Slow Square Plugin Payment Processing

Hi @ajwesseler, thanks for sharing the details, I can see how delays of 45 seconds to a couple of minutes during payment processing would be concerning, especially when everything else on the site feels responsive, and I’m keen to help you narrow this down.

When Square payments take that long to complete, it’s often related to server communication, caching, or external requests rather than the checkout flow itself. A good first step is to confirm whether any server level or plugin based caching is active and temporarily disable it, as cached or delayed REST API requests can slow down payment processing. This guide walks through general caching considerations for WooCommerce checkouts, https://developer.woocommerce.com/docs/best-practices/performance/configuring-caching-plugins.

It would also help to check your site’s environment and logs to see if anything is timing out while the payment is being processed. You can enable WooCommerce logging for Square by going to WooCommerce, Status, Logs, then selecting the Square log after attempting a test payment. More details on logs can be found here, https://woocommerce.com/document/finding-php-error-logs/.

If the issue continues, the next recommended step is a plugin conflict test by temporarily disabling all non WooCommerce related plugins and then re enabling them one at a time to see if the delay returns. This guide explains how to do that safely, https://woocommerce.com/document/how-to-test-for-conflicts/.

Once you’ve had a chance to check those points, feel free to share what you find or any relevant log entries, and we can take the investigation further from there.

Hi @ajwesseler,

I can see you have already done some solid troubleshooting there, and I appreciate how thorough you have been so far. To help narrow this down further, the next helpful step would be to review your WooCommerce System Status Report, as this gives insight into the server environment, PHP setup, and any configuration details that may impact how Square requests are handled.

You can generate this by going to WooCommerce, Status, then selecting Get system report, and copying the report. Please paste the full report into https://pastebin.com and share the link here, which helps keep things readable and secure.

Once that is available, I will take a closer look and we can continue isolating what might be contributing to the delay.

Hi @ajwesseler, thank you for sharing the system status report, I can see how challenging it is to deal with payments that complete but take an unusually long time, and I appreciate how methodical you have been with the troubleshooting so far. I am keen to keep working through this with you.

After reviewing the report, there are a few environment related points that stand out as potential contributors to the delay.

First, the WordPress memory limit is set to 256 MB. While this is generally workable, payment gateways like Square can be memory intensive during checkout, especially when handling API requests, order creation, and background processes at the same time. If your hosting provider allows it, increasing the memory limit to 512 MB or more would be a worthwhile test to see if processing time improves.

Next, the PHP post max size is set to 64 MB. This setting usually impacts larger payloads, but during checkout it can still play a role when multiple requests are being processed together. Your host can confirm whether increasing this value slightly is supported and whether it helps reduce latency.

I also noticed the Action Scheduler tables are relatively large, with a number of failed and pending actions present. Even though the failed count is low, background actions running during checkout can add load to the server and slow down external requests like those sent to Square. Reviewing and cleaning up completed actions under Tools, Scheduled Actions may help reduce that overhead. You can find more details here, https://woocommerce.com/document/understanding-the-woocommerce-system-status-report/scheduled-actions/.

Another important point is that WooCommerce Square debug mode is currently disabled. Enabling debug logging will allow the plugin to record detailed information about the communication between your site and Square. This is especially useful since no Square logs are currently being generated. Please enable debug mode in WooCommerce, Settings, Payments, Square, then run a test checkout and check the WooCommerce logs again. This guide explains how to locate and review logs, https://woocommerce.com/document/finding-php-error-logs/.

Since plugin conflicts and PHP errors have already been ruled out, the next most likely cause is server level latency or delayed outbound requests to Square. The Square debug logs should help confirm exactly where the delay is occurring so we can take more targeted next steps.

Once you have enabled Square debug mode and tested another checkout, feel free to share any new log entries or updates and we will continue narrowing this down together.

Hi there!

Thank you for sharing the logs and system status.

I’ve reviewed the Square logs, and currently I’m seeing a transaction taking about 28 seconds. While this is slightly slow, you mentioned that transactions sometimes take 45 seconds to 2 minutes. Could you please check your logs again and see if there are any entries showing performance times in that range? I’m asking this becaues I have tried to place some test order on my site and every thing appear to work fine on my end.

If you notice consistently longer times, it may also be helpful to contact your hosting provider to check for any server-side delays or resource limitations that could be affecting payment processing.

Hi @ajwesseler,

At the moment, there are no known or widespread issues specific to GoDaddy that would cause Square payments to consistently process slowly. That said, reaching out to their support team is still a very worthwhile step, as they can review server level factors such as outbound request latency, firewall rules, resource throttling, or any limits that might affect external API calls during checkout.

It can also help to ask them to confirm whether there are any restrictions or delays on HTTPS requests to Square endpoints from your server. Since the Square logs show the delay occurring during the payment request itself, host level insights will be key in confirming whether this is environmental rather than plugin related.

Once you hear back from GoDaddy, feel free to share what they find and we can use that information to guide the next steps.

Since there’s been no recent activity on this thread, I’m marking it as resolved. Don’t hesitate to start a new thread if you need help in the future.