Onboard Before Payment

You can connect your sellers with PayPal before they accept PayPal payments from buyers on your platform.

Know before you code

• You must be an approved partner to use this integration.
• You must have an access token.
• This integration uses the Partner Referrals API.
• You can use webhooks during seller onboarding. See the webhooks reference for more information.
• It is crucial that you inform your sellers of PayPal's Seller Protection policy , so they are aware of use cases that invalidate that protection, such as shipping to an address other than the one in the transaction confirmation.

1. Review the onboarding checklist with your account manager

Before generating the PayPal sign-up link, work with your account manager to determine what types of PayPal accounts you will allow for your sellers, the types of payment options you will make available to them, and more. Use the onboarding checklist to learn more.

2. Generate a PayPal sign-up link

Passing your seller's information during the API call will pre-fill the PayPal sign-up flow with your seller's information. To generate a sign-up link that redirects your sellers to sign up with PayPal, copy the following code and modify it.

Sample request

API used: Partner Referrals API

1curl -v -X POST https://api-m.sandbox.paypal.com/v2/customer/partner-referrals \
2  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
3  -H "Authorization: Bearer <Access-Token>" \
4  -d '{
5    "tracking_id": "<Tracking-ID>",
6    "operations": [
7      {
8        "operation": "API_INTEGRATION",
9        "api_integration_preference": {
10          "rest_api_integration": {
11            "integration_method": "PAYPAL",
12            "integration_type": "THIRD_PARTY",
13            "third_party_details": {
14              "features": [
15                "PAYMENT",
16                "REFUND"
17             ]
18            }
19          }
20        }
21      }
22    ],
23    "products": [
24      "EXPRESS_CHECKOUT"
25    ],
26    "legal_consents": [
27      {
28        "type": "SHARE_DATA_CONSENT",
29        "granted": true
30      }
31    ]
32}'

Modify the code

After you copy the code in the sample request, modify the following:

• Change Access-Token to your access token.
• Change products to the value you want for your sellers. The products array value determines which type of payment your seller can accept. Express Checkout includes the debit and credit cards, PayPal button, PayPal Credit, and alternative payment methods. PPCP includes the PayPal button and advanced credit and debit cards. Sellers can also accept alternative payment methods such as Pay upon Invoice.
• Optional: Pass a tracking ID in the tracking_id field. You can use this ID to track the status of your seller as they complete onboarding.

Step result

A successful request results in the following:

• A return status code of HTTP 201 Created.
• A HATEOAS self link. You can make a GET request to this link to retrieve the referral data and to reinitialize the action_url.
• A HATEOAS action_url link. You can place this link in a button or link tag to redirect your sellers to sign up with PayPal. The action_url expires after its first use. You can reinitialize it by making a GET request to the self link or by making another Partner Referrals API call.

Sample response

1{
2  "links": [
3    {
4      "href": "https://api-m.sandbox.paypal.com/v2/customer/partner-referrals/NDZlMjQ1YTItMGQwNi00ZjlkLWJjNmYtYjcwODNiMWEzOTk0c203SWFJeU9NQ3gvcDEvbUVaS21rWFAvSWdlV1JKWktGRGxPUFA1MEZtUT12Mg==",
5      "rel": "self",
6      "method": "GET",
7      "description": "Read Referral Data shared by the Caller."
8    },
9    {
10      "href": "https://www.sandbox.paypal.com/us/merchantsignup/partner/onboardingentry?token=NDZlMjQ1YTItMGQwNi00ZjlkLWJjNmYtYjcwODNiMWEzOTk0c203SWFJeU9NQ3gvcDEvbUVaS21rWFAvSWdlV1JKWktGRGxPUFA1MEZtUT12Mg==",
11      "rel": "action_url",
12      "method": "GET",
13      "description": "Target WEB REDIRECT URL for the next action. Customer should be redirected to this URL in the browser."
14    }
15  ]
16}

3. Add the PayPal sign-up link on your site

You can place the action_url in a button or link to redirect the seller to PayPal for sign up. Alternatively, you can render the PayPal sign-up flow in a mini-browser by using the following code:

1<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
2  <script>
3    (function(d, s, id) {
4      var js, ref = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];
5      if (!d.getElementById(id)) {
6        js = d.createElement(s);
7        js.id = id;
8        js.async = true;
9        js.src = "https://www.paypal.com/webapps/merchantboarding/js/lib/lightbox/partner.js";
10        ref.parentNode.insertBefore(js, ref);
11      }
12    }(document, "script", "paypal-js"));
13
14  </script>
15  <a data-paypal-button="true" href="<Action-URL>&displayMode=minibrowser" target="PPFrame">Sign up for PayPal</a>
16</div>

4. Redirect the seller back to your site

When your seller completes the sign-up flow, they are redirected to the return URL you specified in the partner_config_override/return_url field of the Partner Referrals API. If no return URL is set on your account, then the seller is redirected to the PayPal dashboard for their account.

During the redirect, PayPal loads the return URL in your seller's browser and attaches the following query parameters:

Sample request

Copy the following code and use it to redirect the seller back to your site.

5. Track seller onboarding status

Seller onboarding is complete when the following requirements are met:

• Seller creates a PayPal account.
• Seller grants you permission for the features you set.
• Seller confirms the email address of the account.

To track your seller's status in meeting these requirements, you can make a show seller status call.

Sample request

Copy the following code and modify it:

1curl -v -X GET https://api-m.sandbox.paypal.com/v1/customer/partners/{partner_merchant_id}/merchant-integrations/{seller_merchant_id} \
2  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
3  -H "Authorization: Bearer <Access-Token>"

Modify the code

After you copy the code in the sample request, change Access-Token to your access token and modify the partner_merchant_id and the seller_merchant_id as follows:

partner_merchant_id is the merchant ID of your PayPal account. To find the merchant ID of your PayPal account, log in to your PayPal account at paypal.com, click on the Settings icon, click on Business information, and look for PayPal Merchant ID. To find the merchant ID of your sandbox account, follow the same instructions on sandbox.paypal.com.

seller_merchant_id is the merchant ID of the seller's PayPal account. To get your seller's merchant ID, you can read the merchantIdInPayPal query parameter attached to the return URL when the seller is redirected back to your site. You can also query it directly by the tracking ID you specified in the Partner Referrals call by calling GET /v1/customer/partners/partner_id/merchant-integrations?tracking_id={tracking_id}.

Step result

A successful request results in the following:

• A return status code of HTTP 200 OK.
• A JSON response body that shows referral data. This response body does not return user data but returns information on whether or not the merchant is onboarded and is eligible to process transactions.
• The payments_receivable is true.
• The primary_email_confirmed is true.
• The oauth_third_party contains permissions granted.

Sample response with products set to PPCP

1{
2  "merchant_id": "CG5RZJV4NR5P4",
3  "tracking_id": "1537989077589",
4  "products": [
5    {
6      "name": "PPCP_CUSTOM"
7    }
8  ],
9  "payments_receivable": true,
10  "primary_email_confirmed": true,
11  "products.vetting status": "SUBSCRIBED",
12  "capabilities[name==CUSTOM_CARD_PROCESSING].status": "ACTIVE",
13  "capabilities[name==CUSTOM_CARD_PROCESSING].limits": "undefined",
14  "oauth_integrations": [{
15    "integration_type": "OAUTH_THIRD_PARTY",
16    "integration_method": "PAYPAL",
17    "oauth_third_party": [
18      {
19        "partner_client_id": "Af1bGDNgFBtbJvzEkG25zt4SoNQQ3ustiLm84GWXxe8nq_HE_0wCQ9SH8M1ScmSBURBIzPiCjr5gu-Dq",
20        "merchant_client_id": "AQ7u3fJkUH4cdCEBidsh5U_F1RQCGjglJQdNEEsXCzvQsGsS5MmC8Dk7_ug_IlkUASJezaGqQxQQfVhQ",
21        "scopes": ["https://uri.paypal.com/services/payments/realtimepayment", "https://uri.paypal.com/services/payments/refund", "https://uri.paypal.com/services/payments/payment/authcapture"]
22      }
23    ]
24  }]
25}

Sample response with products set to EXPRESS_CHECKOUT

1{
2  "merchant_id": "CG5RZJV4NR5P4",
3  "tracking_id": "1537989077589",
4  "products": [
5    {
6      "name": "EXPRESS_CHECKOUT"
7    }
8  ],
9  "payments_receivable": false,
10  "primary_email_confirmed": false,
11  "oauth_integrations": [{
12    "integration_type": "OAUTH_THIRD_PARTY",
13    "integration_method": "PAYPAL",
14    "oauth_third_party": [
15      {
16        "partner_client_id": "Af1bGDNgFBtbJvzEkG25zt4SoNQQ3ustiLm84GWXxe8nq_HE_0wCQ9SH8M1ScmSBURBIzPiCjr5gu-Dq",
17        "merchant_client_id": "AQ7u3fJkUH4cdCEBidsh5U_F1RQCGjglJQdNEEsXCzvQsGsS5MmC8Dk7_ug_IlkUASJezaGqQxQQfVhQ",
18        "scopes": ["https://uri.paypal.com/services/payments/realtimepayment", "https://uri.paypal.com/services/payments/refund", "https://uri.paypal.com/services/payments/payment/authcapture"]
19      }
20    ]
21  }]
22}

URL onboarding

Use URL onboarding only if you have already onboarded with URL onboarding or if you have a specific use case for URL onboarding. With URL onboarding, sellers are required to complete all sign-up fields. Sellers must also have a PayPal business account. Casual sellers are not supported.

Example URL

1https://www.paypal.com/bizsignup/partner/entry?&partnerClientId=<var><partner_client_id></var>&partnerId=<var><partner_payer_id></var>&partnerLogoUrl=<var><partner_logo_url></var>&returnToPartnerUrl=<var><return_url_for_done_page_button></var>&product=ppcp&integrationType=FO&features=PAYMENT,REFUND</var>

Next steps

Checkout