PayPal Payments Pro and Express Checkout

Express Checkout allows you to accept payments from customers with PayPal accounts.

If you don’t have a PayPal account, click here to fill out the simple application. To apply for a Business Account, click the Business link at the top of the Sign Up form. If you already have a PayPal Personal account, upgrade it to a Business account on the PayPal Web site.

When you click on the Configure button for PayPal Express Checkout as a payment method, you will see a screen with the following fields:

Host

Select whether you want to use the PayPal sandbox server (for testing) or the Live payment server.

Note:

The PayPal sandbox server can not be used in conjunction with a standard PayPal account. You must create a sandbox account if you wish to use the sandbox server. Sandbox accounts can be created by members of the PayPal Developer Network.

Authentication

Authorization Method

Use the radio buttons to pick which authorization method to use.

Use Accelerated Boarding Authentication

This authentication method is unique in that the merchant doesn't have to establish their PayPal merchant account until the first payment is posted. This makes it possible for the merchant to have their store up and accepting orders before they take the time to establish their PayPal merchant account. The merchant's email address is used as the account identifier.

Merchant Email Address

Enter the email address that will be associated with your PayPal Merchant Account.

Note:

If you are using this option for the Authorization Method setting, you CANNOT use the 'Authorize' setting for Order PaymentAction; PayPal only allows 'Sale' transactions for this authentication type.

Use API Certificate Authentication

This authentication method uses a digital certificate, generated by PayPal for API Access for Payments Pro. This method is more secure than the digital signature, but has a greater risk of user error.

API Username	Enter the API username that you were given when you generated your API Access Certificate for Payments Pro.
API Password	Enter the password that you set up when you signed up for Payments Pro.
API Certificate	Copy the digital certificate you received from PayPal into this box. Be sure to include the entire certificate, including the RSA Key.

Use API Digital Signature Authentication

This authentication method is PayPal's preferred method of authentication. Similar to the API Certificate Authentication, this method uses a digital signature, generated by PayPal for API Access for Payments Pro.

API Username	Enter the API username that you were given when you generated your API Access Certificate for Payments Pro.
API Password	Enter the password that you set up when you signed up for Payments Pro.
API Digital Signature	Copy the digital signature you received from PayPal into this box.

3rd-Party Account

If you have authorized a 3rd-party account to access your PayPal information, you can put that account API ID here. Most merchants will want to leave this blank.

Configuration

Order PaymentAction

Select whether to use Sale (authorize and capture) or Authorize (authorize only) mode when processing payments. If you must prepare products for shipping, you should use authorize only mode, then when your products are ready to ship, you can capture the funds from the Orders screen.

Order Description Displayed by PayPal

PayPal displays a line near the top of the Payment Details screen that says, "Payment For:" followed by the description that you type here. For example, you could enter "ShopSite Order" and it would look like this:

Payment For: ShopSite Order

You can then quickly differentiate ShopSite orders from other orders in your PayPal account.

PayPal Page Locale

Select a locale for PayPal to use. This configures which country and language PayPal will use when displaying content (login/confirmation pages, etc.).

PayPal Custom Page Style

If you have created a custom checkout page style in PayPal, you may optionally specify that style name here. If you do not specify a style, the default PayPal checkout page style will be used.

Display Express Checkout Button

Check this box to display a separate PayPal Express Checkout button on the shopping cart screen. Customers can click this button to pay for purchases using a PayPal account. PayPal will not appear in the payment methods pull-down menu if this button is displayed.

Send Line Item Detail to PayPal Express

Check this box to send each line item of an order to PayPal.

Error Reporting Settings

Display Error Details

Check this box to have detailed error messages appear when a PayPal error occurs during the order processing.

PayPal Express Checkout Settings

Overview

Host

Authentication

Configuration

Error Reporting Settings