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How to set up Paypal Websites Payments Pro (UK)

Learn how to configure your UK Paypal payment gateway for credit card payments.

Ben Dharmanandan avatar
Written by Ben Dharmanandan
Updated over 3 years ago

Paypal Website Payments Pro unites your merchant account, payment gateway and PayPal checkout, giving you more control, faster payments and greater protection. Eventsforce does not support the PayPal Website Payments Pro gateway in the US and Canada.  For US and Canadian clients, see Paypal Payflow.

In order to accept online credit card payments via the Paypal payment gateway, the “Paypal Websites Payments Pro” gateway must be included as part of your Eventsforce license. For more information, please contact your account manager or support@eventsforce.com.

To create a PayPal Website Payments Pro account, please click here.

Creating a sandbox account

We strongly recommend creating a sandbox account to test the connection between Paypal and Eventsforce prior to attempting to accept live payments. Use the steps below to create a sandbox account in Paypal:

  1. Visit developer.paypal.com and click “Log into Dashboard” in the top right

  2. Login to an existing account or sign up for a new business account and login

  3. Click “Accounts” within the ‘Sandbox’ panel on the left hand side

  4. Click the “Create Account” button in the top right

  5. Select "United Kingdom" as the Country

  6. Select “Business (Merchant Account)” as the account type

  7. Enter an “Email address” and “Password” (other settings can remain as default)

  8. Click “Create account”

  9. Once created, click on the account row and select “Profile”

  10. Find ‘Account type’ and select “Upgrade to Pro”

  11. Click “Enable” to switch account to “Business Pro” (required account type for Eventsforce)

  12. Find and make a note of the “Email ID” to be used for later

Testing using a sandbox account

Once a sandbox account has been created in Paypal, you can test your connection to Paypal by creating a registration in Eventsforce. Follow the steps below to add your Paypal credentials and create a test registration:

  1. Go to Setup > Finance > Payment Methods 

  2. Enter your “PayPal Username” (email ID from sandbox account)

  3. Select the radio button "Sandbox Transactions Only"

  4. Click “Save” 

  5. Use the “Preview and test event website” icon to start a registration

  6. Select “Credit card”, then “Pay Now” on the check out page

  7. Upon redirection to Paypal, enter Paypal or credit card details (see “Test credit cards” below for test numbers)

  8. Once payment is complete, click the “Return to store” link to return to Eventsforce

Note: When a payment is processed using PayPal, it should update Eventsforce immediately.

Credit card numbers for sandbox testing

Paypal does not provide specific credit card numbers for testing, but does provide links to external websites that can be used to generate test card numbers:

Alternatively, you can generate a test card within PayPal using the steps below:

  1. Login to developer.paypal.com and click "Dashboard"

  2. Under the sandbox heading click "Accounts", followed by "Create Account"

  3. When creating the account make sure to ‘Add a credit card’

  4. Once created, you can view the account profile, then click "Funding" to see the test card number

Accepting payments in different currencies

By default, payments in a different currency are put on “hold” until an admin accepts the payment within Paypal. In order for multi-currency payments to be processed by PayPal without having to manually accept the payment, you will have to do the following:

  1. Login to your Paypal business account 

  2. Click ‘Settings’ (cog icon) in the top right

  3. Select “Payment preferences” on the left hand side

  4. Select “Update” to the right of ‘Block payments’

  5. Select “Yes, accept and convert them to…” (will display your default currency)

  6. The page will save automatically

Going live

Once all sandbox testing is completed, you can configure your live Paypal account.  To enable PayPal in your event:

  1. Go to Setup > Finance > Payment Methods

  2. Choose “Live transactions” within the Paypal settings at the bottom

  3. Replace your sandbox email ID with your live account email address (Paypal username)

  4. Select “Save” in the top left

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