For the best results, we recommend using our recommended payment gateway, Stripe.


However, for those who would like to setup PayPal Standard (Free) as their payment gateway, please follow the steps below after entering your payment gateway credentials.  For help finding your PayPal API Username, API Password, and API Signature, please see the documentation on this topic provided by PayPal.


Your Instant Notification (IPN) URL


Once you have activated PayPal Standard as the payment gateway of your site, you can find the IPN URL for your website on the "Payment Gateways" page in the Admin of your site.


If you cannot find the IPN URL here, please use the following formula to create your IPN URL:


Start with the following URL, replacing "www.domain.com" with the domain of your website: 


http://www.domain.com/checkout/notifications/paypalipn


For example, if the domain of your website is www.marys-website.com then you would enter the following URL into this field:


http://www.marys-website.com/checkout/notifications/paypalipn


Setup Your Instant Notification Settings


NOTE: PayPal has several different account layouts, so the screenshots and steps below my not apply for your specific type of PayPal account.  If you are having trouble following the steps below or you have a different account layout, please contact PayPal and ask them for assistance to enable IPN notifications to the URL described above.

The following screenshots and steps were taken in the 4th quarter of 2016 with a USA PayPal Standard (Free) account:

  1. After logging into your PayPal account, click on "Seller Preferences" in the left sidebar:



    Alternatively, navigate directly to this URL:

    https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_profile-display-handler&tab_id=SELLER_PREFERENCES


  2. Click on the "Update" link for Instant Payment Notifications:




  3. Click the "Choose IPN Settings" button:



  4. 1) Enter the IPN URL in the "Notification URL" field

    2) Select "Receive IPN messages"

    3) Click on "Save":