Setting Up PayPal Express Checkout

Choosing Express Checkout allows you to add the familiar PayPal button to your website, which according to a recent survey, can increase sales up to 26%.* PayPal Express Checkout gives you the ability to accept payment by either credit card or from the PayPal account of your customer.  If you already accept credit cards online, you can offer Express Checkout as an additional option to attract new customers who prefer to pay with PayPal.

During checkout, the customer is redirected to the secure PayPal site to complete the payment information. The customer is then returned to your store to complete the remainder of the checkout process. Customers with current PayPal accounts can make a purchase in a single step, by clicking the “Check out with PayPal” button. Express Checkout can be added as a standalone, or added to an existing PayPal solution.

The setup includes the following steps:

• Step 1: Complete the Required Settings
• Step 2: Complete the Basic Settings
• Step 3: Complete the Advanced Settings

Step 1: Complete the Required Settings

You can have two PayPal solutions active at the same time:  Express Checkout, plus any All-In-One solution. If you enable a different solution, the one you used previously will be automatically deactivated.

1. From the Admin panel, select System > Configuration.
2. In the Configuration panel on the left, under Sales, select Payment Methods.
3. In the Merchant Location section, enter the Merchant Country where your business is located. If you leave this field blank, the default country from your store configuration is used.
4. Scroll down to the PayPal Express Checkout section, and click the Configure button.
   
   Configure Express Checkout
5. In the Express Checkout section, do the following:
   
   1. Enter the email address to be used for sending PayPal payments.
   2. Do one of the following:
      
      • If you do not yet have a PayPal account, click Create an Account.
      • If you already have a PayPal account, click Grant Permission to use your account with Magento Go.  You will be redirected to the PayPal site, and required to log in to your account. (Any unsaved configuration settings you have made will be lost.) After completing the permission process, you will be returned to your store, so you can continue with the configuration.
6. Set Enable this Solution to “Yes.”

Enable Express Checkout

You have now completed the Required PayPal Settings. At this point, you can either continue with the Basic and Advanced Settings, or click the Save Config button. You can always come back later to fine-tune the configuration.

Step 2: Complete the Basic Settings

1. If your store has multiple views, make sure to set Current Configuration Scope box in the upper-left corner to the view where the configuration applies.
2. In the Basic Settings – PayPal Express Checkout section, do the following:
   
   1. Enter a Title to identify this payment method during checkout. It is recommended to set the title to, “PayPal” for each store view.
   2. If you offer multiple payment methods, enter a Sort Order number to determine the sequence in which Payments Standard is listed with the other methods. Payment methods appear in ascending order based on the Sort Order value.
   3. Set Payment Action to one of the following:
      
      • Authorization: Approves the purchase and puts a hold on the funds, but the amount is not withdrawn from the customer’s account until it is “captured” by the merchant.
      • Sale: The amount of the purchase is authorized and withdrawn from the customer’s account at the same time.
   4. To display the “Check out with PayPal” button on the Shopping Basket page, set PayPal Shortcut on Shopping Cart (Basket) to “Yes.”
   5. To display the “Check out with PayPal” button on the Product Detail page, set Shortcut on Product View to “Yes.”
   
   PayPal Express Checkout Basic Settings

Step 3: Complete the Advanced Settings

1. At the bottom of the Basic Settings section, click Advanced Settings. Then, do the following:
   
   1. Set Payment Applicable from to one of the following:
      
      • All Allowed Countries: Accepts payment from the countries already specified in your configuration.
      • Specific Countries: Accepts payments from only the countries you specify.  Hold the Ctrl key down, and click the name of each country where you accept payment.
   2. To display a full summary of the customer‘s order by line item from the PayPal site, set Transfer Cart Line Items to “Yes.”
      To include up to ten delivery options in the summary, set Transfer Delivery Options to “Yes.” (This option appears only if line items are set to transfer.)
   3. To choose the type of image that is used for the PayPal acceptance button, set Shortcut Button Flavor to one of the following
      
      • Dynamic: (Recommended) Displays an image that can be dynamically changed from the PayPal server.
      • Static: Displays a specific image that cannot be dynamically changed.
   4. To let customers who do not have PayPal accounts make purchases with this method, set Enable PayPal Guest Checkout to “Yes.”
2. Complete the following sections, as needed for your store:
   
   • Settlement Report Settings
   • Frontend Experience Settings
3. When complete, click the Save Config button.

PayPal Express Checkout Advanced Settings

Settlement Report Settings

1. If you have signed up for PayPal’s Secure FTP Server, enter the following SFTP login credentials:
   • Login
   • Password
2. To run test reports before “going live,” with Express Checkout on your site, set Sandbox Mode to “Yes.”
3. Enter the Custom Endpoint Hostname or IP-Address. By default, the value is: reports.paypal.com
4. Enter the Custom Path where reports are saved. By default, the value is: /ppreports/outgoing
5. To generate reports according to schedule, under Scheduled Fetching, make the following settings:
   
   1. Set Enable Automatic Fetching to “Yes.”
   2. Set Schedule to one of the following:
      
   • Daily
   • Every 3 Days
   • Every 7 Days
   • Every 10 Days
   • Every 14 Days
   • Every 30 Days
   • Every 40 Days

   PayPal retains each report for forty-five days.

6. Set Time of Day to the hour, minute, and second when you want the reports to be generated.

PayPal Settlement Report Settings

Frontend Experience Settings

1. Select the PayPal Product Logo that you want to appear in the PayPal block in your store. The PayPal logos are available in four styles and two sizes. Options include:
   
   • No Logo
   • We Prefer PayPal (150 x 60 or 150 x 40)
   • Now Accepting PayPal (150 x 60 or 150 x 40)
   • Payments by PayPal (150 x 60 or 150 x 40)
   • Shop Now Using PayPal (150 x 60 or 150 x 40)

   Tip: Use the Layout Editor to control the placement of the PayPal block in your store. It can be set to appear in the sidebar of your Home and catalog pages.

2. To customize the appearance of your PayPal Merchant pages, do the following:
   
   1. Enter the name of the Page Style that you want to apply to your PayPal merchant pages.  The options include:
      
      • paypal: Uses the PayPal page style.
      • primary: The page style which you identified as the “primary” style in your account profile.
      • page_style_name: The name of a custom payment page style which is specified in your account profile.
   2. In the Header Image URL field, enter the URL of the image that you want to appear in the upper-left corner of the payment page. The maximum file size is 750 pixels wide by 90 pixels high.
      

      Note: PayPal recommends that the image be located on a secure (https) server. Otherwise, the customer’s browser may warn that “the page contains both secure and nonsecure items.”

   3. Enter the HTML hex code without the “#” symbol, for each of the following:
      
      • Header Background Color
      • Header Border Color
      • Page Background Color
   
   PayPal Frontend Experience Settings
   

* Survey conducted by Northstar Research Partners, Q2 2011. Based on retailer-level data for 19 UK SMB retailers, representing 3,411 PayPal users. 26% of buyers surveyed said they would not have made the purchase if PayPal had not been offered as a payment method.

See also:

Getting Started with PayPal Express Checkout

PayPal Express Checkout Workflow

Understanding PayPal