Checkout for PayPal WordPress Plugin

Checkout for PayPal WordPress plugin connects PayPal to your WordPress website and makes e-commerce available for you. With this PayPal plugin, you can create smart payment buttons with a simple shortcode to accept PayPal payments from your customers.

Checkout for PayPal plugin uses the PayPal Checkout API to create a simplified and secure checkout experience for your customers. With one simple shortcode, you can add a PayPal smart payment button to your website that lets you accept PayPal, Pay Later, credit and debit card payments from any mobile device, tablet, or PC.

PayPal Pay Later

When eligible, your existing PayPal checkout buttons change to show a new Pay Later button. When customers select Pay Later, they can pay with flexible, buy now, pay later financing offers.

PayPal offers short-term, interest-free payments and other special financing options that buyers can use to buy now and pay later, while merchants still get paid up-front. Because pay later offers are included with PayPal Checkout, you won’t pay additional costs.

Pay later offers include the following:

• Pay in 4, which buyers can use to pay for purchases in four, interest-free installments.
• PayPal Credit, a revolving line of credit that buyers can use to pay over time.

Note: This is NOT an official PayPal product.

Features

• Accept PayPal, Pay Later (Pay in 4 and PayPal Credit) payments
• Accept Venmo payments
• Accept credit card and debit card payments
• Accept one-time payments
• Accept donation payments
• Smart Fast PayPal Checkout
• No monthly fee
• Simplified and secure mobile checkout experience
• Simplified PCI compliance
• Checkout with a click of the button
• Support Venmo checkout
• Support PayPal guest checkout (PayPal checkout without an account)
• Accept payments in multiple countries and currencies
• Accept custom PayPal payments by allowing customers to set the amount they will pay

Eligibility for Venmo Payments

• US-based merchants and US-based consumers only
• Transaction must be in USD
• Buyers on mobile devices must use Safari on iOS or Chrome on Android
• Buyers on desktop web browsers can use any major web browser
• Buyers must have the Venmo iOS or Android app installed
• One-time payments, including authorization and capture use cases, are supported
• Billing agreements, Multiple seller payments, and Shipping callback are not supported
• Transaction must be an online purchase (buy online, pay in store is not supported)

Checkout for PayPal Plugin Installation

• Login to your WordPress admin dashboard
• Go to Plugins->Add New
• Enter Checkout for PayPal in the search box
• Once you find the plugin hit the install button

Option 2

• Download the zip version of the plugin
• Go to Plugins->Add New and switch to the Upload tab
• Select the zip file on your computer
• Upload and install it

Option 3

• Download the Checkout for PayPal plugin and extract the zip file
• Connect to your website via FTP (you can use a software like Filezilla to transfer files to your server) and browse to the “/wp-content/plugins” folder
• Select the folder containing the plugin files on your computer and upload it
• Once all the files have been uploaded to your web server you can activate the plugin from the Plugins menu (WordPress admin dashboard)

How to Configure Checkout for PayPal

Checkout for PayPal uses PayPal REST API to add smart payment buttons to your website. To Generate REST API credentials for the sandbox and live environments:

1. Log in to the Developer Dashboard with your PayPal account credentials.
2. On My Apps & Credentials, use the toggle to switch between live and sandbox testing apps (If you are creating a Sandbox app, you will also need to select a test business account that will act as the API caller).
3. Navigate to the REST API apps section and click Create App.
4. Type a name for your app and click Create App. The app details page opens and displays your credentials.
5. Copy and save the client ID and secret for your app.
6. Review your app details and save your app.

Log in to your WordPress admin dashboard and navigate to Checkout for PayPal > Settings.

1. Enter the Client ID for your REST API app.
2. Enter the Secret Key for your REST API app.
3. Enter the default Currency Code.
4. Enter a return page URL to which the customer will be redirected after a payment.
5. Click Save Changes.

General Settings

There are some optional settings in the General tab that you can configure to customize the Checkout experience.

Cancel URL

The default URL to which a customer will be redirected after a payment is cancelled.

Locale

The locale used to localize PayPal Checkout components. For example, fr_FR. The default is empty where PayPal detects the correct locale for the buyer based on their geolocation and browser preferences.

If you wish to customize this parameter you can find the full list here.

Load Scripts Globally

By default, checkout scripts are loaded only when a shortcode is present on a page. Enabling this option will load the scripts on every page.

Enabled Funding Sources

Funding sources that should be displayed as buttons at checkout (comma-separated format). Example:

• venmo
• venmo,credit
• venmo,credit,paylater

It is not necessary to manually specify a funding source as the eligibility is determined by PayPal automatically. However, this field can be used to ensure a funding source is always rendered, if eligible. You can find the full list of funding sources here.

Disabled Funding Sources

Funding sources that should not be displayed as buttons at checkout (comma-separated format). Example:

• card
• card,credit
• card,credit,paylater

You can find the full list of funding sources here.

Email Settings

In the email settings area, you can choose to configure some email related settings.

Email Sender Options

In this section, you can specify a From Name and From Email Address that will be used by the Checkout for PayPal plugin when sending an email. You can leave them empty to use the default.

Purchase Receipt Email

Checkout for PayPal plugin allows you to send a purchase receipt email to the customer after completion of a successful purchase. By default, this feature is disabled. In order to use this feature, you need to enable it in the settings.

You can customize the following options in the purchase receipt email,

• Purchase Receipt Email Subject: The subject line for the purchase receipt email.
• Purchase Receipt Email Type: The content type of the purchase receipt email (Plain Text/HTML).
• Purchase Receipt Email Body: The main content of the purchase receipt email. You can use various tags in the email body to dynamically change its content when it is sent.

Sale Notification Email

Checkout for PayPal plugin can send a sale notification email to your chosen recipient after completion of a successful purchase. By default, this feature is disabled. In order to use this feature, you need to enable it in the settings.

You can customize the following options in the sale notification email,

• Sale Notification Email Recipient: The email address that should receive a notification anytime a sale is made.
• Sale Notification Email Subject: The subject line for the sale notification email.
• Sale Notification Email Type: The content type of the sale notification email (Plain Text/HTML).
• Sale Notification Email Body: The main content of the sale notification email. You can use various tags in the email body to dynamically change its content when it is sent.

Email Tags

The following email tags can be used in the email body to dynamically change its content when an email is sent,

{given_name} – The customer’s given name.

{surname} – The customer’s surname.

{txn_id} – The unique transaction ID for this purchase.

{description} – The purchase description.

{currency_code} – The currency code used to make the payment.

{amount} – The total order amount.

{item_total} – The total item amount.

{payer_email} – The customer’s email address.

{shipping_name} – The customer’s shipping name.

{shipping_address} – The customer’s shipping address.

{shipping} – The shipping fee.

{phone_number} – The customer’s phone number (available only when the “Contact Telephone Number” option is enabled in your PayPal merchant account under “Account Settings > Website payments > Website preferences”). PayPal only supports national numbers at the moment.

How to Create a Smart PayPal Button

In order to create a smart payment button, you just need to insert a shortcode with a description and a price in the button parameter. The shortcode needs to be inserted into a shortcode block of the default WordPress post/page editor.

[checkout_for_paypal item_description="My item description" amount="3.99"]

If you want to use the shortcode in a custom field, the field name must be checkout-for-paypal-custom-field and the field type must be WordPress editor.

PayPal Smart Payment Button Demo

PayPal Button Customizations

Item Description

The “item_description” parameter can be added to the shortcode to pass a description of your item to PayPal. For example:

[checkout_for_paypal item_description="My item description" amount="3.99"]

Return URL

The “return_url” parameter can be added to the shortcode to redirect the customer to a specific page on your site after the payment. For example:

[checkout_for_paypal item_description="My item description" amount="3.99" return_url="https://example.com/thank-you/"]

Cancel URL

The “cancel_url” parameter can be added to the shortcode to redirect the customer to a specific page on your site when the payment is cancelled. For example:

[checkout_for_paypal item_description="My item description" amount="3.99" cancel_url="https://example.com/payment-cancelled/"]

Shipping Preference

The “shipping_preference” parameter can be added to specify the location from which the shipping address is derived. For example:

[checkout_for_paypal item_description="My item description" amount="3.99" shipping_preference="NO_SHIPPING"]

The default is GET_FROM_FILE.

Button Layout

The “layout” parameter can be added to the shortcode to change the layout of the PayPal button to horizontal. The default is vertical. For example:

[checkout_for_paypal item_description="My item description" amount="3.99" layout="horizontal"]

The horizontal layout shows a maximum of two buttons.

Button Color

The “color” parameter can be added to the shortcode to change the color of the PayPal button to blue, silver, white or black. The default is gold. For example:

[checkout_for_paypal item_description="My item description" amount="3.99" color="blue"]

Button Shape

The “shape” parameter can be added to the shortcode to change the shape of the PayPal button to pill. The default is rect. For example:

[checkout_for_paypal item_description="My item description" amount="3.99" shape="pill"]

Button Size

The “width” parameter can be added to the shortcode to change the width of the PayPal button. The default is 300px. For example:

[checkout_for_paypal item_description="My item description" amount="3.99" width="500"]

Shipping

If you wish to charge a shipping fee for the item you can use the “shipping” parameter in the shortcode. For example:

[checkout_for_paypal item_description="My item description" amount="3.99" shipping="1.50"]

Manage PayPal Orders

When you receive a new order through PayPal checkout it will appear in the Orders menu. You can then ship the goods to finalize it.

Checkout for PayPal Add-ons

Checkout for PayPal plugin comes with an add-on that you can use to enhance its functionality on your website.

Variable Price

Variable Price add-on lets buyers set the amount they will pay. It can also be used for accepting donation payments.

Dynamic Buttons

Dynamic Buttons add-on lets you render a different button based on the parameters set in the URL.

Contact Form 7 Integration

Contact Form 7 Integration add-on lets you accept PayPal payments with the Contact Form 7 plugin.