Shopify is one of the most popular e-commerce platforms. PayPal is one of the top payment processing platforms. It only makes sense that the two should work together.
Yet, it’s not entirely obvious how to integrate Shopify with PayPal.
If you’re brand-new to either platform, you may not know how to merge them.
If you haven’t enabled PayPal on your Shopify store yet, then you’ve come to the right place. We’re here to teach you how to use PayPal with Shopify. We’ve created a simple guide that will teach you how to let customers use PayPal on your storefront.
Linking Your PayPal Account to Shopify
As soon as you set up your Shopify store, you’ll receive a PayPal Express Checkout account. Shopify will sign you up with the email address that you used for your store. The same is true for the password.
So the moment that your Shopify store goes live, you can begin accepting payments from PayPal.
But if you want to process payments and refunds via PayPal manually, you’ll need an account on both platforms. If you don’t have a PayPal business account yet, now is the time to sign up for one.
It’s a straightforward process, and it only takes a few minutes. All you need to do is enter your personal information into the sign-up form. Once you’ve finished setting up your account, it’s time to link it to Shopify. Here’s what you need to do:
- From the Shopify admin, go to Settings, and then Payments.
- Under the PayPal section, hit Deactivate.
- Click on Deactivate again to confirm your decision.
- Under the PayPal section, select your PayPayl account type.
- Click Activate.
- Enter the email address for your PayPal business account, and then hit Next.
- Enter the unique password for your PayPal business account, and then hit Log-In.
- On the permissions page, select I Give Permission
- You’ll redirect to the PayPal confirmation page. From here, select Go Back to Shopify.
- Run a quick test transaction to make sure everything works smoothly.
Once this is done, you’ll be able to process orders via PayPal manually. That includes issuing refunds and capturing payments.
Adding a PayPal Button to Shopify
To make using PayPal even easier for your customers, you can add a PayPal button. That way, customers can select PayPal from the get-go. It will show up as a payment option just as credit/debit cards do. If you want to add a PayPal button to your checkout page, here’s what you need to do:
- Go to Online Stores from the Shopify admin.
- From there, click on the Themes page.
- Select the theme that you’re currently using for your store.
- Select the Customize option.
- From the drop-down menu bar, find the option called Product Pages.
- You’ll see a box next to Show Dynamic Checkout Button; make sure that you check it.
- Lastly, hit Save, and the process is complete.
To make sure it worked, run a test order to get to your checkout page. You should see a PayPal button listed among the other payment options. If there’s no checkout button, then you should update your theme.
Adding a PayPal Credit Button
Our next step in how to use PayPal with Shopify is enabling PayPal Credit. Some customers prefer to use PayPal Credit instead of traditional PayPal. The good news is that you can add a custom PayPal Credit button to your checkout page. The process is a bit more involved than adding a standard PayPal button.
If you aren’t familiar with Liquid and some basic coding, you may want to stay away from this step. Yet, if you follow these directions closely, you shouldn’t have any problems. Here’s what you need to do:
- Head to your Shopify admin panel.
- From the dashboard, click the Online Store option.
- Next, click on the Themes page.
- You’ll see an ellipsis icon here (…); click on it for more options.
- Select the option Edit HTML/CSS.
- Go to the Layout option.
- Hit the Liquid tab.
- Grab your PayPal credit banner code from PayPal Financing.
- Paste the banner code into the Liquid template that you’re editing.
- Hit Save to complete the process.
Bear in mind; you’ll need a unique PayPal credit banner code. Luckily, these aren’t hard to acquire at all. PayPal offers banner ads for free. That way, you can advertise to your customers that you provide PayPal Credit. Here’s a web page that details the process you need to take to get your credit banner code.
Enabling Customers to use PayPal Without a PayPal Account
If you’d like to allow customers to use PayPal even without an account, you can do so through Shopify. All you need to do is enable guest payments, and they can start using PayPal no matter what.
To do this, you’ll need a PayPal business account. The default PayPal Express account that every user gets for free won’t cut it. For Express accounts, customers will need a PayPal account to use it.
So if you have a PayPal business account, you can set up guest payments. To do so, you’ll need to head over to your PayPal account. Here are the steps to take from there:
- Log into your PayPal account.
- In the top right corner, hit your profile icon and select Account Settings.
- Hit Website Payments on the left side of the page.
- From the list of options, select Website Preferences, and then click Update.
- You’ll see several payment preferences here. From the list, find PayPal Account Optional and toggle it on.
As soon as you toggle on this feature, customers no longer need a PayPal account to use PayPal. That can be a convenient option to have if customers want to use PayPal but haven’t signed up yet. The more payment options you can provide your customers, the better.
Final Takeaways
By now, you should know how to use PayPal with Shopify. By default, you’ll have a PayPal Express account to use as soon as you set up a Shopify store. However, there are many reasons why you should upgrade to a business account. Doing so will help you access all the features of integrating PayPal with Shopify.
For more great content to help you develop your Shopify strategies, check out the rest of the merchant posts on the site. If you want to see a list of our top recommended Shopify apps visit this link here.
