Payment Gateway Plugin for PayPal WooCommerce – Setup Guide

The Payment Gateway Plugin for PayPal WooCommerce empowers online store owners using WooCommerce to integrate secure payment processing into their websites effortlessly. This guide will walk you through the entire setup and configuration of Payment Gateway Plugin for PayPal WooCommerce in your WooCommerce site.

• Checkout through PayPal Smart Buttons or Express Buttons.
• Wide range of customization for PayPal Smart Payment Buttons.
• Auto-detects customer’s country and displays available payment.
• Swiftly checkout with the PayPal Express Button, utilizing stored shipping and funding info from the user’s PayPal account.

Once the plugin is installed and activated:

• From the WordPress dashboard, navigate to WooCommerce > Settings > Payments > PayPal Express.
• Click on the Manage button.

• Alternatively, from the WordPress dashboard, navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins > Payment Gateway Plugin for PayPal WooCommerce > Settings.

With the plugin, you can accept PayPal payments in two ways:

Payment types	Steps to set up
PayPal Smart Buttons	Enable the PayPal Payment Gateway and Smart Button Input the PayPal Client ID and Secret credentials Customize the Smart Buttons Save Settings
PayPal Express Buttons	Enable the PayPal Payment Gateway and Express Button Input the PayPal API credentials Save Settings

PayPal Smart Payment Buttons are rendered using the PayPal API. It allows customizing the smart buttons in different ways. The alternative payment methods accept payments by using local funding sources based on the country.

Using PayPal’s Smart Button, you can accept payment from customers using multiple Alternative Payment Methods (APM). With Alternative payment methods, customers can pay with their bank accounts, wallets, and other local payment methods based on country or device such as:

• Bancontact
• BLIK
• eps
• giropay
• iDEAL
• MyBank
• Pay upon Invoice
• Przelewy24
• SOFORT

To use the WooCommerce PayPal Smart Payment Button, it is required to have a PayPal business account. You can open Live or Sandbox accounts free of cost. 

Get Client ID and Secret from your PayPal account.

Here you get the credentials to register your site’s webhook with PayPal and receive WooCommerce order status updates.

PayPal Webhook URL: This section displays the webhook URL of your site. Use this URL to register your site’s webhook with PayPal. To register a site’s webhook with PayPal, navigate to PayPal Developer Dashboard > Apps & Credentials > Preferred App > Live/Sandbox Webhooks > Add webhook. Here input the PayPal webhook URL and select the event types. To get a detailed idea, refer to this article.

PayPal Webhook ID: Upon registering the site’s webhook with PayPal, you’ll get a webhook ID. Input the PayPal webhook ID here.

• Title – Title for the payment gateway displayed at the checkout.
• Description – Description of the payment gateway displayed at the checkout.

The following are the available customization options:

• Show Smart button on – List available pages where you can display the smart button. The available options are:
  • Crat page
  • Checkout page
• Description – Text displayed above the Smart button.

• Size – Lists the available button size for the Smart button. Available options are:

• Button labels – list of predefined labels from PayPal to appear as Button labels. The available options are PayPal, Buy Now, Pay, and Checkout.

• Tagline – Choose to show or hide the tagline. Note: The Tagline will be hidden for the Vertical layout.

• Button color – Lists available color options for the Smart button. Available options are Gold, Blue, Silver, White, and Black.

• Shape – Lists available shape options for the Smart button. Avaialble options are Pill or Rect.

• Layout – List available layout options for the Smart button.

• Disable a funding source – List available payment options in your PayPal account. The selected payment option will be disabled. Note: The funding sources are shown on the checkout based on country or device type.

When you integrate the PayPal Express Checkout Button, your buyers can quickly checkout using the shipping information and funding source already stored in their PayPal accounts. They don’t have to re-type any information— saving them time and reducing shopping cart abandonment.

To use the WooCommerce PayPal Express Checkout Button, it is required to have a PayPal business account. You can open Live or Sandbox accounts free of cost. 

Get API Username, API Password, and API Signature from your PayPal Business Account.

Following are the customization options:

• Show Express button on – List of pages where you can display the PayPal Express button.
• Show Express Credit button on – Displays a PayPal Express Credit button on selected pages. By using PayPal Credit, store owners will receive the payment upfront but customers can opt for financing and pay over time.

The express button on the cart page will appear as shown below:

The express button on the product page will appear as shown below. The buyer can checkout directly from the product page. Clicking the Checkout with the PayPal button/ PayPal Credit will redirect the buyer to the PayPal site.

• Description – The text displayed above the PayPal Express button.
• Type of Checkout – Select the type of PayPal checkout type. The available options are as given below:
  • Redirect to PayPal – Choose ‘Redirect to PayPal’ to open PayPal in the same window from the cart or checkout page.
  • In-Context Flow PayPal –   Choose ‘in-context flow’ to open PayPal in a new window from the cart or checkout page. In a in-Context flow.
    • Once the customer click the Checkout with PayPal button.
    • The PayPal popup window appears as shown below.
    • The customer will have to enter the PayPal login credentials and pay the order amount.  

• Button Settings:
  • Position – List available positions of  PayPal Express/Credit Card checkout buttons. The available options are:
    • Above – Displays PayPal Express/Credit Card checkout buttons above Add to Cart (Product page checkout) or Proceed to Checkout (Cart page checkout).
    • Below – Displays PayPal Express/Credit Card checkout buttons below Add to Cart (Product page checkout) or Proceed to Checkout (Cart page checkout).
  • Size -Button size for PayPal Express/Credit Card  Button according to your choice. The available options are as given below:
    • Small
    • Medium
    • Large
• Style – Style of PayPal Express/Credit ard checkout buttons from the dropdown list. The available options are as given below:
  • PayPal Style – Displays PayPal Express/Credit Card checkout buttons in PayPal style.
  • WooCommerce Style – Displays PayPal Express/Credit Card checkout buttons in WooCommerce style i.e. same style as Add to Cart / Proceed to Checkout.

Finally, Save the settings.

Set your brand identity at the PayPal end by giving a brand name, logo, banner etc. It will be visible for customers on the PayPal site on choosing to pay via PayPal.

The settings are as shown below:

• Brand name – Store name to display at the PayPal end.
• Landing page: Redirects customers to the chosen page. By default, redirected to the billing page.
• Logo(190×90): Upload a company logo that will appear on the PayPal end. Image requires an SSL host.
• Header(750×90): Upload a header image that will appear on the PayPal end. Image requires an SSL host.
• PayPal locale:
  • Use Store Locale: Choose to set the PayPal locale the same as the store locale.
  • Use Specific Locale: Choose to set a different locale other than store locale for the PayPal locale. (Drop down lists down the languages supported by PayPal)

The logo will appear at the PayPal end as shown below:

• Instant payment – Disable to allow buyers to use funding sources that take additional time to complete (e.g. eChecks). Keep the option in the enabled state, to accept payments via instant transfer, credit/debit card, or PayPal Credit.

• Payment action –
  • Sale – captures funds immediately.
  • Authorize – verifies the availability of funds, and captures the payment later. The shop owner can capture payment from the individual WooCommerce order page. From the PayPal Express Action box, the shop owner/admin can capture the payment.

• Authorize or Capture payment from the order page – You can place a hold on a card to reserve funds now but only capture them after your business completes the service. For example, a hotel may want to authorize payment in full prior to a guest’s arrival, then move the money when the guest checks out.

When a payment is authorized, the funds are guaranteed by the card issuer and the amount is held on the customer’s card for up to seven days. If the payment is not captured within this time, the PaymentIntent and authorization are both canceled and funds are released.

The store admin can capture the payment from WooCommerce > Orders > Individual Order. The Order page appears as shown below:

Under the PayPal Express Action box, Click Capture to get the order payment. On capture, the payment for the order will be received successfully.

• Invoice Prefix – Enter an invoice prefix to identify transactions from your site. Suppose, you have added Extensionhawk_ in this field, then the Invoice Number will be Extensionhawk_12098.

• Address override – Enabling will prevent the checkout address from being changed at the PayPal end. It will affect express checkout and PayPal will strictly verify the address.

• Shipping details – Enable to send shipping details to PayPal instead of billing. PayPal allows us to send only one among shipping/billing addresses. We advise you to validate PayPal Seller protection to send shipping details to PayPal.

• On payment cancel – Canceling express payment will redirect customers to the chosen page.
  • Back to Proceeding Page: Directs the customer to the page from where the customer navigated to PayPal.
  • Redirect to Custom Page: Directs the customer to customize the page from PayPal. Enter the URL of the customized page in the Cancel Redirect Page URL field.

• Skip review page – Enable to skip the review page and move to the site directly. The plugin provides you an option to review the order before completion of the order. On the review page, the customer gets the option to place or cancel the order. The setting is as shown below:

• Seller Policy: This field appears if you do not skip the Review page.  Enter Seller Policy or any customized text which you want to display on the Review page for the customer.
  • On placing an order, the buyer is directed to Review Page of Order ( if not skipped in Admin settings) as shown below.
  • The buyer can Place / Cancel the order by clicking the respective buttons.

Records PayPal payment transactions into WooCommerce status log

• Log: Enable to record PayPal payment transactions in a log file.

Finally, click Save changes to save/update the plugin settings.

This way the customer can place the order by paying through PayPal securely. For more details on the plugin, check out our PayPal Express Checkout Payment Gateway for WooCommerce.