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Take PayPal payments in your shop

Let customers pay online with PayPal or a card: get your keys from PayPal, connect them in Sevo, and see what happens to the order and in your accounts.

Who can do this: The owner (administrator role) by default, or anyone whose role has been given permission to manage the online shop.

What it is

With PayPal, customers pay on PayPal's own page, with a PayPal account or a debit or credit card. The money goes to your own PayPal business account. Sevo never sees card details.

PayPal does not accept Sri Lankan rupees. If your shop is in LKR, customers pay in US dollars at the rate you set. The customer sees the dollar amount and the rate before choosing PayPal.

PayPal charges its own fee on each payment.

Get your Client ID and Secret from PayPal

Sevo needs two keys from your PayPal business account: a Client ID and a Secret. You get them once, on PayPal's website.

  1. Go to developer.paypal.com and sign in with your PayPal business account.
  2. Open "Apps & Credentials".
  3. At the top, choose "Sandbox" to try it first without real money, or "Live" for real payments.
  4. Press "Create App". Give it a name such as "My Sevo shop", keep the type Merchant, and press "Create".
  5. Copy the "Client ID".
  6. Next to "Secret key", press the copy button (or press "Show", then copy it).

Sandbox and Live have different keys, so keep them apart. Live keys work only with a verified PayPal business account.

Connect PayPal in Sevo

Choose where orders are sent from first, as for the other payment methods. See Delivery and payment options.

  1. In the menu, open Online shop → Shop settings and select the Delivery and payment tab.
  2. Under How customers can pay, find the PayPal card.
  3. Paste the Client ID into the Client ID box and the Secret into the Secret box.
  4. Tick Test mode (PayPal Sandbox) while you try it with Sandbox keys. No real money moves. Untick it when you use Live keys.
  5. If your shop is in LKR, fill "1 USD = how many LKR?", for example 300. If you have a rate under Settings → Currencies & rates, it is filled in for you. Change it when the rate changes.
  6. Optionally change the Name shown to customers.
  7. Keep Offered at checkout ticked.
  8. Press Check and save PayPal. Sevo asks PayPal whether the keys work before saving. If PayPal refuses them, the message says so and nothing is saved.

The Secret is locked after saving: its box stays empty and says "Saved". Leave it empty to keep it, or paste a new one to replace it.

What your customer sees

At checkout the customer chooses PayPal, which shows the dollar amount and the rate. They press Pay with PayPal, pay on PayPal, and come back to their order page, which says "Paid with PayPal".

If they cancel on PayPal, the order waits up to 3 hours, and their order page has a Pay with PayPal button to try again. After 3 hours an unpaid order is cancelled automatically and the items go back on sale.

If someone pays and then closes the page, the payment is still recorded: Sevo checks with PayPal every hour.

Handling PayPal orders

A PayPal order shows Awaiting payment until PayPal has taken the money. Then it is confirmed by itself, and you carry on with Mark packed as usual. You never record a PayPal payment by hand.

The order shows the amount PayPal charged (in USD) and PayPal's fee.

If you cancel a paid order before sending it, the money goes back to the customer through PayPal automatically.

For a refund after sending, choose Back through PayPal in the refund window. It is already chosen for PayPal orders. The money goes back to the customer's PayPal account or card. PayPal keeps its original fee.

In your accounts

A PayPal payment is recorded as a customer deposit, not a sale yet, into the account "Online payments clearing (PayPal)" (code 1030). PayPal's fee goes to "Bank charges" (6300). The sale is counted when the order is sent, as for other orders.

The balance of account 1030 is what PayPal is holding for you. When you move money from PayPal to your bank, record it as a manual entry in the journal (see the guide The journal: manual entries and reversals):

  1. Open Finance → Journal and click New entry.
  2. Set the Entry date to the day the money reached your bank, and a Memo such as "PayPal to bank".
  3. On the first line choose your bank account, for example Bank current account, and enter the amount as a debit.
  4. On the second line choose Online payments clearing (PayPal) and enter the same amount as a credit.
  5. Click Post entry.

If less reaches your bank than left PayPal, for example because of PayPal's currency conversion, add a third line with the difference as a debit to Bank charges. Ask your accountant if you are not sure.

See also

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