Payment Button for PayPal (also known as WP PayPal) plugin connects PayPal to your WordPress site and makes e-commerce available for you.
Payment Button for PayPal plugin uses the PayPal API to create a checkout process for your customer that is fast, easy, and intuitive. With one simple shortcode, you can add a secure payment button to your website that lets you accept credit card, debit card, and PayPal payments from any mobile device, tablet, or PC.

Note: This is NOT an official PayPal product.
Features
- Accept PayPal and PayPal Credit payments
- No monthly fee
- Accept credit cards and debit cards
- Optimized mobile checkout experience
- Accept one-time payments
- Simplified PCI compliance
- Accept donations
- OneTouchTM enables checkout with a click of a button
- Accept 25 currencies from over 200+ countries and markets
- Accept PayPal Pay Later (Pay in 4) payments
- Accept payments with PayPal smart payment buttons
- Accept PayPal Checkout payments (previously known as Express Checkout)
How to Install Payment Button for PayPal in WordPress
- Login to your WordPress admin dashboard
- Go to Plugins->Add New Plugin
- Enter Payment Button for PayPal naa986 in the search box
- Once you find the plugin hit the install button
The plugin can also be downloaded from here: https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-paypal/. For a manual installation go to Plugins > Add New Plugin > Upload Plugin and select the zip file that you downloaded.
How to Configure Payment Button for PayPal in WordPress
Once you have installed the plugin you will be able to access the settings by navigating to “WP PayPal -> Settings”.

General Settings
In the general settings area, you will need to configure some options related to your PayPal merchant account.
PayPal Checkout Settings
These settings apply to the “[wp_paypal_checkout]” shortcode. It uses PayPal Checkout payment method to add smart payment buttons to your website. To use PayPal Checkout, REST API credentials are required. To Generate REST API credentials for the sandbox and live environments:
- Log in to the Developer Dashboard with your PayPal account credentials.
- On My Apps & Credentials, use the toggle to switch between live and sandbox testing apps (If you are creating a Sandbox app, you will also need to select a test business account that will act as the API caller).
- Navigate to the REST API apps section and click Create App.
- Type a name for your app and click Create App. The app details page opens and displays your credentials.
- Copy and save the client ID and secret for your app.
- Review your app details and save your app.
Once you have the Client ID and Secret Key you can enter it in the plugin settings.

You also need to configure the following options.
Currency Code: The default currency of the payment
Return URL: The URL to which customers will be redirected after payments.
Cancel URL: The URL to which customers will be redirected when payments are cancelled.
Checkout Page URL: The URL of the page where PayPal checkout options will appear.
Enabled Funding Sources: Funding sources that you wish to display as buttons at checkout. This is not required as the eligibility is determined automatically. However, this field can be used to ensure a funding source is always rendered, if eligible.
You can enter one or more sources in comma-separated format. Here are the supported values:
| Funding Source | Description |
|---|---|
| card | Credit or debit cards |
| credit | PayPal Credit (US, UK) |
| paylater | Pay Later (US, UK), Pay in 4 (AU), 4X PayPal (France), Später Bezahlen (Germany) |
| bancontact | Bancontact |
| blik | BLIK |
| eps | eps |
| giropay | giropay |
| ideal | iDEAL |
| mercadopago | Mercado Pago |
| mybank | MyBank |
| p24 | Przelewy24 |
| sepa | SEPA-Lastschrift |
| sofort | Sofort |
| venmo | Venmo |
Disabled Funding Sources: Funding sources that you do not wish to display as buttons at checkout. You can enter one or more sources in comma-separated format. Here are the supported values:
| Funding Source | Description |
|---|---|
| card | Credit or debit cards |
| credit | PayPal Credit (US, UK) |
| paylater | Pay Later (US, UK), Pay in 4 (AU), 4X PayPal (France), Später Bezahlen (Germany) |
| bancontact | Bancontact |
| blik | BLIK |
| eps | eps |
| giropay | giropay |
| ideal | iDEAL |
| mercadopago | Mercado Pago |
| mybank | MyBank |
| p24 | Przelewy24 |
| sepa | SEPA-Lastschrift |
| sofort | Sofort |
| venmo | Venmo |
Email Settings
In the email settings area, you can choose to configure some email related settings.
Email Sender Options
In this section, you can specify a From Name and From Email Address that will be used by the WP PayPal plugin when sending an email. You can leave them empty to use the default.

Purchase Receipt Email
WP PayPal plugin allows you to send a purchase receipt email to the customer after completion of a successful purchase. By default, this feature is disabled. In order to use this feature, you need to enable it in the settings.

You can customize the following options in the purchase receipt email,
- Purchase Receipt Email Subject: The subject line for the purchase receipt email. You can use various tags in the email subject to dynamically change its content when it is sent.
- Purchase Receipt Email Type: The content type of the purchase receipt email (Plain Text/HTML).
- Purchase Receipt Email Body: The main content of the purchase receipt email. You can use various tags in the email body to dynamically change its content when it is sent.
Sale Notification Email
WP PayPal plugin can send a sale notification email to your chosen recipient after completion of a successful purchase. By default, this feature is disabled. In order to use this feature, you need to enable it in the settings.

You can customize the following options in the sale notification email,
- Sale Notification Email Recipient: The email address that should receive a notification anytime a sale is made.
- Sale Notification Email Subject: The subject line for the sale notification email. You can use various tags in the email subject to dynamically change its content when it is sent.
- Sale Notification Email Type: The content type of the sale notification email (Plain Text/HTML).
- Sale Notification Email Body: The main content of the sale notification email. You can use various tags in the email body to dynamically change its content when it is sent.
Email Tags
The following email tags can be used in the email subject/body to dynamically change its content when an email is sent,
{first_name} – The customer’s first name.
{last_name} – The customer’s last name.
{txn_id} – The unique transaction ID for this purchase.
{product_name} – The name of the product purchased.
{item_names} – The name(s) of the product purchased.
{mc_currency} – The currency code used to make the payment.
{mc_gross} – The full amount of the customer’s payment.
{payer_email} – The customer’s email address.
{custom} – A pass-through custom variable for your own tracking purposes.
{shipping_address} – The customer’s shipping address.
{variation} – The variation of the product purchased.
{threedigitdiffrandnum} – A random 3 digit number. The generated numbers will be unique if the tag occurs multiple times in a single email message.
PayPal Checkout
With the PayPal Checkout payment method (previously known as PayPal Express Checkout), you can create smart payment buttons to accept one-time payments with our plugin.
Product
To create a buy button you need to create a product first (WP PayPal > Products). You can then add a shortcode block from your WordPress post/page editor and insert the following shortcode into it.
[wp_paypal_product id="1"]
Replace 1 with the actual product ID.
Publish/update the page and you will see the button on the front end. Clicking this button will take you to the checkout page where payment options will appear.
Checkout
In order for the payment options to appear, your checkout page needs to contain the following shortcode.
[wp_paypal_checkout]
This will show the eligible payment methods the at checkout.

PayPal Checkout Add-ons
PayPal Checkout payment method comes with various add-ons that you can use to enhance its functionality on your website.
Variable Price
Variable Price add-on shows a price input field with your PayPal Checkout button. This lets buyers set the amount they wish to pay.
Mailchimp Integration
Mailchimp Integration add-on can automatically add the buyer’s email address to your chosen Mailchimp audience/list after a PayPal Checkout payment.
Custom Input
Custom Input add-on shows a text box with your PayPal Checkout buttons. The text box can be used to collect custom data from buyers at checkout. This is really useful if a buyer would like to include a custom note or special instructions.
Contact Form 7 Integration
Contact Form 7 Integration add-on can show a pre-configured PayPal Checkout button after a form submission. This allows buyers to make payments after a Contact Form 7 type form is submitted.
Product Variations
Product variations add-on can be used to set up variations for your PayPal Checkout buttons.
Order Export
Order Export add-on can be used to export order data to a CSV file.
Manage PayPal Orders
When you receive a new order it will appear in the Orders menu.

That was 1 step forward but it doesn’t help me since my ultimate goal is to dynamically build the wp_paypal_checkout shortcode in XYZ snippets, (using PHP), and include that XYZ snippet it in a page. I do this with other short_codes and they work fine, but wp_paypal_checkout shortcode will not run inside an XYZ snippet. Are you aware of an issue running your shortcode inside a product like XYZ? There are other products like XYZ but I’ve tried them all in the past few days without any success.
Is there a way to place a button for just the Credit card payment option? I am wanting to try using my own button image but also want to give guests the chance to pay via card on the site. I can get the custom button image working fine.
@Paul, Are you using PayPal Checkout shortcode? The card option should appear by default.
I normally do for an ordinary Buy now and credit card button combo. Does that work with the button_image parameter?
I’ll have a play and find out.
Thanks
Thanks but the Paypal Checkout shortcode won’t show a custom button image. If I display a custom button image, the credit card button isn’t displayed. I thought if there was a way to show just the credit card button, I could use that shortcode straight after the custom image.
I’d rather not turn away people who don’t have a paypal account.