PayPal is the most trusted and first global payment gateway, you can use PayPal to make payments in any currency to any country without any barrier.
You can set up a personal as well as business PayPal account to make and receive payments from global customers.
If you have built a new eCommerce online store on Shopify and have a question in mind
Can I Use Personal PayPal account on Shopify?
No, You can not use your personal PayPal account on Shopify for commercial use. Because Shopify only supports Business PayPal account to accept payments through Shopify stores to prevent fraud or SCAM activities through Shopify stores.
If you will try to connect your personal PayPal account with Shopify, you will find the below error:
in this case, you have to make a business PayPal account to connect with your Shopify store to accept the payment from customers.
eighter, you can upgrade your personal account to business or create a new Business account, the choice is yours. You can set up one personal and 1 business account on PayPal.
To set up a business account on PayPal, you must have a business license and other related legal certificates related to your business, then only you can create a business account on PayPal.
This is how Shopify prevents Fraud or scam activities through Shopify Stores, after the business Paypal account is set up you can connect it with the Shopify store.
How to use PayPal for multiple Shopify stores
You can use the same PayPal business account for multiple Shopify stores to receive payments from the customers, for that you don’t have to create multiple PayPal accounts.
- Login into your Shopify store using the owner or admin account and click on “Settings” and “Payments’
- If you are connecting to a PayPal account for the first time, then Shopify will capture your login email ID as a PayPal account ID automatically.
- If your Shopify login email ID is the same as your PayPal account email ID, then you can simply connect and follow the steps on PayPal
- If the login email id is different then click on the button “Deactivate PayPal Express Checkout” to deactivate this account from the Shopify store.
- After the deactivation, refresh the page, and under the Payments – PayPal section, click on the “Activate PayPal Express Checkout” button
- It will take you to the PayPal website for verification, now enter your email ID on the PayPal login page
- Make sure you enter your correct PayPal email account and click on the Next button for the next step.
- Read the terms and conditions and click on the “Agree and Connect” button and in the next window click on the “Go back to Shopify” button.
- You can see on the Shopify store your correct PayPal account has been connected successfully.
This is you have learned how to add paypal to shopify single store, and same account can be connected with multiple Shopify stores as well.
how to add paypal to shopify
Shopify allows configuring one PayPal account for multiple stores to receive payments.
For the second store, you can follow the same steps to connect PayPal payments with Shopify stores.
If in case you are getting any issues while connecting PayPal with the second store,
then you can logout all your PayPal accounts from the browser and try once again to connect
2nd option is you can open a Shopify store on the New Incognito window (Private window) to avoid the browser caching and connect the PayPal account.
After connecting multiple Shopify stores with a single PayPal account, you have to add a unique suffix or a prefix to each store order ID, for example, add WP_OrderID or OrderID_WP
Error: Duplicate invoice id detected PayPal
When you set up one PayPal account with more than one Shopify store, you will get the error “Payment has already been made for this InvoiceID” or Duplicate invoice ID detected.
This is because every Shopify store generates InvoiceID/OrderID and sends it to a PayPal account.
Because every store is connected with the same PayPal account so all OrderIDs go to One PayPal account and all look duplicate and the PayPal system gets confused and rejects the payment.
to avoid this error, add an auto-generated number, string, or combination of both as prefix or suffix in each store InvoiceID to distinguish between the OrderIDs from multiple stores.
For example:
- Store 1 – OrderID without suffix or prefix is GALARED928
- Store 2 – OrderID without suffix or prefix is GALARED928
OrderIDs after adding the suffix
- Store 1 – OrderID without suffix or prefix is ST1_GALARED928
- Store 2 – OrderID without suffix or prefix is ST2_GALARED928
Now payment will not be rejected by the PayPal system.
Note: Shopify allows Production stores only to connect with PayPal accounts, not with testing or staging stores. So when your store is ready to launch you can connect with PayPal.
Hope it will be clear to you now, Can I Use Personal PayPal account on Shopify? and the answer is No.
Error: Paypal express checkout shopify not working
This error message says, your Paypal connection with the Shopify store is not working properly, it’s not connected.
Possible reasons are either the Paypal account is not verified in the Shopify store or the Shopify account is not verified in the Paypal account.
You have to remove Paypal express checkout account from the Shopify store completely and connect once again, make sure you are using a Business Paypal account only and verify the account on both sides.
If still you are not able to connect, please raise a ticket to the Paypal support team.
How to use paypal express checkout
- Explore Shopify store
- Product to the shopping cart
- Click to make payment
- It will redirect you to the Paypal account
- Select the method of how you want to make the payment to Shopify either credit/debit card, bank account, or Paypal balance and that’s all done..!!
Is PayPal business account necessary for Shopify?
Yes, a Paypal business account is mandatory to connect PayPal with your Shopify store payment. This is required to avoid fraud or illegal activity prevention by the Shopify company.
If you don’t have a PayPal Business account, then you can go for other payment gateways which are supported by the Shopify store.
Can I use my personal PayPal account for dropshipping Shopify?
- You can use your personal PayPal account to receive the payment for the Dropshipping but there are limitations.
- You cannot connect your personal PayPal account with the Shopify Dropshipping store
- Customers feel unsafe transferring money to a personal account because it’s not legal in many countries
- You will not get the tax benefits of your dropshipping business
- Shopify doesn’t support personal PayPal account configuration, however, you can opt for other payment gateways.
What is Paypal express checkout Shopify
PayPal is one of the oldest global payment gateways, and it’s Shopify’s default payment method.
The moment you purchase any Shopify plan, the Paypal Express checkout account creates automatically for the same email ID which is used to create the Shopify store.
Later when you want to connect the Paypal payment method, you can register yourself as a business account on Paypal and connect it with the Shopify store to receive the payment from the customers.
Using Paypal, customers can use their credit card, debit card, bank account, or Paypal balance to make Shopify product payments.
However, you can use other Shopify Paypal business account for your store if you don’t want express checkout account. Just remove default connected account from the Shopify and connect again to other account.
FAQ Can you use PayPal for Shopify
Do I need a business account for my Shopify store?
Yes, To run a Shopify store and receive payments in a legal way, you should have a business account to connect with your Shopify store.
You can connect one PayPal Business account with more than one Shopify Store.
Using a business account it helps in accounting, company balance sheet, profit, and loss calculation, and other finance-related matrices in the long run.
Can I use my personal bank account for Shopify
Yes, Shopify does support personal bank account connection to receive payments in your Shopify Store, but it’s recommended to use a Business account to keep separate business and personal finance.
you can contact your personal bank before connecting with the Shopify store if they have any certain amount restriction in personal bank account type or not.
Can I Use Personal PayPal account on Shopify?
No, Shopify does not allow to use personal PayPal account on Shopify store payments, go for a Business account.
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Learn How to Integrate PayPal Payments into Shopify store step by step in video tutorial.