Shopify lets you set up your online store where you can sell your products easily. However, the process of setting up your PayPal store is not that straightforward. The main problem arises when setting up a payment gateway for your store.

PayPal is the default payment gateway of Shopify; you can accept payments from your customers using Shopify. PayPal reduces the risk of fraud when accepting payments and gives a convenient payment option to your customers.

But how to use PayPal with Shopify? Even though PayPal is the default payment platform for Shopify, you will have to manually set it up before accepting payments. This can often be difficult for some users. If you are facing issues with it, then this article will guide you on how you can use PayPal with Shopify. 

Requirements to Use PayPal with Shopify

There are a few requirements that you must fulfill before you can use PayPal with Shopify, including-

• You must have a Shopify Store ready.
• You need to have a business PayPal account. If you have a personal PayPal account then you can upgrade it to the business account, or make a new account with the same email used on your Shopify Store.

Steps to Use Shopify with PayPal

Shopify has its payment gateway option, but many store owners consider the PayPal way to go. Having PayPal increases the rate of purchase, so it’s beneficial for both the store owner and the customer. The steps given below will guide you on how you can use Shopify with PayPal. 

1. Setup PayPal with Shopify

The first part of the process is to set up a PayPal account with Shopify. The steps given below will guide you through it-

• Head to the Shopify official website, and log in to your account. 
• On the dashboard, head to the Settings section. 
• Now, click on the Payments option here. 
• You will see a Setup Incomplete button under the Additional Payment Methods section; click on it. 
• After this, you will now have to enter the email address and then click on Next. 
• You will be asked to enter your PayPal password. Enter the correct password, and click the Next button. 
• On the next page, you will be asked to enter the details of your business. Enter the required details that you are required to. 
• Next, will be the policy page. Click on Agree and Create Account to agree to the policy and continue. 
• On the next page, click on the drop-down menu and select your business type. 
• After this, enter all the details you are asked related to your business and click on Next. 
• The Tell Us More About You page will open up. On this page, enter your details, and then click on Submit. 
• Now, click on Go Back to Shopify button.

This will integrate PayPal with Shopify. Once you are done with the above steps, you can make a transaction to your Shopify store via PayPal to check whether the integration is successful or not.

2. Allow Customers to Pay Without a PayPal Account

Even though you have set up PayPal on your Shopify store using the previous method, the process is not complete yet.

The previous steps let you set up PayPal Express, but there’s a limitation to that. Customers can only pay on your Shopify Store if they have a PayPal account or they will have to make one. 

You will have to make the mode of payment flexible for the customers, i.e., customers should be able to pay at the store even if they don’t have a PayPal account. The steps given below will guide you on how you can do that-

• On your browser, open the PayPal website. 
• You will be asked to enter your account credentials to sign into your account. Once done, click on Log In. 

• In PayPal’s dashboard, click on your Gear icon at the top right corner.
• From the menu that opens up, click on Account Settings. 
• Head to the Website Payments tab from the left menu. 
• On the right side, click on the Update button next to Website Preferences.

• Turn on the PayPal Account Optional option. 

This will allow customers to pay on your store even if they don’t have a PayPal account.

3. Add Phone Numbers for PayPal Express Checkout

The Shopify order detail may not have the customer’s phone number. For some orders, you may require customers to add a phone number for the PayPal Express Checkout. You can change these settings by following the steps given below-

• Head to PayPal on your browser.
• Click on the Gear icon at the top right corner, and then on Account Settings from the menu that opens. 
• On the left pane, click on the Website Payments tab. 
• Search for the Website Preferences option, and click on the Update button next to it.
• Scroll down to the Contact Telephone Number and select either of the given options-
  • On (Optional Field)– Does not make it compulsory for the customers to add their phone number.
  • On (Required Field)– Customers will have to add their phone number during checkout. 
  • Off– Customers won’t see the phone number field on the checkout page.

4. Use Automatic Billing on PayPal

If your store works around a subscription model, i.e., you are selling subscription-based services, then you will want your customers to be billed automatically when their subscription ends.

If you want the customers to be billed automatically after some time, then the customer must agree to the billing agreement. 

However, to offer billing agreements to the customers you need PayPal’s approval for Reference Transactions. Once you have this, the customers can agree to the agreements and they will be charged automatically. 

But what if the Reference transaction is not approved? Well, PayPal automatically approves the reference transaction once they detect you have been making a lot of transactions from your account.

But for some reason, if the reference transaction is not approved, then Shopify will hide PayPal as the payment method for subscription-based services. 

Customers will only see PayPal as the method of checkout if they are using some post-purchase upsell app, or if the product is not subscription-based.

You can head to the Payments page on Shopify to check whether the Reference Transaction is approved or not.

5. Test PayPal

Once you are done with the setup process as mentioned above, it’s time to check the integration of PayPal with Shopify. For this, you can buy something from your store and make payment through PayPal.

Be sure to use some other PayPal account and not the one that is already integrated with Shopify. If the order was successfully placed and you got the money on your PayPal account then the above method was successful. 

Bottom Line

If you are using Shopify for the first time then you may find it difficult to integrate PayPal with Shopify. Worry not, this article will guide you on how you can use PayPal with Shopify.

Follow the steps mentioned in the article above to integrate PayPal into your Shopify store and use it as the checkout method.