PayPal Сheckout

PayPal is a payment provider that allows you to accept credit cards, Venmo mobile payments, or payments directly from customers’ PayPal account balances when they shop in your online store. Shoppers can pay in full or in installments.

When you connect your PayPal account to your online store, you get the following features:

• Express checkout. Instead of filling in checkout fields in your store, customers can log in to their PayPal account and confirm the purchase.
• Buy Now Pay Later. Allow shoppers to split their payments into 4 interest-free, bi-weekly, or monthly payments.
• Venmo payments (US only). A widely used, mobile-friendly payment method that can enhance your business during the rise in mobile shopping.
• Ability to pay without a PayPal account. Buyers will be able to pay by card and the money will still come to your PayPal account.
• Country-based payment options for Europe. Provide shoppers with familiar payment providers for a better customer experience.
• Refunds directly from store admin. No need to switch to your PayPal account to manage refunds, you can issue refund right from your store admin.
• Fraud protection. Your online store shares your orders shipment statuses with PayPal to protect you from potential fraudsters who claim they haven’t received the purchase and ask for a money back.

PayPal takes fees for processing transactions that vary depending on your currency and location.

Setting up PayPal Checkout

When you sign up for your online store account, your login email is preset as your PayPal Personal account email. During PayPal setup, you can use that Personal account, or connect your own Personal or Business account. You'll be prompted to update your Personal account to Business since a Business account is required to enable debit card payments, alternative payment methods, and Pay Later.

Please note that you have to provide details about your business when connecting PayPal Business account. Prepare the following information to quickly fill in the form: your business legal name, address and phone number, contact information for customer support, an estimated monthly sales, website address if you have any, your tax ID number, and business owner personal information.

To set up PayPal Checkout:

1. From your store admin, go to the Payment page.
2. Scroll down to the PayPal section and click Connect PayPal. You will be redirected to the PayPal page. 
3. Enter the email for your PayPal account.
   By default, you will see the email that you use to log in to your store admin. You can use that email if you don’t have a PayPal account yet and want to create a new one. If you already have a PayPal account (either Personal or business), enter the email associated with your PayPal account.
4. (For new Business and Personal accounts) Fill in required fields to create a Business account or upgrade your Personal account to business.
5. (For new Business accounts) Verify your email. Otherwise, you can’t accept payments.
6. Once you are redirected to your store admin, choose whether to enable PayPal Express Checkout, Pay Later option, and country-specific payment options:
   

   

7. (optional) In the Payment instructions for customers, click Set payment instructions at checkout.
8. (optional) In the Payment method availability based on shipping choice, click Limit availability for shipping method to make PayPal Checkout available for specific shipping methods only. For example, exclude local delivery and in-store pickup. 

That’s it. PayPal is now enabled as a payment method for your customers.

Offering PayPal Express checkout

Apart from the PayPal standard checkout, you can offer PayPal Express checkout. PayPal Express adds a one-click accelerated checkout button at the beginning of the usual checkout workflow from the shopping cart. That makes the purchase faster for shoppers since they can log in to their PayPal account right away and pay without entering their address on your website.

To enable or disable PayPal Checkout button on the cart page:

1. From your store admin, go to the Payment page.
2. Select PayPal Checkout.
3. Turn on or off the Show PayPal Express Checkout button for faster checkout toggle.

Here’s how the PayPal Checkout button looks on the checkout page:

Offering PayPal Pay Later

In addition to regular card payments, you can offer PayPal Pay Later to your shoppers to encourage them to buy more or purchase more expensive products. PayPal Pay Later allows customers to choose between 4 equal installments or equal monthly payments between 6, 12 and 24 months. In either case scenario, you get paid upfront.

To use Pay Later, you and your customers have to meet the following requirements:

• You have a verified PayPal Business account.
• Your store is from the US, UK, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, or Spain.
• The currency of your store matches the currency in your PayPal account.
• The country you specified in your PayPal account supports the currency of your store. For example, for Euros that could be France, Germany, Italy, or Spain.
• Buyers will only see Pay Later if their country and currency align with the country and currency of your store. For example, if your store is from the US, only the US-based shoppers will be able to use Pay Later.

When you enable PayPal Later, your customers will see the installment payment option on product pages in your store and at checkout. Note that for customers in different countries the Pay Later button name may vary: Pay in 4, 4 x PayPal, Später Bezahlen, Paga in 3 rate, Page en 3 plazos:

To enable or disable the PayPal Pay Later in your store:

1. From your store admin, go to the Payment page.
2. Select PayPal Checkout.
3. Turn on or off the Show Pay Later button for payment on credit toggle.

That’s it. When customers choose the Pay Later option, they will pay the total in installments, including all discounts, gift cards, shipping costs, and handling fees. To be eligible to monthly payments, their cart total should be at least $200:

Offering Venmo as a payment method (US only)

Venmo is an American mobile payment service available for the US stores and customers only. When you have PayPal enabled as a payment gateway in your store, Venmo will be available by default as a payment option at checkout. Please note that your PayPal account must be created in the US and you should specify the US as your country in the settings of your PayPal account. 

When shoppers browse your store through the desktop and choose to pay with Venmo, they will see a QR code that they need to scan to go to the Venmo app and complete purchase. When shopping from their phones, customers will be redirected to the Venmo app right away where they can complete the transaction.

With Venmo, you get:

• A widespread mobile-friendly payment method that is especially popular with the surge in mobile shopping.
• Effortless marketing. When customers complete purchases through Venmo, the sale is visible to their friends’ networks (unless their settings are private), making them potential ambassadors for your brand. It’s like a digital word of mouth for you.
• A tipping option that you can turn on in your Venmo business profile settings to help increase income. 
• Touch-free transactions. Apart from online payments, you can accept payments in person with your QR code.

To enable or disable Venmo payment method in your online store:

1. From your store admin, go to the Payment page.
2. Select PayPal Checkout.
3. Turn on or off the Show Venmo payment option toggle.

Offering country-specific payment options

For all PayPal Business accounts, PayPal provides additional payment options for Europe. Having those options at checkout improves the shopping experience for European customers since they see the familiar payment methods at checkout. Once you connect PayPal, you don’t need to sign up for additional payment methods separately.

Here’s the list of country-based payment options: 

• iDEAL (for the Netherlands)
• Bancontact (for Belgium)
• MyBank (for Italy)
• EPS (for Austria)
• BLIK (for Poland)
• Przelewy24 (for Poland)

To enable or disable country-specific payment options at checkout:

1. From your store admin, go to the Payment page.
2. Select PayPal, then click Settings.
3. Expand the Advanced settings.
4. Turn on or off the Hide alternative payment options toggle.

PayPal shows relevant payment methods for each buyer based on customer location and their device setup like browser language that should match the payment method country. Purchases made with country-based payment methods will be marked accordingly on your Orders page. For example, iDEAL by PayPal.

Regardless of the payment method a customer chooses at checkout, PayPal will send the funds to your PayPal account, so you can manage your transactions as usual.

Letting customers pay without PayPal account

Your customers can pay you with a credit or debit card without a PayPal account login. The Guest Checkout option is available to merchants with a verified Business account with PayPal.

To offer guest checkout through PayPal:

1. From your store admin, go to the Payment page.
2. Select PayPal Checkout.
3. Turn on or off the Show Debit or Credit Card button toggle.

That’s it. Here is how the guest checkout option look for customers:

After clicking the Debit or Credit Card button, customers can choose to pay by debit or credit card, and PayPal will process their payments.

Depending on your customer location and on their browser cookies, the guest checkout may look differently. E.g., it can be offered earlier as a “Pay with Credit or Debit Card”, “Check Out as a Guest”, or "Don't have a PayPal account?” option, or it can be not offered at all.

If you and your customer are both located in the USA, the guest checkout option will be offered below the PayPal Checkout button in the form of credit card icons. Your customers can click on such a card icon to pay for their order with their credit or debit card.

Tracking orders with PayPal

If you have a PayPal Business account and connect it to your online store, you get the order tracking feature by default, at no extra cost. 

Your online store will automatically share order shipment statuses and tracking numbers with PayPal to protect against potential fraud. This way, if a customer claims they haven’t received their order and requests a refund, PayPal can verify the actual status and location of the order to determine whether it was shipped and delivered. 

By enabling or upgrading PayPal integration, you're consenting to share the order information. No additional consent is needed from your customers, as no personal information is shared. All information exchanged between your online store and PayPal is secure and protected. 

Here's how the tracking feature works: when a customer pays through PayPal and selects a shipping method with a carrier, you need to buy a shipping label for the order. Purchasing a shipping label directly through your store admin will automatically forward the tracking number to PayPal along with the order's status. If you purchase the shipping label elsewhere, then only the order status is sent to PayPal, but you can assign a tracking number to the order so that the tracking number will also be sent to PayPal. 

There's no requirement for an account with the shipping carrier, nor do you need to share any login details if you already have one.

Creating a test order with PayPal Checkout

By placing a test order you can make sure that the PayPal payment method is properly set up in your store and check the customer experience.

To place test orders through PayPal in your store:

1. Create another PayPal account for an email address that is different from the email of your PayPal account. PayPal does not allow buying from yourself. Alternatively, you can ask your friend or a family member to place a test order in your store and pay with their PayPal account.
2. Add a test product in your store that costs $1 or less.
3. Make a purchase from your store.
4. (optional) You may refund the order from your store admin.

Using one PayPal account in several stores

You can use one PayPal account with several stores. Your store automatically directs all sales to the PayPal account you select. All you need to do is enable the Auto return option:

1. Log in to your merchant account in the PayPal backend.
2. Go to Profile → My selling tools → Website Payment Preferences.
3. Set the Auto return option to Enabled.
4. Enter https://app.shopsettings.com to the Return URL field.

Now your store will provide a URL with each payment request that overrides the Return URL field so your customers return to the site where they began the checkout process.

Disconnecting PayPal account from your store

When you disconnect your PayPal account from your online store, you are no longer able to use PayPal to accept payments in your store. All PayPal features, including country-based methods, become unavailable for customers after disconnecting. 

To disconnect PayPal from your online store:

1. From your store admin, go to Payment.
2. Near the PayPal section, click Actions → Remove.

FAQ

Why does a paid order have "Awaiting Payment" status in my online store?

A Paid status in your store admin shows the funds have transferred to your account, while an Awaiting Payment status shows the funds in limbo.

Generally, PayPal orders may have Awaiting Payment status in your online store for several reasons:

1. An eCheck that has not cleared is the most frequent cause of a pending payment. This often resolves itself when the eCheck clears (usually 3-5 days).
2. The customer did not provide a confirmed shipping address and your Payment Receiving Preferences requires you to manually accept or deny these payments. To change this preference, go to the Preferences section of your Profile in PayPal.
3. The payment is pending because you hold a non-U.S. account and do not have a withdrawal mechanism. You must manually accept or deny this payment from Account Overview in your PayPal account.
4. You do not have a balance in the currency sent, and you do not have your Payment Receiving Preferences set to automatically convert and accept such payments. You must manually accept or deny this payment.
5. The payment is pending while PayPal reviews it for risk.
6. The payment is pending because you must upgrade your account with PayPal. The Business or Premier plans allow you to accept credit cards and increase the monthly limit for transactions on your account.
7. The payment is pending because you have not been verified yet. After verifying your account with PayPal, you will be able to accept this payment.

You can check the specific reason from PayPal in the order details in your store admin, My Sales → Orders.

One of the often reasons for pending payments that you can see in order details is as follows:

The payment is pending because it was made to an email address that is not yet registered or confirmed.

If you see this message in an order’s details in your store admin, first, make sure you have the right email address entered in your store admin → Payment, PayPal-Settings:

• If the email address is correct, your PayPal account probably needs to be confirmed or verified. If this is the case, the money is in limbo until your account gets verified.
• If the email doesn’t match, and you’re working with a test order, update your PayPal settings in your store admin and submit another test order to ensure the orders arrive as Paid.
  In case you’re dealing with a live order from your customer, the money will remain pending on the PayPal side for the next 45 days. If nobody (you) claims the funds, PayPal will return the funds to the buyer. Now you have two options:
  1. If PayPal returns the funds, we suggest contacting the buyer and explaining the situation. Creating an invoice in your PayPal account for the same amount and asking your customer to pay it may be the easiest option.
  2. Register a PayPal account for the wrong email, and verify it. After that, PayPal will transfer the money to the account with the "wrong email" and you can forward the funds to your main business account.
     When you receive the money, you can manually update the orders status to Paid in your store admin →  My Sales page → Orders.

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