Before you start
- A PayPal Business account (free to create or upgrade to).
- Your site served over HTTPS.
Create a REST app
- Sign in at developer.paypal.com with your PayPal account.
- Go to Apps & Credentials.
- Pick the environment with the toggle: Sandbox for testing, Live for production.
- Click Create App, give it a name like "Donation form", and create it.
- Copy the Client ID and Secret.
Paste into Donor Merchant
- Open Donor Merchant → Settings → Payments and click Manage next to PayPal.
- Set Mode to Sandbox, paste the sandbox client ID and secret, and save.
Test it
PayPal sandbox gives you fake buyer accounts under Testing Tools → Sandbox Accounts. Open your donation page, choose PayPal, and pay with a sandbox personal account. The gift should appear in Donor Merchant → Donations as completed, with the capture ID stored as the transaction reference.
Go live
Switch the developer dashboard to Live, create (or open) a live app, copy its credentials into the live fields, and set Mode to Live.
Add the webhook
The webhook records PayPal renewals, refunds, eCheck gifts that clear later, cancellations, and failed renewals (the donor is emailed). Without it, recurring renewals go unrecorded.
- In your PayPal app, add a webhook.
- Paste the URL shown on Donor Merchant's PayPal screen. It looks like:
https://yoursite.org/wp-json/donor-merchant/v1/webhook/paypal- Subscribe to the events listed under the Webhook ID field.
- Copy the new webhook's ID into the Webhook ID field and save.
Webhooks belong to one app, so when you go live, add one to your live app and paste its ID in place of the sandbox one.
Recurring gifts and Venmo
PayPal handles one-time and recurring gifts (through PayPal Subscriptions) whenever recurring giving is on under Settings → Forms. Tick Offer Venmo with the PayPal buttons to add Venmo for US donors paying in US dollars. Venmo covers one-time gifts, and PayPal decides when its button shows.