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PayPal Gateway

PayPal is an external gateway. You connect your PayPal account to PaymentsAI through PayPal's own authentication flow.

Fees on this gateway:

PaymentsAI charges a 1% platform fee per transaction for PayPal, on top of PayPal's own merchant fees. See Pricing and Fees.

Setup​

  1. In the PaymentsAI dashboard, click Gateways in the top navigation.
  2. Under Other Gateways, click Connect PayPal.
  3. A new browser tab opens and directs you to log in to PayPal.
  4. Enter your email and complete PayPal authentication.
  5. After signing in, you see a Thanks for signing up message. Click Go back to finalize the connection to return to PaymentsAI.
  6. The PayPal gateway then appears with a waiting for connection status while PayPal verifies the account.

PayPal account errors:

If you encounter errors during PayPal authentication, contact PayPal Support, as the issue is handled entirely on the PayPal side.

Waiting period and referenced transactions​

After connection, PayPal must manually activate referenced transactions on your account. Referenced transactions are a PayPal feature that lets transactions be referenced for future payments (for example, subscriptions and other follow-on charges that reuse an existing PayPal authorisation).

  • Automatic request: The activation request is sent automatically to PayPal when you connect. You do not need to contact PayPal yourself.
  • Timeline: The waiting period typically lasts two business days and can take up to seven business days, depending on PayPal's processing speed.
  • Gateway status: During this period, the gateway shows waiting for connection.
  • Activation completion: Once activation completes, the status automatically updates to Successfully Connected and the gateway is ready for use.

Waiting longer than 7 business days:

If the gateway remains in waiting for connection beyond seven business days, contact PaymentsAI support. The team can reach out to its PayPal contacts to investigate and expedite the process.