1. It is an express button, not the payment method
Look at where on the checkout the option appears.
Apple Pay, Google Pay, Shop Pay and PayPal Express appear in a separate express checkout area near the top of checkout, not in the normal payment method list below it. A normal Hide Payment Method rule does not remove those express buttons. This is the most common reason a hide rule looks broken.
To remove them, follow the Hide Express Checkout Buttons guide.
2. US or Canada credit-card limitation
Check:
- Is your store based in the US or Canada? It is the store’s country that matters, not the customer’s.
- Does the rule target the credit card option?
Result: if both are true on a non-Plus store, this is a Shopify limitation rather than a rule setup problem. The rule can still show as Active, but Shopify ignores it at checkout without showing an error. Other methods, such as COD, PayPal, Klarna and bank transfer, are not affected.
For more detail, see Shopify limitations.
3. Customer checked out through Shop Pay
If the customer checks out through Shop Pay, normal payment method rules may not apply the same way as they do in standard checkout. This can explain why the method is hidden for some customers but still appears for others.
Nothing to fix in the rule
There is nothing to change inside the rule here; this is related to how Shopify handles Shop Pay.
4. Method name does not match checkout
The rule matches on the payment method’s name. If the rule says COD and checkout says Cash on Delivery (COD), nothing matches and nothing hides.
- Open the live checkout.
- Copy the payment method name exactly.
- Paste it into the rule.
- Avoid typing it again manually.
5. Conditions are not passing
- Temporarily remove the conditions.
- Test checkout again.
- If the method hides, the problem is in the condition setup. Add the conditions back one at a time to find the one that fails.
Guest checkouts
Guest checkouts cannot pass customer conditions such as Customer is logged in, Customer tag, Customer total spent or Customer order count.
6. Another rule is affecting the result
Check whether another active rule also uses the same payment method. Temporarily pause other related rules and test again. This makes it easier to see whether another rule is affecting the result.
7. You are testing a stale checkout
- Empty the cart.
- Rebuild the cart.
- Open checkout again in a fresh tab.
A checkout that was already open before the rule changed may still show the old payment options.
Verify the fix
- Build a cart that should match the rule and confirm the payment method is hidden.
- Build a cart that should not match the rule and confirm the payment method is still available.