PayPal Express Checkout is a more advanced version of the standard PayPal payment option that is included with WooCommerce.
It has more features included with it and allows us to more tightly integrate PayPal into WooCommerce. This makes it the recommended method to add PayPal payments in WooCommerce for a variety of reasons.
Setup Steps
1. Navigate to WooCommerce -> Settings
WordPress Admin Panel -> WooCommerce -> Settings
2. Click on the Payments tab.
WooCommerce ->Settings -> Payments
4. Set each option according to your needs.
Enable / Disable
Check this box to enable the payment gateway. Leave unchecked to disable it.
Title
This controls the label the user will see for this payment option during checkout.
Description
This controls the description the user will see for this payment option during checkout.
Sandbox API Username, Password, Signature
You may enter these values if you wish to run test transactions with the PayPal Sandbox.
To do this you will need to setup a PayPal developer account and then create a sandbox seller and buyer account to test with.
Once you have created a sandbox account you may login to this tool using the sandbox account to obtain your PayPal sandbox account API credentials.
Live API Username, Password, Signature
You will need to populate these values with the API credentials provided by your live PayPal account.
You may login to this tool with your PayPal account to quickly obtain these values.
PayPal Sandbox
Check this box to enable test mode so that all transactions will hit PayPal’s sandbox server instead of the live server. This should only be used during development as no real transactions will occur when this is enabled.
Error Email Notifications
Check this box to receive email notifications to the WordPress admin user account when PayPal API errors occur. The notification email will include the PayPal error code and message details.
Invoice ID Prefix
This allows you to set a value to be used as the prefix on invoice IDs generated by WooCommerce.
This can help to resolve duplicate invoice issues that may arise if you’re using PayPal Express Checkout on multiple websites where the same invoice IDs can get used. A prefix is required to avoid declined payments when this happens.
Order Review Page Title
- Set the Page Title value you would like used on the PayPal Express Checkout order review page.
Checkout Button Type
- PayPal Image – Displays the “Checkout with PayPal” graphic that PayPal provides.
- Text Button – Displays a basic text button (based on your theme) with the custom message entered.
- Custom Text – The value entered here will show up on the checkout button when Text Button is enabled.
- Custom Text – The value entered here will show up on the checkout button when Text Button is enabled.
- Custom Image – Displays a custom image that you choose from your media library or upload.
Cart Page
Check this box to display the Express Checkout / PayPal Credit options on the shopping cart page. This allows buyers to skip filling out the forms and helps increase conversion rates.
Minicart
Check this box to enable the PayPal Express Checkout button(s) in the mini-cart display often placed in the sidebar of design themes.
Cart Button Position
Adjust where you would like the PayPal Express Checkout buttons to be displayed on your shopping cart page (if enabled). Choices are above the cart details, below the cart details, or both.
Checkout Page Display
This option allows you to set how you would like to handle PayPal Express Checkout on your WooCommerce checkout page.
- One of the benefits of Express Checkout is that buyers do not have to fill out checkout forms on your site. This can lead to increased conversion rates and more sales.
- As such, it’s recommended that you include the PayPal Express Checkout option at the top of your checkout page.
- You may also add it to the general list of gateways that WooCommerce has enabled, display it both at the top of the page and in the general list, or disable it entirely (which, of course, is not recommended.)
Product Page
Check this box to display a PayPal Express Checkout button (based on your Checkout Button Type option) on your product details pages. This allows user to skip straight to PayPal payment when they want to buy a particular product and can increase conversion rate.
WooCommerce PayPal Express Checkout on Product Detail Page
PayPal Account Optional
If your PayPal account is setup with PayPal Account Optional enabled (available in your PayPal account profile) then setting this option here will provide a better checkout flow for non-PayPal users. It will be more obvious that you do not need a PayPal account in order to complete payment, and this will typically increase conversion rates.
Landing Page
Used in conjunction with the PayPal Account Optional setting, you can choose which type of page the user should see by default when they reach the PayPal login.
- Login – This will make the PayPal login option the default option.
- Billing – This will make the full credit card form the default option and is more obvious to non-PayPal users that they can pay you without creating an account.
WooCommerce PayPal Express Checkout Choose a Way to Pay
Error Display Type
Set this to show or hide details about errors from buyers.
Generic – Displays general errors that do not reveal details and helps to prevent fraudulant activity on your site.
Detailed – Displays actual errors returned from PayPal.
Enable PayPal Credit
Check this box to enable the PayPal Credit payment option to show up next to the regular Express Checkout option. This allows you to offer financing to your buyers and can not only increase conversion rate, but also increase the avg. price per order.
- Note: Financing through PayPal Credit is still available when buyers checkout using the Express Checkout button, but it’s simply not as prominent.
WooCommerce PayPal Credit Express Checkout
Use WordPress Locale Code
Enable this option to pass the WPLANG value (set in your wp-config.php file) as a locale code in the PayPal payment requests. If PayPal supports the locale code passed, the PayPal Express Checkout review pages will be translated to the local language for that locale code.
- This can sometimes lead to problems where PayPal’s checkout system sends users to a Nigerian checkout even though that doesn’t match your locale code. If this is happening to you, simply uncheck the box to disable this feature and that should eliminate your problem.
Page Style
If you have configured a Custom Page Style template within your PayPal account profile you may set the Page Style Name here and it will be used during checkout.
Brand Name
This controls what users will see for the brand / company name on PayPal review pages.
PayPal Express Checkout Brand Name
PayPal Checkout Logo (190x60)
Here you may add the URL of an image you would like to display as the logo on the PayPal Express Checkout pages.
- If you have “Force Secure Checkout” enabled in WooCommerce, which means you must have a valid SSL certificate installed on your site, then you will be able to simply upload an image using the WordPress media manager.
- If you do not have an SSL certificate for your site you may upload your image to any SSL image service and simply copy/paste the URL here. We recommend SSLpic for this service.
PayPal Checkout Banner (750x90)
Here you may add the URL of an image you would to display in the header / banner section of the PayPal Express Checkout pages.
- If you have “Force Secure Checkout” enabled in WooCommerce, which means you must have a valid SSL certificate installed on your site, then you will be able to simply upload an image using the WordPress media manager.
- If you do not have an SSL certificate for your site you may upload your image to any SSL image service and simply copy/paste the URL here. We recommend SSLpic for this service.
Customer Service Number
This controls what users see for your customer service phone number on PayPal review pages.
Credit Card Statement Name
Set a value here to customize the name buyers will see on their credit card statement when using Guest Checkout or logging in and paying with a credit card as their funding source.
Express Checkout Message
Skip Final Review
Enable this option to eliminate the additional review page that happens when PayPal returns a user to your site.
- The checkout system does not know the buyer’s shipping address until after they have signed in to PayPal. Once they are returned to your site, shipping and tax are calculated based on the shipping address returned by PayPal, and a final review page is displayed to break down the final totals for the buyer prior to completing the order.
- If you are selling products that do not require shipping and/or tax, you may decide to skip this final review page so that users will complete their payment on the PayPal pages. With this option enabled, PayPal will redirect the users back to your final “checkout complete” page instead of a review page, and there will be no further action required to complete the payment.
Payment Action
This allows you to adjust how you want to process the original transaction.
- Sale – This option will immediately capture the funds and move the money into your PayPal account.
- Authorization – This will authorize the funds for the transaction on the buyer’s account, but it will not actually capture the funds and move any money into your account.
- When you are ready you may capture the funds for the authorized order from the WooCommerce order screen.
- NOTE: For more details see our WooCommerce PayPal Authorize and Capture documentation.
Billing Address
When a buyer uses PayPal Express Checkout from a product page or the shopping cart page on your site, the application does not know what their address is because they are skipping the checkout page.
In these cases, PayPal returns a shipping address back to the site, and by default, this is the only address that gets saved with the WooCommerce order. The billing address gets left blank.
Enable this option if you would like the WooCommerce order to populate the billing address using the same address that PayPal returns for shipping.
Cancel Page
Send Item Details
Enable this option to include line item details in the PayPal payment request. Doing this will include the details in the PayPal transaction details so that they show up in the PayPal account.
PayPal Express Checkout Line Items
Enable Tokenized Payments
Enable this option to give buyers the ability to save their payment method for future reference so that they can checkout more quickly. With the payment method saved, next time they buy something on your site they will be able to select the saved payment method and checkout instantly without going through any PayPal logins.
Important Note
In order to utilize token payments with Express Checkout you need to contact PayPal and ask them to enable Billing Agreements on your account. Token payments will not work correctly until this step has been completed and verified by PayPal!
Enable PayPal IPN
By default, if IPN is enabled in your PayPal account profile the data will be sent to the URL specified there. If you would like to override this value so that IPNs from this site are sent to a different URL then you can set that URL here.
Prevent Adding Extra Item
If you have enabled the Express Checkout button on product pages, then the default action when the PayPal button is pushed is to add one unit of the product to the cart and then trigger the redirect to PayPal. In most cases this works just fine for buyers.
Sometimes, though, buyers may add a unit to the cart, continue browsing the site, and then later come back to the same product page and click the PayPal button to checkout. In this case the cart would end up with two units. If you find that many of your buyers are running this and causing confusion then you can enable this option so that the buyer will be sent to PayPal without adding an additional unit to the cart before-hand.
Save Abandoned Checkouts
When a buyer chooses to pay with PayPal Express Checkout they are redirected to PayPal where they can login, review the order, and are then returned back to your site.*
The order in WooCommerce is not created until after the buyer returns. As such, if they never do return from PayPal for any reason you would lose track of this lost sale. Enable this option to have orders created in WooCommerce prior to sending them to PayPal so that the Pending order will be saved in WooCommerce even if the buyer doesn’t make it back from PayPal.
* Note that if you have In-Context enabled, no redirection will occur, so this option becomes obsolete.
Enable In-Context
By default, when buyers click the PayPal Express Checkout button for payment they are redirected to PayPal where they can login, review the order, and are then returned back to your website for final review and payment confirmation.
The In-Context feature will open the PayPal login and checkout screens within a pop-up that sits on top of your site, so no redirection takes place. This can make the buyer feel more “at home” when completing their purchase, and could potentially lead to increased conversion rates on your site.
Debug
Enable this option to create logs of all PayPal payment requests. These logs will be available under WooCommerce -> Status -> Logs, and can prove useful when troubleshooting issues.
Smart Buttons
Smart Buttons are PayPal hosted buttons that provide lots of features and functionality.
See our guide on using Smart Buttons for more details.
PayPal Marketing Solutions
PayPal Marketing Solutions adds a JavaScript snippet to your site that tracks buyer behavior and provides reports that you can use to study product trends and growth on your site. The feature also adds PayPal Credit banners to your website so that buyers know benefits like “6 Months Same as Cash” are available, which can lead to increased conversion rates as well as increased avg. order amount on your site.
PayPal Credit Banner
WooCommerce PayPal Marketing Solutions Credit Banner Displayed
Manage Settings / View Shopper Insights
After activating PayPal marketing solutions you will see buttons for Manage Settings and View Shopper Insights. Click Manage Settings and login with your PayPal account to switch individual features On or Off:
Toggle features like Shopper Insights and Smart Incentives On/Off.
The View Shopper Insights button will send you directly to the Analytics page in your PayPal account.
5. Click the Save Changes button to submit your changes.
6. Configure Product Level Settings
Some features of the PayPal Express Checkout integration included in PayPal for WooCommerce are specific to the product level.
Need Additional Help?
Schedule a live meeting with Drew Angell, PayPal Certified Developer, and get all of your questions or concerns answered.
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hi, Angell Eye
I am using “woo commerce PayPal check out gateway” plugin there’s an issue
it shows this error:
“Don’t see the secure PayPal browser? We’ll help you re-launch the window to complete the purchase”, And then disappears and nothing happens. I am using version 2.0.3
That’s an old version. We are on v2.3.6 now. I’m not sure if that will fix it, but that’s the first thing I would try. Make sure you have our Updater installed in order to receive updates.
When I click https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_login-api-run to Create an API Username, Password and Signature there is an error. Can you please update your knowledgebase article for setting this up?
Hi. It’s still loading okay from what I can see. What error are you getting? It could be an account specific issue.
Hi,
i am paypal for woo-commerce plugin with CheckoutWC plugin, but there are 1 issue, after finishing pay,ent with paypal when we try to place order its send back to cart page. please suggest.
I am not seeing any other reports of this. Please submit a ticket to our help desk and provide temporary login credentials so we can take a closer look.
Hi, I’ve checked the single product buttons options, but the buttons doesn’t appear on my single product page, whereas it appears on cart and checkout page
Hi Kelvin,
I apologize for the delay replying here. For future reference, it’s best to submit a ticket to our help desk at https://angelleye.com/support
There are product level options for enabling/disabling the PayPal buttons as well. You can adjust this for multiple products at once using our Bulk Update tool located under Settings -> PayPal for WooCommerce -> Tools Tab.
Let me know if you have any questions or concerns about that.
Thanks!