Add PayPal for your eCommerce Store

Melody Jaimon • August 18, 2022

PayPal

Store supports a variety of payment methods: PayPal Standard, PayPal Express Checkout, PayPal Advanced, PayPal Payflow Link, and PayPal Payments Pro solutions.

Call 1-877-455-1481 if you have sales-related questions about setting up a new PayPal service and would like to talk with a PayPal Product Specialist. Call (1) 888-221-1161 if you have customer support issues with an existing PayPal account and wish to speak directly with a PayPal Customer Service person.

PayPal Standard

PayPal Standard is the most user-friendly PayPal option. . In addition to standard PayPal account payments, this method also enables users to pay using a credit card without having to register a PayPal account beforehand.

Set Up PayPal

To open the StoreFront Control Panel, click eCommerce in the left panel and then click Manage Store.
Scroll down to PayPal after clicking "Payment."
Click Enable PayPal to Work. PayPal is at the top of the list of current payment methods. Click the Enabled toggle to disable PayPal until you have set it up.
Choose Edit from the Actions drop-down menu.
Click Change PayPal account, type in your PayPal email address and click Save.
(Optional) Click Activate to turn on PayPal Insights.
Enter the name under which customers will see this payment method used at checkout.
To use PayPal, click the enable this payment method at checkout.
Go to your PayPal account and sign in.
Go to My Account, My Profile, and My selling tools.
Find the link for "Settings" and click "Update" next to "Instant Payment Notification."
Select Receive IPN messages after clicking Choose IPN Settings. Type http://app.multiscreenstore.com/paypalstandard/STOREID into the Notification URL field, where STOREID is your Store ID. Save the adjustments.
(Optional) We strongly suggest that you turn on the Auto Return option. Go to Profile, My selling tools, Website Payment Preferences, and change this setting. StoreFront sends the correct value of the Return URL to PayPal with every request.
Go to Open Profile, My selling tools, and PayPal button language encoding to set your encoding preferences. Click on "More Options." Set Encoding to UTF-8, and check the box next to "Do you want to use the same encoding for data sent to you from PayPal, like IPN, downloadable logs, and emails?" to Yes. Save the adjustments.
(Optional) Go to Profile, My selling tools, Shipping Calculations, and click Update if you have a Premier or Business PayPal account. Check the box next to the method of shipping for a certain currency. Click on Edit, and change Use the shipping fee in the transaction instead of my calculator's settings to Yes. Click the Save Changes button. **

Follow these steps for each shipping method you've set up in your PayPal account. Skip this step if you don't have any shipping options on this page.

Please ensure that you follow each of the actions outlined above. Otherwise, you might experience problems with your PayPal orders.

* The auto-return feature will force your customers to return to your store (and to which URL) after completing the payment at PayPal. Generally, this option isn't required: PayPal will provide a button like 'return to store' that will redirect customers back to the shop.

However, you can choose to allow it in the following situations:

If you want to monitor sales using Google Adwords or any other service, and you have a tracking code placed in the System Settings → General → Cart of the StoreFront control panel, you can do so. In this instance, the code is triggered when the customer reaches the Thank you for your order page; consequently, the auto-return must be forced.
If you want to use a single PayPal account across several StoreFront shops. The storeFront will include the correct URL with each payment request, allowing customers to return to the site where they began the checkout process (that is, your StoreFront shop).

The most important aspect is to enable IPN (Instant Order Notifications). IPN is a message provided by PayPal to StoreFront over a secure connection that indicates the payment's status. This option notifies your StoreFront shop whether a customer's payment was successfully processed or if the transaction failed. StoreFront can modify the order status accordingly upon getting such a signal. IPN must be correctly configured in your PayPal account for StoreFront to accept purchases automatically.

This step is required to prevent problems with shipping calculations in the StoreFront store: If you have shipping prices set up in your PayPal account, they may override the rates set up in your StoreFront shop. As a consequence, the order may be marked as Awaiting Payment.

PayPal Express Checkout

PayPal's Express Checkout is a more sophisticated solution. It offers a different checkout method for your StoreFront store.

Set Up PayPal Express Checkout in StoreFront

Click eCommerce on the left side, then click Manage Store.
Navigate to Settings, Payment, PayPal Express Checkout.
Fill out all required information, including API Username, API Password, and Signature. They are available via PayPal.
Save the modifications.

Generate PayPal API Signature

Have you ever created an API certificate or signature?

If not, you need to produce a signature. Follow the directions provided by PayPal: Getting API Credentials.
If yes, there are two alternatives:
You have produced the API signature but are unable to locate it on the PayPal backend. In this situation, you just need to retrieve it by following the above-mentioned instructions and using it in the StoreFront backend.
You created the certificate for the API. Unfortunately, PayPal does not permit API signatures and certificates to coexist. Therefore, you should delete the certificate and instead produce the signature. Attention: If you are already using a shopping cart with your PayPal account and this shopping cart uses an API certificate, it will not be able to process PayPal transactions. In this instance, you must alter the shopping cart to use a signature (PayPal recommends using a signature).

How PayPal Express Checkout works

Add products in the bag.
Tap Checkout with PayPal
StoreFront takes you to the PayPal website.
Sign in with your PayPal account or create a new one.
PayPal returns you to StoreFront.
StoreFront generates a new profile using the information from PayPal and displays the most recent checkout page.
You go through your order, make any required changes to the delivery method, and then click the Submit order button.
In the background, StoreFront transmits the request to PayPal, and PayPal charges your credit card.

PayPal Payflow Link and PayPal Payments Advanced

This payment method needs an SSL-encrypted website.

PayPal Payflow Link and PayPal Advanced are offered to merchants in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom.

PayPal Advanced is only available to US merchants.

PayPal Payflow is a true payment gateway that connects your website to your merchant account (a type of bank account that enables businesses to accept credit card payments and receive payments straight to their bank account) and payment processor (a company that handles credit card transactions for a merchant acquiring bank). You can find further information regarding PayPal Payflow here.

PayPal Payments Advanced can be used if you do not have a merchant account.

This payment method enables online stores to accept credit card payments without leaving the website. With the following exceptions, PayPal Payments Advanced is similar to the PayPal Payflow gateway in terms of integration (so you can use it with our Payflow interface):

PayPal Payments Advanced comes with a PayPal merchant account.
PayPal Express Checkout and Bill Me Later payment methods for PayPal Payments Advanced users cannot be deactivated on the hosted checkout template.

Please visit this link for further information.

If you do not want to open a merchant account, you can accept credit cards without leaving your site using PayPal Advanced.

Set Up PayPal Payflow Link and PayPal Payments Advanced

Sign up for PayPal's Payflow Services.
Log in to your PayPal Manager account and navigate to Service Settings, Hosted Checkout Pages, Setup. Configure Enable Secure Token to Yes. The storefront will supply the other variables on your behalf to facilitate configuration. DO NOT alter any other parameters on this page or the customise page.
Navigate to Settings, Payment in the StoreFront Control Panel. Select PayPal Payflow Link or PayPal Payments Advanced in the PayPal payment method section.
Click the Account Details link adjacent to the payment method and enter your credentials in the pop-up window that appears.
Save the modifications and activate this payment method.
After confirming that your account functions properly during the pilot, log in to PayPal Manager and select Activate Account.
Turn off the Send transactions to the test server option in your StoreFront control panel's payment settings.

PayPal Payments Pro Hosted

PayPal Payments Pro Hosted enables you to securely take credit card and PayPal payments without requiring your customers to leave your StoreFront store: all payment choices are shown in an inline frame on the final checkout step.

Pro PayPal Payments Hosted only functions for United Kingdom, France, Australia, Hong Kong, Italy, Spain, and Japan.

Set Up PayPal Payments Pro Hosted

Create a PayPal Payments Pro account.
Navigate to the System Settings, Payment page in the StoreFront Control Panel. Choose PayPal Payments Pro Hosted in the PayPal payment method column, then click Apply.
In the settings box, click the Account Details option and enter your PayPal Payments Pro account email address. Tap the This is a sandbox account if you are testing using a sandbox PayPal account.
Save the adjustments, activate this payment method, and then press the Save button.

FAQs and Troubleshooting

Can my customers pay with a credit card without opening a PayPal account or using one?

All PayPal services let credit card payments without a PayPal account. If your clients are required to sign up for a PayPal account to make a payment, there can be a variety of causes, ranging from cookies to your PayPal account settings. Please refer to the following for detailed instructions: www.paypal-community.com/t5/How-to-use-PayPal/buy-now-button-requires-paypal-login-or-account/m-p/15587.
Can I use PayPal with my PayPal Personal account?

Yes, if you have a Personal account, StoreFront will operate with it. Use the PayPal Standard payment method.
I see a sale on the PayPal backend, but it does not appear in the Store.
If you see an order in PayPal but not in StoreFront, first ensure that your PayPal module is correctly configured and that all of the processes in this section have been completed. IPN communications require special care; they must be enabled.

If all PayPal settings are correct, view the IPN History tab in your PayPal backend and look for any problems or IPN messages that have failed. If there are any unsuccessful messages due to the missing orders, try sending them again:
1. Log into your PayPal account and navigate to the History section.
2. Select IPN history from the drop-down menu.
3. On the Instant Payment Notification history page, choose All (Last N days).
4. Click the Search button.
5. Mark the messages that require resending, and then click Resend selected.
If the aforementioned steps do not resolve the problem, please contact our support staff, and we will analyze it thoroughly.
A customer has paid via PayPal, but the order status in the Store Control Panel remains Pending Payment.

If an order is successfully placed and you have entirely charged the consumer for it, it should be marked as "Paid." The status "Awaiting Payment" indicates that the order is pending or has been placed, but the funds have not yet been sent to your account. You may see the error returned by PayPal in the order details, part of the Additional information section of the Store Control Panel.

There can be various reasons why certain PayPal orders have the status "Pending Payment" instead of "Paid."
If the payment is pending, it means you have not yet received the cash, according to PayPal.
Here is a list of potential explanations for the delay:
- Address: The payment is pending because the customer did not provide a confirmed delivery address. Your Payment Receiving Preferences are configured to allow you to accept or decline each of these payments manually. To modify your options, navigate to the Preferences area of your Profile.
- Authorization: You have set the payment action to Authorization but have not yet collected the cash. The Payment Action parameter is configured in StoreFront's System Settings → Payment → PayPal Express Checkout tab. Refer to https://www.x.com/developers/communi...-payment-actions for a description of each parameter's purpose. If you want Express Checkout orders to be processed immediately, you must update this option to Sale.
- eCheck: The payment is still pending since it was made with an eCheck that has not yet been cleared.
- Intl: The payment is pending because you do not have a withdrawal method for your non-U.S. account. You must manually approve or decline this payment from your Account Summary.
- Multi-currency: You do not have a balance in the currency sent, and your Payment Receiving Preferences are not configured to convert and receive this payment automatically. You must manually approve or reject this payment.
- Order: You have set the payment action to Order but have not yet captured funds. See discussion on Authorization above.
- Payment review: The payment is pending while PayPal evaluates it for risk.
- Unilateral: The payment is still pending because it was sent to an email address that has not yet been registered or validated.
- Upgrade: The payment is pending since it was paid through a credit card; you must upgrade your account to Business or Premier level to collect the funds. An upgrade might indicate that your account has hit its monthly transaction limit.
- Verify: Payment is pending because you have not yet been validated. You can accept this payment after your account has been verified.
- Other: The payment is pending for a reason not included in the preceding list. For further information, please get in touch with PayPal Customer Service.
The most common explanation for the aforementioned is an eCheck payment that has not yet been cleared. After an eCheck has been cleared (typically within 3 to 5 days), the order status will immediately be updated to Paid.
Error "This order is in the "Pending Payment" category because the order total does not match the amount paid. Please review this order in your PayPal Admin Area for any possible issues."
In this scenario, orders are often handled correctly, and payment is received. This error notice will appear in the order details on the Sales page of the StoreFront control panel. There are three potential reasons:
1. StoreFront's order total does not match the order total returned by PayPal. You are likely utilizing PayPal's taxes or delivery rates (enabled in your PayPal merchant account). These fees are added to the customer's order total when forwarded to PayPal. You must check your PayPal management account for tax and shipping settings and, if present, disable them.
2. The currency in which your PayPal account is denominated differs from that of your StoreFront store. You must ensure that the same currency is set up on both sides.
3. The payments are sent to a different PayPal email address than the one indicated in the StoreFront admin panel, Settings → Payment → Account details of the PayPal Standard payment method.
As a precaution against any hacking efforts, StoreFront mandates that payments be sent to the PayPal email address listed in the StoreFront admin panel. StoreFront changes the order status to Awaiting Payment, or PayPal will record the order as pending if the transaction has a different email.

Both email addresses linked with your PayPal business account are legitimate. Therefore PayPal approved the payment. However, only one of the email addresses should get the funds.

You must verify that the correct PayPal email address was entered in your StoreFront control panel, Settings, Payment, and Account Details. If you are uncertain as to which email address you are receiving payments from, you may contact PayPal customer service.
PayPal had some issues on its end.

When a payment is made, PayPal sends StoreFront an IPN (immediate payment notification) message containing payment information. The store checks this IPN message and changes the order status if everything is in order. If for whatever reason (due to a mistake or an outage), the PayPal server has not responded to our request to verify the transaction (i.e., we do not know if the IPN message was legitimate or not), the order status will be changed to Pending Payment.

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