What is PayPal Business Integration?
PayPal Business integration allows you to securely collect order form payments. PayPal handles all the credit card information, providing full PCI compliance. We recommend this integration for all users, whether you're new to PayPal or have an existing PayPal account. This integration uses PayPal's latest API and a modern checkout experience.
With PayPal, you can offer customers:
- PayPal and PayPal Credit – payment methods that are exclusive to PayPal. PayPal Credit is subject to consumer credit approval.
- Dozens of local payment methods such as Giropay, iDeal, and Sofort in 100+ currencies and 200+ markets around the world.
- Credit cards and debit cards – good for customers who don’t have an account with PayPal.
You can accept one-time checkout payments or setup recurring subscriptions with configurable billing cycles and optionally a one-time setup fee. Your users can pay with PayPal, Pay Later or Pay in 4, Venmo, or using a credit card through PayPal's checkout experience. You can also offer an "unbranded" credit card experience where users enter their payment details without leaving the form. Sign up with PayPal or easily upgrade an existing account using this option. Note that the payment options offered to buyers may vary.
Requirements
The PayPal Business integration feature requires a Professional level Formsite account and a Business level PayPal account. If you don't have a PayPal account yet, you can easily create one while setting up the integration.
This integration processes payments, so your form needs Order Form Items with prices. But you don't need any items to collect credit card information — this will be handled by PayPal.
Create a New Payment Integration
On your form's "Payments" page, click the integration for "PayPal Business". Next, click the "Get Authorization" button. You will be presented with two options "Accept PayPal" and "Accept PayPal, credit, and debit card payments".
- "Accept PayPal" will show form users only PayPal's buttons, letting them pay with a PayPal account, and typically also offering buttons for Pay Later/PayPal Credit, Venmo, and Pay with Credit Card. The exact buttons will depend on your PayPal merchant account and the transaction.
- "Accept PayPal, credit, and debit card payments" will show form users the same buttons, but instead of PayPal's "Pay with Credit Card" button it will show fields to accept a credit card without leaving your form. You can optionally collect a shipping address and an email address, which can be mapped from your form for streamlined checkout experience.
Note that you can come back later and update the authorization to change this setting if you'd like. After you choose the integration method, click "Connect". Next, you should see PayPal's login page where you can enter your email address. If you have a PayPal account already you'll be prompted to login. If you don't have a PayPal account yet, you can set it up from here. Just follow the steps from PayPal and when you return back to the Formsite page, configure the rest of the settings and click the "Save" button.
Recurring Billing (Subscriptions)
The recurring billing settings can be used to create recurring subscription charges with PayPal's Subscriptions feature. You'll have several options available, including configuring the frequency of payments and a one-time setup fee.
When a form user submits a recurring payment, a subscription will be created inside your PayPal account for the recurring charges. Any setup fee will be charged immediately and the first charge will occur same-day, and then the billing cycle will continue until all the charges have been made or there's a billing failure. You can further manage payment subscriptions inside your PayPal account.
Collecting PayPal Payments
After a form user completes the last page of your form, they'll be forwarded to PayPal to pay. PayPal will securely collect their billing information and process the charge. After a successful or failed payment, your Formsite result will get updated with the status of the transaction. In either case, you should see a new entry with more information, including relevant ID values which can be used to reference activity in your PayPal account. Payments in your PayPal account should also include the result's Reference #.
If you selected the "Accept PayPal, credit, and debit cards" option during setup, users will be able to enter their payment details at the end of your form. There's no need for you to collect the payment details on the form as we'll handle everything. You can optionally map some information, such as the buyer's name and address, from your form to streamline the process.
PayPal controls which buttons will be shown to users. To allow your customers to pay by credit card, log into your PayPal account and go to their "Settings -> Selling Tools" page. Then, enable the "PayPal Account Optional" setting. Other options will be shown based on availability in your region or currency and the type of transaction.
Viewing PayPal Results
On your form's "Results" page, you can view the status of each PayPal transaction in the Payment column. Each row will have a status icon and a "History" link for full transaction history.
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
 |
Successful payment. |
 |
Successful payment, but with additional information. For example, a duplicate payment or refund. |
 |
Payment initiated or still in progress. May indicate abandoned payments. |
 |
Failed payment or unexpected error. |
Note: Your PayPal account is the final record of all payments and refunds. There shouldn't be a discrepancy between PayPal and Formsite, but if this situation arises, PayPal takes precedence.
PayPal Error Messages
-
In most cases, if an error occurs you'll be able to see more information and a PayPal Debug ID by viewing the Payment History as noted above. If you contact PayPal Support, it's helpful to include the Debug ID to help them look up details on their end.
- When you're setting up the integration, you may see a warning message related to your PayPal account. If this happens, you may need to perform additional setup within PayPal, or contact PayPal's support for more help.