce Stripe Gateway configured. The gateway should already be installed and connected to your Stripe account before you set up the webhook.
• SecureHold WP installed and activated. Install SecureHold WP before creating the webhook so you have the correct endpoint URL available.
• The site is publicly accessible. Your webhook endpoint must be reachable from the internet. A local development environment behind a router or firewall will not work unless you use a tunneling tool.
• No maintenance mode blocking requests. If your site is in maintenance mode, Stripe will receive a non-200 response and mark the event as failed.
• Test mode and live mode are clear. Stripe test mode and live mode are separate environments with separate API keys and separate webhook endpoints. Decide which mode you are configuring before you start.

Step-by-step webhook setup

Follow these steps to create and configure the webhook endpoint in Stripe.

1. 1Log in to the Stripe Dashboard and confirm you are in the correct mode: test or live.
2. 2Go to Developers in the top navigation, then select Webhooks from the left menu.
3. 3Click Add endpoint to create a new webhook listener.
4. 4Paste the webhook endpoint URL. This URL is provided by the WooCommerce Stripe Gateway or SecureHold WP in your plugin settings. Copy it exactly as shown.
5. 5Select the events the endpoint should listen for. Check your plugin documentation for the specific events required. Common events include those related to PaymentIntents, successful payments and failed payments.
6. 6Save the endpoint. Stripe will generate a signing secret for this webhook.
7. 7Copy the signing secret and paste it into the appropriate field in your WooCommerce Stripe Gateway or SecureHold WP settings. This secret allows your site to verify that incoming events are genuinely from Stripe.
8. 8Send a test event from the Stripe Dashboard to confirm that the endpoint receives and processes it correctly.

Events to check

The exact set of webhook events required depends on your WooCommerce Stripe Gateway version, SecureHold WP configuration and the payment methods you support. Always check the documentation for the specific plugins you are using rather than relying on a fixed list.

In general, the relevant events for deposit workflows are related to PaymentIntent state changes: successful authorization, capture, cancellation and failure. Review the SecureHold WP documentation and the WooCommerce Stripe Gateway documentation for the current list of recommended events for your version.

Common webhook mistakes

Most webhook problems fall into a small number of categories. Checking these will resolve the issue in most cases, and the troubleshooting guide can help you diagnose a Stripe webhook that is not working.

• Wrong endpoint URL. The URL must match your site exactly, including the correct domain, protocol (HTTPS) and path. A single character difference will cause delivery failures.
• Test webhook used in live mode. A webhook configured in Stripe test mode will not receive live mode events. You need a separate webhook configured in live mode for your production site.
• Live webhook used in test mode. The reverse applies equally. Test mode events will not be delivered to a live mode endpoint.
• Site blocked by a firewall or security plugin. Some security plugins or server firewalls block POST requests from external IP addresses, including Stripe servers. Whitelist Stripe IP ranges if necessary.
• SSL certificate issue. Stripe requires a valid SSL certificate on the endpoint. An expired, self-signed or misconfigured certificate will cause delivery failures.
• Caching plugin intercepting requests. Aggressive page caching can return a cached HTML response to Stripe instead of processing the event. Exclude the webhook endpoint URL from caching rules.
• Wrong or missing signing secret. If the signing secret in your plugin settings does not match the one generated by Stripe, your site will reject incoming events as unverified.
• Webhook accidentally deleted. If the endpoint was deleted in the Stripe Dashboard, no events will be delivered. Recreate it and update the signing secret in your plugin settings.

How to verify the webhook works

After setting up the webhook, verify that it is functioning before you rely on it for live orders.

• Check recent deliveries in Stripe. In the Stripe Dashboard under Developers > Webhooks, select your endpoint and look at recent delivery attempts. Confirm that events are showing a 200 status code response.
• Look for error codes. A 4xx or 5xx response indicates a problem on your server. A timeout indicates your site took too long to respond. Both require investigation.
• Send a test event from Stripe. Use the Send test event button in the Stripe Dashboard to trigger a specific event and confirm your site processes it correctly.
• Place a test order in WooCommerce. Using Stripe test mode, complete a full checkout and confirm that the order status and deposit hold status are updated correctly after checkout.
• Run the SecureHold WP Health Check. The Health Check can identify webhook delivery issues, Stripe connectivity problems and configuration mismatches that may not be obvious from the WooCommerce admin.