Accepting payments with PayPal Website Payments Pro

PayPal Website Payments Pro is used to receive funds from online shoppers who pay with credit cards. Its difference from PayPal Express Checkout is that with  Website Payments Pro customers are not redirected to the PayPal website and rather stay in your online store to enter their credit card details.

Requirements

To set up PayPal Website Payments Pro in WebAsyst Shop-Script, you need to have a PayPal Business account. To apply for  Website Payments Pro, go to https://registration.paypal.com/pro30PaypalLogin.do and create a new account or use an existing one, and follow the instructions.

In addition to a PayPal account, you need to have an SSL certificate installed for your domain name – this is to ensure that credit card credentials which your customers will enter during checkout, will be transmitted through a secure channel. Besides, the cURL extension with SSL support for PHP 5 must be installed and enabled in your server configuration. cURL allows WebAsyst Shop-Script to connect to the PayPal server and exchange transaction details with it.

Note: If you are using WebAsyst Shop-Script as an online service, an SSL certificate and the cURL extension are already installed and do not require additional setup.

Retrieve your API credentials

After you have obtained a PayPal Business account, retrieve your API credentials as described below:

1. Log in at http://www.paypal.com/.
2. Click the "Profile" tab and then click the "API Access" link under the "Account Information" caption.
3. Click "Request API Credentials" and select the "API SSL client-side certificate" option for the "Credential Type" parameter.
4. Click "Submit" and download the certificate file to your computer on the "Download or Remove API Certificate" page. Copy the API Username and API Password generated for you – they will be used later in your online store.

Configure your online store

Log in to the WebAsyst Shop-Script administrative backend, proceed to section "Settings -> Payment", and click "Add payment method".

Select "Accept credit cards" and click "Next >>". Then select "PayPal Website Payments Pro - Direct Payment" and again click "Next >>" to open the payment module settings page. Specify the following settings:

API Username and Password: paste the values which you have copied in your PayPal account.
PayPal certificate: upload the certificate file which you have downloaded from your PayPal account. Note that you need different certificates for the "Live" and "Sandbox" modes (see below).
Mode: select the mode for the payment module to operate in.

Tip: If you would like to first test the payment module, select the "Sandbox" mode and upload the corresponding certificate file using the file selection field above. When you decide to switch to the live mode, do not forget to upload the correct certificate!

Append approved orders following status: choose what status will be assigned to all new orders paid with PayPal Website Payments Pro in your online store.
USD currency type: select the currency which corresponds to the United States dollars in your store. This selection is essential as order amounts passed to the PayPal payment server are denominated only in the USD currency.

Click "Save" to complete the payment module setup.