[CouponReach] PayPal + Vouchers: A Complete Guide to Setup, Recipients, and Recurring Billing
Managing payments efficiently is key to a successful voucher campaign. By integrating PayPal, you can quickly collect and manage payments directly through your voucher, speeding up the entire process.
This guide walks you through the essential steps covered in our video tutorials: connecting the main payment gateway, setting up recurring subscription payments, and configuring a recipient account for testing payouts.
Integrating the PayPal Payment Gateway
This initial setup connects your business credentials, allowing you to accept payments through your voucher campaign.
Step-by-Step Integration
1. Access Voucher Properties: Ensure you have a voucher campaign already created. From your campaign list, click the actions button next to the desired campaign and navigate to properties.
2. Select Payment Settings: Open the voucher settings tab and choose payment settings.
3. Choose PayPal: Under "payment gateway," select PayPal from the available options.
4. Log in to Developer Dashboard: Go to developer.paypal.com and log in using your standard PayPal business credentials, or sign up for a new account if needed
(a separate developer account is not required)
5. Create or Select an App: Once in the dashboard, click on app and credentials. You can use an existing app, such as the default application, or click on create app.
6. Configure the App: Give the app an identifiable name. Choose the app type (for most cases, select merchant if the payments are directed to your business).
For this tutorial we chose the associated sandbox business account and click create app.
7. Copy Credentials: After creation, you will be taken to a page displaying your app credentials. Copy the client ID and secret key shown on that screen.
8. Paste and Configure Mode: Return to your voucher payment settings and paste the client ID and secret key into the provided fields.
Toggle the payment mode: set it to sandbox for testing or switch to live when you are ready to accept real payments.
9. Save: Don't forget to save your settings. Your PayPal payment gateway is now connected and ready.
Setting up PayPal Recurring Payments
This feature allows you to offer your vouchers as subscriptions, automatically charging users on a set interval.
Configuring Subscriptions and Webhooks
1. Set Payment Type: Go to your voucher payment settings. Scroll down and set the payment type to recurring.
2. Choose Interval: Select your preferred recurring type, such as weekly or monthly, or any other available option.
3. Connect Webhook: To finalize this setup, you must connect a webhook from your PayPal developer account. Click the PayPal developer dashboard link provided in the help text to open the correct page.
4. Add Webhook: Select the app that contains your saved client ID and secret key. Scroll down to the web hook section and click add web hook.
5. Paste URL: Go back to your voucher's help text and copy the web hook URL. Paste that URL into the field provided in the PayPal webhook setup.
6. Select Event Type: Under the event types section, expand payments and payout and select payment sale completed.
7. Finalize: Click save to register the web hook. Then, return to your voucher payment settings and hit save again to finalize the setup.
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Your recurring payment system is now active and will automatically bill users based on your chosen settings.
Configuring the PayPal Recipient Account for Payout Testing
The PayPal recipient section defines which PayPal account receives payouts from your voucher sales. While usable with live credentials, the focus here is setting up a sandbox test account to simulate payouts and verify the process before going live.
Setting up the Sandbox Recipient
1. Ensure Sandbox Mode: Before starting, verify that your main PayPal credentials in the payment settings are set to sandbox mode. This ensures that all testing activity is simulated and does not involve real funds.
2. Select Recipient Type: From your vouchers payment settings, select the PayPal recipient type, choosing either email or phone.
3. Create Sandbox Account: Go to developer.paypal.com and log in. In your developer PayPal dashboard, hover over testing tools and click on sandbox accounts.
4. Configure Account Details: Click create account. Select business as the account type and hit create.
5. Copy Recipient Info: Select the newly created sandbox account by clicking its name. From the accounts information page, copy the email address or phone number that you intend to use as the recipient. (Note: On this page, you can also change the email, password, or merchant name).
6. Set Commission and Payout Schedule: Go back to your voucher payment settings and paste the copied email or phone number into the recipient field.
7. Set Admin Commission: Set your admin commission, choosing between percentage or fixed amount, and input the value.
8. Set Payout Schedule: Below that, set the payout schedule by selecting options from the "send payments to merchant by" dropdown.
9. Save: Click save.
You have successfully set up a test PayPal recipient, allowing you to simulate payouts and confirm your system works as expected.
