Last Updated: 13 November 2024 | Change Log

PayPal

A secure and globally accepted online payment transfer.

Note

Make yourself familiar with our API Principles to ensure a resilient integration.

Product Overview

Why use PayPal

PayPal is a global payment method with strong consumer recognition and trust. It is also one of the most popular APMs in the world. PayPal opens up a large customer base who already have PayPal accounts and can make purchases with a payment flow that they are comfortable with.

It is accepted in over 200 countries, supports 25 currencies and is a mainstay of APM payments.

Feature summary

Payment type	Countries	Recurring	Reversals	Partial Reversals	Disputes	Auth only	Auth and Settlement (Sale)
Digital Wallet	Global acceptance	❌	✅	Partial refund - yes Partial cancel- No	Handled directly via PayPal	✅	✅

Acceptance currencies

Currency	Currency Codes
Australian Dollar	AUD
Brazilian Real	BRL
Canadian Dollar	CAD
Czech Koruna	CZK
Danish Krone	DKK
Euro	EUR
Hong Kong Dollar	HKD
Hungarian Forint	HUF
Indian Rupee	INR
Israeli New Shekel	ILS
Japanese Yen	JPY
Malaysian Ringgit	MYR
Mexican Peso	MXN
New Taiwan Dollar	TWD
New Zealand Dollar	NZD
Norwegian Krone	NOK
Philippine Peso	PHP
Polish Złoty	PLN
Pound Sterling	GBP
Singapore Dollar	SGD
Swedish Krona	SEK
Swiss Franc	CHF
Thai Baht	THB
United States Dollar	USD

Payment flows

There are two different ways to integrate PayPal:

Redirect URL mechanism
Smart Button

Redirect URL

Your customer's are redirected to a web broswer to log into PayPal

Smart Button

Your customer clicks on the Smart Button, a pop-up window opens on top of their payment screen.

You must integrate using the PayPal SDK using the JavaScript SDK script configuration developer guide.

Important

The payment-source within the Paypal SDK must be "paypal" when integrating with Access Worldpay. This enables the PayPal option within the SDK. Other payment methods, offered by the PayPal SDK, will not work with Access Worldpay.

You can also customize the Paypal Smart button. The options are:

the size, color and shape of the button
the language that appears on the buttons
the layout of the button: horizontal or vertical

Set your headers

Setting your headers is an important part of an API request. The headers represent the meta-data associated with your API request.

Authorization: {your_credentials}
Content-Type: application/json
WP-Api-Version: 2023-06-01

Header	Description
`Authorization`	We use the `Authorization` header to identify and authenticate you within Access Worldpay. You must use the `Authorization` header for any request you send to our APM API, unless you are using client certificate authentication over TLS. If you must use this, read our reference guide on Authenticating with SSL/TLS.
`Content-Type`	We require the `Content-Type` header if the request you're sending includes a request body, and if the HTTP method is a `POST` or a `PUT`.
`WP-Api-Version`	We use the `WP-Api-Version` header to identify which version of our APM API you are using. You must use the `WP-Api-Version` header for any request you send to our API.

If you're using both the Content-Type and WP-Api-Version headers, they must match.

Note

Replace {your_credentials} with your base64-encoded Basic Auth username and password. To get your Access Worldpay credentials contact your Implementation Manager.

Request

POST https://try.access.worldpay.com/apmPayments

Example request

application/json

{
  "transactionReference": "Memory265-13/08/1876",
  "merchant": {
    "entity": "default"
  },
  "instruction": {
    "narrative": {
      "line1": "MindPalace"
    },
    "value": {
      "amount": 35,
      "currency": "GBP"
    },
    "paymentInstrument": {
      "type": "paypal",
      "requestAutoSettlement": {
        "enabled": true
      },
      "shopperEmailAddress": "shopper@example.com",
      "billingAddress": {
        "address1": "221B Baker Street",
        "address2": "Marylebone",
        "address3": "Westminster",
        "postalCode": "NW1 6XE",
        "city": "London",
        "state": "Greater London",
        "countryCode": "GB"
      },
      "shippingAddress": {
        "address1": "The Palatine Centre",
        "postalCode": "DH1 3LE",
        "city": "Durham",
        "state": "County Durham",
        "countryCode": "GB"
      },
      "successURL": "https://example.com/success",
      "pendingURL": "https://example.com/pending",
      "failureURL": "https://example.com/failure",
      "cancelURL": "https://example.com/cancel"
    }
  }
}

Parameters

Parameter	Required?	Description	Data type	Length
`merchant`	✅	An object that contains information about the merchant.	Object	N/A
`merchant.entity`	✅	Direct your payment to assist with billing, reporting and reconciliation. This is mandatory for Authentication and Queries. Contact your Implementation Manager for more details.	String	Must be between 1 and 32 characters.
`transactionReference`	✅	A unique reference generated by you that is used to identify a payment throughout its lifecycle. See transaction reference format.	String	Must be between 1 to 64 characters.
`instruction`	✅	An object that contains all the information related to the payment.	Object	N/A
`instruction.narrative`	✅	An object that helps your customers better identify you on their statement.	Object	See our formatting rules
`instruction.narrative.line1`	✅	The first line of the narrative which appears on your customer's statement (If a character is not supported it is replaced with a space.). See narrative `line1` format for more details.	Object	24
`instruction.value`	✅	An object that contains information about the payment transaction.	Object	N/A
`instruction.value.amount`	✅	The payment amount. This is a whole number with an exponent e.g. if exponent is two, 250 is 2,50. You can find the relevant exponent in our currency table.	Integer	N/A
`instruction.value.currency`	✅	The payment currency. Refer to the individual APM page for supported currencies.	Integer	3
`instruction.paymentInstrument`	✅	An object that contains information about the payment method.	Object	N/A
`instruction.paymentInstrument.type`	✅	An object that contains the payment type and details. It defines which alternative payment method you wish to use. For PayPal the value is `paypal`.	Object	N/A
`instruction.paymentInstrument.requestAutoSettlement`	❌	Settles the transaction automatically when set to "true".	Object	Boolean "true" or "false". Default: "false".
`paymentInstrument.shopperEmailAddress`	❌	The email adddress of your customer.	String	N/A
`instruction.paymentInstrument.cancelURL`	❌	When your customer cancels a transaction, we redirect your customer to that cancel URL.	String	N/A
`instruction.paymentInstrument.failureURL`	❌	When a payment fails, we redirect your customer to the failure URL.	String	N/A
`instruction.paymentInstrument.pendingURL`	❌	When we receive the payment result for a pending payment transaction, we redirect your customer to that pending URL.	String	N/A
`instruction.paymentInstrument.successURL`	❌	When we receive the payment result for a successful payment, we redirect your customer to that success URL.	String	N/A
`paymentInstrument.billingAddress`	❌	The billing address of your customer.	Object	N/A
`paymentInstrument.billingAddress.address1`	Conditional	First line of the billing address. Condition: Must be provided if you send `paymentInstrument.billingAddress`.	String	1-85
`paymentInstrument.billingAddress.address2`	❌	Second line of the billing address.	String	0-85
`paymentInstrument.billingAddress.address3`	❌	Third line of the billing address.	String	0-85
`paymentInstrument.billingAddress.city`	❌	The city of the billing address.	String	0-50
`paymentInstrument.billingAddress.countryCode`	Conditional	The country of the billing address. Condition: Must be provided if you send `paymentInstrument.billingAddress`. Follows alpha 2 ISO 3166-1 standard.	String	2
`paymentInstrument.billingAddress.postalCode`	Conditional	The poste code of the billing address. Condition: Must be provided if you send `paymentInstrument.billingAddress`.	String	1-15
`paymentInstrument.billingAddress.state`	❌	The state of the billing address.	String	1-50
`paymentInstrument.shippingAddress`	❌	The shipping address of your customer.	Object	N/A
`paymentInstrument.shippingAddress.address1`	Conditional	First line of the shipping address. Condition: Must be provided if you send `paymentInstrument.shippingAddress`.	String	1-85
`paymentInstrument.shippingAddress.address2`	❌	Second line of the shipping address.	String	0-85
`paymentInstrument.shippingAddress.address3`	❌	Third line of the shipping address.	String	0-85
`paymentInstrument.shippingAddress.city`	❌	The city of the shipping address.	String	0-50
`paymentInstrument.shippingAddress.countryCode`	Conditional	The country of the shipping address. Condition: Must be provided if you send `paymentInstrument.shipppingAddress`. Follows alpha 2 ISO 3166-1 standard.	String	2
`paymentInstrument.shippingddress.postalCode`	Conditional	The poste code of the shipping address. Condition: Must be provided if you send `paymentInstrument.shippingAddress`.	String	1-15
`paymentInstrument.shippingAddress.state`	❌	The state of the shipping address.	String	1-50

Recommendation

We suggest you provide the cancelURL,failureURL, pendingURL and successURL attribute to redirect your customer to, once you have received the payment result.

Response

Successful request response

an HTTP code 201
an id which is unique to the payment - we recommend storing the "id" as this can be used to manage the payment later
a url to redirect your customer to the APM provider to complete the payment
a link to query the payment status
an object which will give flow information such as method (e.g. paypal), type (sdk for a Smart Button flow or redirect for a Redirect URL flow) and an sdk token

Note

for the Smart Button flow use the sdkReference to generate the Smart Button
for the redirect flow use the url in the response to redirect your customer

Example Response

{
    "paymentId": "nFxASqw-LV9HE_rr1mMONP6OuaBhNYiq0jRwvvUBRLffpu0O_8mOnTpFSIM9gnTSg8thuF8qvuzMKHjhAUKA-SBywF4F_ufX78jkgX7yoPwA8HF_HMLM0RSLDKrlDpMxs5bSRRbjItu_Me3kIkraos_XGMXXDzWYsmzASPr6BGo",
    "lastEvent": "pending",
    "_links": {
        "self": {
            "href": "https://access.worldpay.com/apmPayments/nFxASqw-LV9HE_rr1mMONP6OuaBhNYiq0jRwvvUBRLffpu0O_8mOnTpFSIM9gnTSg8thuF8qvuzMKHjhAUKA-SBywF4F_ufX78jkgX7yoPwA8HF_HMLM0RSLDKrlDpMxs5bSRRbjItu_Me3kIkraos_XGMXXDzWYsmzASPr6BGo"
        },
        "_actions": {
            "confirmPayment": {
                "href": "https://access.worldpay.com/apmPayments/nFxASqw-LV9HE_rr1mMONP6OuaBhNYiq0jRwvvUBRLffpu[…]rlDpMxs5bSRRbjItu_Me3kIkraos_XGMXXDzWYsmzASPr6BGo/confirmations"
            },
            "paymentInstrument": {
                "method": "paypal",
                "type": "sdk",
                "sdkReference": "2HG28153DX910101U"
            }
        }
    }
}

Note

In case of an error, you can get further information in our error reference.

PayPal Smart Button flow

Payment confirmation

Once your customer has closed the PayPal iframe, you must confirm the payment when using the PayPal Smart Button. This is done by using the confirmPayment href returned in the payment request response.

Make a POST request on the link:actions action link returned in your payment response.

POST https://try.access.worldpay.com/apmPayments/nFxASqw-LV9HE_rr1mMONDTNO21DI7iBqIBDP8tbNT_pHfdVKepSMngqe9EDiBI1pHXEu-SbvqJyvSludyCd-2L21mL7uoB8zl62Ayz7E3GblXYsLnrW2-IZDMChfXfwWt7xrjVsKEPMGearp4PdIQp8hQ6k4_KTkZa_frsM4TQ/confirmations

Note

No request body is needed for this request.

Next Steps

Manage your PayPal payment

PayPal

Why use PayPal

Feature summary

Acceptance currencies

Payment flows

Redirect URL

Smart Button

Set your headers

Request

Example request

Parameters

Response

Successful request response

Example Response

PayPal Smart Button flow

Payment confirmation

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