PayPal

How to add a PayPal account to ShipStation, what features are available, and other need-to-know details.

Add PayPal to your website's checkout options! ShipStation makes PayPal shipping quick and easy by enabling you to import order information, create and print shipping labels, and seamlessly fulfill multiple orders at a time.

The PayPal Shipping Center

The PayPal Shipping Center powered by ShipStation is a separate website used for creating shipping labels for orders managed in PayPal.

To access the PayPal Shipping Center, go to paypal.shipstation.com.

PayPal Requirements

Connection Requirements:

  • An active Business Account or a Premier Account with PayPal.

  • Must grant third-party access to PayPal before connecting. Here is the PayPal help article about this process.

    • The third-party permissions username for this process: payments_api1.shipstation.com

  • Must grant the following permissions for ShipStation:

    • Obtain information about a single transaction

    • Search your transactions for items that match specific criteria and display the results

Order Import Requirements:

  • Include a Ship To address.

Connect a PayPal Account to ShipStation

To connect your PayPal account to ShipStation:

  1. Log in to your Paypal Business Account here.

  2. Go to Account Settings in the drop-down under your profile name.

    PayPal with Account Settings marked.
  3. Go to Account access and click the Update link for API access

    PayPal Settings with Account Access and API Access update link highlighted.

    PayPal's Classic Interface

    If you're using PayPal's classic interface, click Request API Credentials, then skip to Step 5.

    PayPal Account Information with arrow pointing to Request API credentials list item.
  4. Click Grant API permission in the Pre-built payment solution section.

    PayPal API with Grant API Permission link highlighted.
  5. Enter "payments_api1.shipstation.com" into the Third Party Permission Username box, then click Lookup.

    PayPal Add New Third Party Permissions with arrow pointing to Lookup button.
  6. Check the following permissions, then click Add:

    • Obtain information about a single transaction.

    • Search your transactions for items that match specific criteria and display the results.

    paypal_grant_permissions_permissions_annotated.png
  7. Select the PayPal tile.

    PayPal logo on square tile button that reads, "Connect".
  8. Enter your PayPal Email Address, then click Send Email Verification.

    PayPal connection with email address field and Send Email Verification button highlighted.
  9. Check your email for the verification email and follow the steps inside to verify the email address.

  10. Click Test Connection after the email has been verified, then Next if the test is successful.

    PayPal connection with Test Connection and Next button highlighted.
  11. Select whether ShipStation should use the PayPal Transaction ID or Invoice # as the Order Number when creating orders, then click Next.

    PayPal connection Order Number selection with Use the Invoice # option selected.

    Invoice ID Field

    The Invoice # option will use PayPal's Invoice ID field.

    If you want to restrict the store so that ShipStation only receives orders from a specific PayPal email address, enter it in the available field. Otherwise, leave it blank. Click Next.

    PayPal connection Restrict to email address option.
  12. Select whether ShipStation should import all transactions, or only certain types of transactions. If you only want certain types of transactions to import, select the transaction types.

    PayPal connection Transaction Types list.
  13. Click Connect.

After you've completed the connection steps, your store will be connected to ShipStation. You'll be taken to the store's Settings page to adjust the store-specific settings like branding, notification preferences, and product handling.

Available Features for PayPal Integration

The ShipStation integration with PayPal supports the following standard features:

Additional Features for PayPal

The ShipStation integration with PayPal allows for the following additional features:

Feature

Description

Skips eBay transactions

ShipStation will skip PayPal transactions with included data that indicates the transaction is related to an eBay order. If you need to import eBay orders into ShipStation, you should connect your eBay account to ShipStation directly.

ShipStation may still receive a transaction related to eBay orders if the payment transaction was not handled through eBay. This includes transactions like sending a Money Request directly to a buyer through PayPal.

Support-Enabled Features for PayPal

In addition to the features listed above, the ShipStation User Success team can enable the following settings for your eBay store.

Feature

Description

Custom Fields

Up to three Custom Fields can be mapped for a PayPal store. Available custom fields are as follows:

  • Custom ID

  • Ship Street 1

If a store allows custom statuses, this means you define that statuses your orders use in your selling channel. In most cases, if you have custom statuses you'll need to define which ShipStation statuses each custom order status corresponds to.

ShipStation will import the customer's email address with the order data and can send shipment confirmation and delivery emails to that email address (configured in your Store settings).

ShipStation will import the customer phone number with the order data.

ShipStation will import the shipping method chosen by the customer during their store checkout.

ShipStation will import the payment method used to pay for the order.

ShipStation will import discount and coupon information for the order.

ShipStation can determine if an order is a gift from the order data sent by the store.

ShipStation will import internal notes or order activity from the store into the ShipStation Internal Notes field.

ShipStation will import notes provided by the customer when they made their purchase.

ShipStation will import the total order weight from the store.

ShipStation will import the weight for each line item in the order.

ShipStation will import an image URL for each line item in the order. These images will appear as thumbnails in your Order Details and can be included in email notifications and packing slips.

ShipStation will import item options (such as color or size) for each line item in the order. This data will appear in your Order Details and can be included in customer emails and packing slips.

ShipStation will import a product stock location for each line item in the order.

Status UpdateTracking NumberCarrierServiceCarrier Fee

The shipment update ShipStation sends to the selling channel will include any Notes to Buyer set on the order in ShipStation.

Item Information

Additional Details about the PayPal Integration

  • Due to limitations in the PayPal API, ShipStation is not able to send shipment updates to PayPal.

  • ShipStation is unable to determine if a PayPal order has already been shipped or not, so all PayPal orders are treated as Awaiting Shipment. If you ship a PayPal order outside of ShipStation you will need to use the Mark as Shipped action to update the status of the order.

    • Because of this limitation, a new PayPal store connection will not import any historic order data. If you require historic PayPal data to be imported, please contact the ShipStation User Success team and they can import PayPal data from the date you desire onward. Since ShipStation is not able to determine if the order has been shipped or not, all orders will import as Awaiting Shipment.

  • PayPal's API does not support the transmission of invoice information, which interferes with the ability to gather product information. Depending on the transaction type, the product information may be missing or incomplete.

PayPal Troubleshooting Tips

Here are some common issues experienced by users, potential causes, and available troubleshooting tips.

Issue

How to troubleshoot or resolve

Duplicated orders in ShipStation

What it means: This can happen if you have both PayPal and the selling channel connected to ShipStation. Since ShipStation is connected to both, we receive the order's data from both PayPal and the selling channel and treat them like unique orders.

What to do: To resolve this issue, add another e-mail address to your PayPal account:

  1. Log in to your Paypal Business Account here.

  2. Go to My Account, and then Profile.

    PayPal my account with arrow pointing to Profile link.
  3. Click Update on the Email line.

    PayPal my account profile with arrow pointing to Email Update link.
  4. Click the Add button to add another e-mail account.

Once you have added your second e-mail address to your PayPal account, you have two choices:

  1. Use the new email address for the selling channel's PayPal orders: For this option, you'll need to update your PayPal payment method on your store so that transactions use the new email address you created. You'll also need to reconfigure your PayPal store in ShipStation so that ShipStation is restricted to only getting orders which use the original PayPal email address.

  2. Use the new email address for PayPal orders outside of the selling channel: For this option, you can leave your store's payment methods just as they are, but you'll need to start using the new email address for PayPal transaction outside of the store. You'll also need to reconfigure your PayPal store in ShipStation so that ShipStation is restricted to only getting orders which use the new PayPal email address.

If a store allows custom statuses, this means you define that statuses your orders use in your selling channel. In most cases, if you have custom statuses you'll need to define which ShipStation statuses each custom order status corresponds to.

ShipStation will import the customer's email address with the order data and can send shipment confirmation and delivery emails to that email address (configured in your Store settings).

ShipStation will import the customer phone number with the order data.

ShipStation will import the shipping method chosen by the customer during their store checkout.

ShipStation will import the payment method used to pay for the order.

ShipStation will import discount and coupon information for the order.

ShipStation can determine if an order is a gift from the order data sent by the store.

ShipStation will import internal notes or order activity from the store into the ShipStation Internal Notes field.

ShipStation will import notes provided by the customer when they made their purchase.

ShipStation will import the total order weight from the store.

ShipStation will import the weight for each line item in the order.

ShipStation will import an image URL for each line item in the order. These images will appear as thumbnails in your Order Details and can be included in email notifications and packing slips.

ShipStation will import item options (such as color or size) for each line item in the order. This data will appear in your Order Details and can be included in customer emails and packing slips.

ShipStation will import a product stock location for each line item in the order.

Status UpdateTracking NumberCarrierServiceCarrier Fee

The shipment update ShipStation sends to the selling channel will include any Notes to Buyer set on the order in ShipStation.

Item Information