ICO order forms: let people order their own ID card

What the person ordering sees

The person ordering opens your link, or the page on your site that holds the form. They see your heading and introduction (if you wrote them), your colors and font, and a row of steps at the top.

A template with no fields to fill in skips straight to the preview.

While an order is being placed, the form asks the person to wait and not close the window. Leaving the page during that moment shows a warning first.

At a glance

ICO order forms are one of our ways to order. If you would rather order one card at a time in the web app, upload a spreadsheet, connect Zapier, or write code against our API, see Ways to order. This page is the full guide to ICO order forms.

Who ICO order forms are for

They fit any group where each person should order their own card:

• Schools and districts: staff, substitutes, volunteers, and student helpers order their own ID.
• Associations and clubs: members order a membership card from your site and it ships to their home.
• Employers: new hires, contractors, and remote staff order a badge, and it ships to them or to one office.
• Event teams: volunteers order a credential from a link in an email.

If you would rather order all the cards yourself, you do not need a form. You can order in the web app one card at a time, or upload a spreadsheet for a whole group. The web app and spreadsheet upload work for every account.

What you need first

1. An InstantCard account with a funded prepaid balance. ICO order forms are part of prepaid accounts. If you pay as you go, or you have not added funds yet, the Integrations menu does not show up. If you pay as you go, talk to us about prepaid pricing.
2. An owner or admin login. Only owners and admins can build and manage forms.
3. An approved card template. The form orders one template. You choose from the approved templates in your account. If you do not have one yet, contact us.

Set up an ICO order form in the web app

Building a form yourself is free, and this section walks you through it. If you would rather we set it up for you, contact us: it is a one-time $200 on Small Business and Growth plans, and free on Enterprise.

Sign in at k2.instantcard.net, then open Integrations and choose Order forms. Your forms are listed there, each with its status and how many orders it took today.

Each form has one of these statuses: Draft, Waiting for approval, Live, Paused, or Needs changes (our team sent it back with a note).

Create the form

The first form in your account takes a few seconds to set up. The editor then opens with a live preview beside the controls. Your changes save on their own, and a note next to the form's name tells you whether the latest change is saved.

The editor has four steps: Design, Ordering, Look, and Share. You can jump between them in any order.

InstantCard web app

Step 1: Design

• Name. Change it any time.
• Colors and font. Pick one of eight ready-made color schemes (Blue, Indigo, Purple, Teal, Green, Red, Orange, Black) or choose your own. Pick a font from the list. The preview updates as you click. More styling options are in Look.
• Template. Choose another approved template if you want a different card. Changing the template clears your hidden-field and capital-letter choices, because those belong to the old template's fields. Once a form is live, its template is locked. To change it, pause the form first. A new template needs our approval again.

Step 2: Ordering

Who pays for each order? This is shown, not chosen. It follows your account. For a prepaid account it reads: "Orders are charged to your account balance." To change it, contact us.

Price and copies

• Show the price per card. On by default. Turn it off to hide the price.
• Let people order more than one copy. On by default. Turn it off and every order is one card.
• Most copies in one order. From 1 to 100. A new form starts at 10.

Shipping

• Ship outside the US and Canada. Off by default. Turn it on to accept addresses in other countries.
• Ship every order to one address. Turn it on to send every card to one place, such as your office, so you can hand them out. Enter a name or department, street address, suite or unit (optional), city, state, ZIP code, and a two-letter country code such as US or CA. People still give their name and email.

Fields on the form

• Show the back of the card in the preview. On by default. Turn it off if the back is blank.
• Ask for a photo before the preview. On by default for forms you build. People cannot see their card or order it until they add a photo. Turn it off and they can order without one, and the photo space prints empty. This option only appears for templates with a photo field.
• Hide it and Capital letters. A checklist of your template's fields. A hidden field is not shown to the person, but it is still part of the order (use it with "Fill in fields from the link"). Capital letters makes a text field print in capitals.
• Fill in fields from the link. Details are in "Fill in fields from a link" below.

After someone orders

• A thank-you message, ours or yours. You change it under Look, in "Change the wording."
• Then send them to this web page (optional). A web address that starts with https://. People see a Continue button that takes them there.

Who gets the order confirmation email? Choose The person who ordered, which is the default, or Me, or someone in my organization and give an email address.

Daily limit. The most cards the form will take in one day. From 1 to 500. A new form starts at 25. See "Limits and protections."

Step 3: Look

Everything here previews instantly.

• Text color and Button and highlight color. Pick a swatch, or Pick any color and enter a hex code. In Chrome and Edge, the picker can also pick a color from anywhere on your screen.
• Font. System default, or one of 20 Google Fonts: Inter, Roboto, Open Sans, Lato, Montserrat, Poppins, Raleway, Nunito, Source Sans 3, Work Sans, Merriweather, Playfair Display, Oswald, PT Sans, Noto Sans, Rubik, DM Sans, Libre Franklin, Barlow, and Mulish.
• Text size: Small, Medium, or Large.
• Corners: Square, Rounded, or Very round.
• Buttons: Filled or Outline.
• Boxes people type in: Outlined, Shaded, or Line only.
• Width: Narrow, Medium, or Wide.
• Show the steps at the top. The row that reads Card Information, Preview Card, Shipping Details.
• Show "Powered by InstantCard" at the bottom. On by default.
• Heading (up to 120 characters) and Introduction (up to 1,000 characters). For example, "Order your staff ID card," and a line about what to have ready.

Advanced: Change the wording. You can rename more than forty pieces of text: step names, button labels, headings, the captions under the card pictures, the labels for name, email, and address, the messages people see when something goes wrong, and the thank-you message. Leave a box empty to keep our default. You can also rename any template field and add a line of help under it, for example "Use the name on your driver's license." Wording is plain text. To translate the form, rewrite the pieces in your language. A few fixed phrases cannot be changed and stay in English: the hover tips on the step names, "Your total is ...", "You are ordering ... cards", "Continue", "Start again", "powered by InstantCard" (you can hide that one), and the country list.

Step 4: Share

Where will this form be used? Choose Any website (the default) or Only these websites. See "Where the form may appear."

Ask for approval. See "Approval by our team." If your account is charged for orders, you tick a box first that reads: "I understand anyone with the link can place orders charged to my account, up to my daily limit."

Share your form. Three tabs: Link, Website, and WordPress. You can copy these before the form is live. They start working for visitors once it is.

Once a form is live you will also see Pause orders. Delete form sits at the bottom of this step for every form, live or not.

Share a link

The Link tab gives you a link that looks like this:

https://k2.instantcard.net/order/{form_id}

Send it by email or text, add it to a newsletter, or put it on a button on your site. Anyone who has it can use the form, so keep the daily limit in mind. The page is hidden from search engines.

If you limit the form to certain websites, you can choose whether the link also works on its own. See "Where the form may appear."

Embed the form on your website

The Website tab gives you a snippet to paste where you want the form to appear. Whoever looks after your website will know where it goes. Copy it from the Share step so it has your real form ID in it. It looks like this:

<iframe id="icof-{form_id}" src="https://k2.instantcard.net/order/{form_id}" title="Your form name" style="width:100%;min-height:720px;border:0;" loading="lazy" allow="payment; camera" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin"></iframe>

Optional: automatic height. Paste this second snippet anywhere on the same page. The form then grows and shrinks to fit each step, so there is no scroll bar inside it. It only listens to messages from our form with your form ID.

<script>(function(){var id="icof-{form_id}",o="https://k2.instantcard.net",p="{form_id}";window.addEventListener("message",function(e){if(e.origin!==o||!e.data||e.data.icof!==1||e.data.form!==p)return;var f=document.getElementById(id);if(!f)return;if(e.data.type==="height"&&typeof e.data.height==="number"&&e.data.height>0){f.style.height=Math.ceil(e.data.height)+"px";}});})();</script>

Your website

Tips

• Camera and photos. Keep the allow="payment; camera" part exactly as copied. Phones show their own photo picker, which usually offers the camera.
• Page builders. If your site builder strips iframes, paste the snippet into a "custom HTML" block, or use the WordPress plugin below.
• After the order. If you set a web address to go to after an order, a pasted iframe shows a Continue button. The WordPress plugin sends people there automatically.
• Pre-filled links. If you use "Fill in fields from the link," turn that switch on before you copy the snippet. The snippet then includes a one-line script that passes the page's address into the form. See the next section.

Fill in fields from a link

Turn on Fill in fields from the link in the Ordering step. Each template field then shows a small code under its name. Add the code to the end of the link as a question mark and a value:

https://k2.instantcard.net/order/{form_id}?{field_code}=Sam%20Lee

The exact rules:

• The code is the key and the value is what you want filled in. The code must match exactly, including capital letters. Spaces can be written as %20 or +.
• Add more than one with &: ?{field_code}=Sam%20Lee&{other_code}=Teacher.
• A field filled this way is hidden, so the person cannot change it on the form.
• An empty value does nothing. ?{field_code}= fills nothing and hides nothing.
• Pick lists: the value must match one of the options exactly, or it is ignored.
• Check boxes: true, 1, yes, or on ticks the box. Anything else leaves it clear.
• Photos and QR codes cannot be filled in from a link.

Add the form with the WordPress plugin

If your site runs WordPress, you can add the form with a plugin instead of pasting code. Each form has its own plugin, made for that form, so you download it from the form in the web app: open Integrations in the web app.

[instantcard_order_form]

About the plugin:

• No secrets. It holds no passwords, keys, or tokens and sends nothing from your server. Your visitors' browsers load the form from InstantCard, the way an embedded video or map loads.
• Needs WordPress 5.8 or newer and PHP 7.4 or newer.
• Settings are under Settings, then InstantCard Order Form: the form ID, height, largest width, alignment, and whether the page's link is passed into the form for pre-filled links. You can also add options to one shortcode, for example [instantcard_order_form height="1100" width="640" align="left"].
• Automatic height and the after-order redirect are built in.
• Pre-filled links. If "Fill in fields from the link" was on when you downloaded the plugin, it passes the page's query into the form. Download again after you turn it on.
• More than one form. Use [instantcard_order_form form="{form_id}"].
• Updates. Download again and upload it. WordPress offers to replace the copy you have.
• Not the plugin for WooCommerce stores. This plugin shows an order form on a page. To sell cards from a WooCommerce store, see InstantCard for WooCommerce, a different plugin with its own download.

Where the form may appear

Under Where will this form be used?, choose one:

• Any website (the default). Anyone with the link or the code can show your form. That is fine for most organizations, and your daily limit still applies.
• Only these websites. More secure. The form will not appear on other sites. Type each site, such as example.com, or paste a full address. We store it as https:// plus the site name. You can list up to 20.

Notes:

• List the exact address people see, with and without www if both work. Each is a different website to a browser.
• Test or staging sites need to be on the list too.
• Also let people open the link directly is a checkbox under "Only these websites." Turn it off if the form should only ever appear inside your website. Someone who opens the bare link is then pointed to your site.
• Changes take effect as soon as they save. After approval, you can add sites to the list or remove them (the list always keeps at least one site). To switch a live form from a list to "Any website," pause it first and ask for approval again.

Approval by our team

Every form needs our approval before it takes orders.

After approval:

• Most changes are live as soon as they save, such as colors, fonts, wording, limits, copies, and shipping.
• Two things need approval again: changing the template, and changing a list of websites to "Any website." For these, pause the form, make the change, and ask for approval. If your form changes in a way our approval does not cover, the Take orders again button is replaced by Ask for approval.
• Pause orders stops the form at once, and the link tells visitors it is not available right now. Take orders again turns it back on. Pause is the quick way to stop a shared link.
• Delete form removes it for good. The link and every pasted snippet stop working, and a new form gets a new link. Cards already ordered are not affected.

We email you the moment it is live. If you have been waiting longer than you expected, contact us.

Who pays and how

By default, orders are charged to your prepaid balance. The person ordering pays nothing. Each card is charged at your account's pricing. If you leave "Show the price per card" on, people see the price under the steps at the top. For US and Canada addresses the price includes shipping and reads "per card". If you turn on shipping outside the US and Canada, the price shows the card price only and reads "per card + postage".

Things to know about balance billing:

• The checkbox. When you ask for approval you confirm that anyone with the link can place orders charged to your account, up to your daily limit.
• There is no checkout step for the person ordering. They never enter a card.

Want the person ordering to pay? Contact us. We will tell you what is available for your account.

Shipping

• Where cards go. By default each card ships to the address the person enters. It ships by USPS within the US and Canada.
• Outside the US and Canada. Off by default. Turn on Ship outside the US and Canada and international addresses are accepted. Those orders go by USPS International, and the price is labeled "per card + postage." A ZIP or postal code is required for every country.
• One address for everyone. Turn on Ship every order to one address and every card goes there. People are not asked for an address.
• Choose a different shipping method. The original ICO let us set the shipping method for a form.
• When cards ship. Orders submitted by 4 p.m. ET normally ship the same day. How long the mail takes depends on where the card is going. The default thank-you message says to expect cards in 5 to 8 business days. You can change that message.
• Custom letters. The original ICO could include a letter from your organization with each card.

Limits and protections

• Daily limit. The most cards the form takes in one day. From 1 to 500. The default is 25. The day runs on UTC, so it resets at 7 p.m. Eastern in winter and 8 p.m. in summer. When the limit is reached, the form says "This order form has reached its limit for today. Please try again tomorrow."
• Copies per order. From 1 to 100. Default 10. Or one card per order.
• Attempts. The form also limits how many order attempts it takes in a day, and slows down repeated attempts from the same place. A person who hits this sees "Too many attempts. Please wait a few minutes and try again."
• No tokens on your page. The form places orders for you on our side. Nothing secret sits in your page or in the snippet.
• You can always pause. Pause works at any time, even if other changes are unsaved.

Moving from the original ICO

If you use the original ICO (the older embed code from before 2026: a small script and a <div> on your page, with an API token in the page), an ICO order form replaces it. Contact us and we will help you move.

What changes for you

• You choose when to switch. Keep the original ICO on your page until the new form is ready.
• You get a form in your account. You can change colors, wording, the daily limit, and more yourself, without asking us.
• No token in your page. The old code carried an account token in public. The new snippet carries none.
• No jQuery and no script files to host. The new snippet is one iframe.
• We can help with the setup. We read your old setup and build the matching form, then check it before it goes live.

How the move works

Every original ICO feature, and where it lives now

New with ICO order forms: a daily limit, a list of allowed websites, approval by our team, pause and resume, a live preview in the editor, and nothing secret in your page.

Frequently asked questions

Do the people ordering need an InstantCard account?

No. They open the link or your page and order. They never sign in.

Can I use more than one form?

Yes. Make one per template, per group, or per site. Each has its own link, limits, and look.

Can I change the template later?

Yes. If the form is live, pause it, choose the new template, and ask for approval.

What does it cost?

Building and sharing a form yourself is free. Cards are charged at your account's pricing. See pricing.

Can you set up the form for us?

Yes. Setup by our team is a one-time $200 on Small Business and Growth plans, and free on Enterprise. Contact us to start.

What if the daily limit is reached?

The form tells people to try again tomorrow. Raise the limit under Ordering, up to 500 cards a day.

Can people see other people's cards?

No. Each person sees only their own card in the form, and the form is hidden from search engines.

Does the person get a confirmation?

Yes. By default our order confirmation email goes to the person who ordered. You can send it to yourself instead.

Can I keep the form on my site only?

Yes. Choose Only these websites under Share and turn off "Also let people open the link directly."

Do I need a developer?

Not for a link or the WordPress plugin. A pasted snippet takes a minute for whoever edits your site.

What if my pay setting is pay as you go?

ICO order forms come with prepaid pricing. Talk to us about moving to prepaid.

Does it work in every browser?

The form needs a modern browser. Please test your link, and your page if you embed it, in the browsers your people use, including Safari and a phone, before you share it widely.

Can people upload a photo from a phone?

Yes. The photo button opens the phone's own picker, which usually offers the camera and the photo library. Keep the allow part of a pasted snippet as copied.

Troubleshooting

Still stuck? Contact us and send the address of the page.

Related guides

• Ways to order: every way to order, from no code to code
• API reference
• Zapier guide
• Pricing