Connecting with PayPal powered by Braintree

PayPal powered by Braintree is a payment gateway that lets your customers use their credit/debit card or PayPal account to pay for their order. It also supports PayPal Pay Later, stored payment methods, multi-currency, 3D Secure, and several leading digital wallets. BigCommerce has teamed up with PayPal to offer special pre-negotiated rates for qualifying merchants.

According to comScore’s 2018 study, sites that accepted PayPal had 47% higher conversion vs. those that didn’t. The analysis also showed PayPal conversion performed, on average, 60% higher than “other digital wallets” and 82% higher than “all payment types combined”.

To use PayPal powered by Braintree, your store must meet the following requirements:

• Manage Payments and Manage Settings user permissions must be enabled.

• In-Context Checkout & PayPal One Touch — Customers can pay for their order using their PayPal account without ever leaving your storefront. Customers also have the ability to enable PayPal One Touch, so they can check out automatically with PayPal the next time they buy, without having to log in. Both of these features help to create a more seamless checkout experience that encourages the shopper to complete their order.
• PayPal Pay Later — You can also offer shoppers the ability to pay using PayPal Pay Later, allowing you to get paid in full right away while letting your customers pay over time.
• Digital Wallets — You can give customers the option to use leading digital wallets like Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Visa Click to Pay, allowing them to check out without having to enter payment details.
• Smart Buttons — When PayPal is enabled, you can have additional payment methods like Venmo automatically appear for shoppers who have them set up on their device. Smart Buttons also allow you to control how your PayPal-related payment buttons appear on the cart and quick cart pages of your storefront, using Page Builder.
• ACH Direct Debit — US merchants can allow shoppers to pay directly from their bank account with ACH Direct Debit. By offering direct debit, shoppers can complete both one-time and recurring payments without the need for a credit card, and they will benefit from a reduced risk of fraud and lower processing fees.
• Stored Credit Cards & PayPal Accounts — If you're on a Plus or higher plan, customers can save their credit card and PayPal account details for fast checkout the next time they visit.
• Security — PayPal powered by Braintree also offers advanced functionality like fraud protection, 3D Secure, and the ability to authorize payments before capture.
• Multicurrency — Reduce currency conversion issues by giving your customers the ability to pay in their own native currency. See Managing Currencies to learn more about setting up currencies.
• Level 2 and Level 3 Data — Provide commercial shoppers with additional information about purchases on their card statements. US domestic transactions submitted with L2/L3 data that meet certain requirements have lower interchange rates, by up to 90 basis points. See Braintree's documentation for more information.

To set up PayPal powered by Braintree, visit one of the following two articles:

• US, UK, FR based merchants - Connecting with PayPal powered by Braintree | Automated Setup
• Merchants based outside the US, UK and FR - Connecting with PayPal powered by Braintree | Manual Setup

• Pricing and Fees
• Account Eligibility
• Transactions
• Refunds
• Additional Features
• Troubleshooting and Payment Disputes

Pricing and Fees

What fees are associated with the gateway?

PayPal powered by Braintree’s standard pricing is 2.59% + $0.49 per transaction, but if you are a US-based merchant, you may be eligible for special pre-negotiated rates through BigCommerce. See PayPal's Pricing and Fees for more information.

Can I get a better rate if I process a lot of orders or represent a charity?

The PayPal sales team will be happy to discuss your options with you. Contact them directly at:

Account Eligibility

What currencies and countries are supported?

Our integration supports any of the countries supported by Braintree. Please note that the following countries can use credit card processing, but not PayPal OneTouch checkout: Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, and New Zealand.

Are there any restrictions for merchants?

Information on PayPal’s restricted activities can be found at Restricted Activities Risk and Underwriting.

Can I have more than one store associated with my Braintree account?

No, each store needs to be associated with its own Braintree account. 

Can I use multiple Braintree Merchant Account IDs with BigCommerce? 

No. Only the primary Merchant Account ID can be used in the Braintree account. If a customer needs to use multiple Merchant Account IDs, then they need to set up multiple Braintree accounts.

Transactions

How long until a transaction's funds are transferred to my bank?

Funds should appear in your bank account 2-5 days after the transaction has settled. For more details on funding and settlement timelines, see Braintree's Get Paid article.

Will I or my customers receive an additional email or invoice from Braintree?

PayPal powered by Braintree allows you to send additional email notifications, but this functionality is disabled by default since BigCommerce sends an order confirmation email to customers automatically. This setting can be toggled in the Braintree control panel under Settings › Email Receipts. For more details on BigCommerce email notifications, see Customer Order Notifications.

Does Braintree allow authorize-only/delayed capture transactions?

Yes. For more general information about managing authorizations, see Braintree's article, Managing Authorizations. For information on how to capture funds manually in the BigCommerce control panel, see Manually Capturing Transactions.

If authorize-only/delayed capture is allowed, are there fees for voiding a transaction?

No, fees are only applied to successful, settled transactions. See PayPal's Pricing and Fees article for more information.

How long can a charge stay authorized before it is automatically voided?

It depends on whether the client has paid using their credit card or their PayPal account, as well as which credit card they used. For a full breakdown of authorization expiration time frames, see PayPal's article on Managing Authorizations.

Can I view both my Braintree and PayPal orders in one place?

Yes, both your PayPal and Braintree orders will be visible in your Braintree virtual terminal.

How do orders processed through PayPal powered by Braintree appear on the Orders screen?

• For credit/debit card orders, Payment Method appears as “Braintree”.
• For PayPal, PayPal Pay Later, and Venmo orders, Payment Method appears as “Braintree (PayPal)”.

Refunds

How soon after a transaction can I perform a refund?

As soon as the transaction has settled, usually within 24 hours, you can issue a refund. For instructions on how to issue a refund, see Processing Refunds.

Is there an amount of time after which I cannot perform a refund?

There is no time limit for credit card transactions. For PayPal transactions, PayPal requires refunds to be issued within 60 days, but this can be changed by contacting PayPal.

Are there any fees for chargebacks and refunds?

You can read about PayPal's policies on chargebacks and refunds in the PayPal User Agreement.

Additional Features

Are there any fraud protection options available?

Yes, you have the option to enable fraud protection settings. To learn how to configure fraud settings during setup, see Connecting with PayPal powered by Braintree | Automated Setup or Connecting with PayPal powered by Braintree | Manual Setup. For more information about these settings, see PayPal's article on Fraud Tools.

Does PayPal powered by Braintree offer recurring billing or subscriptions?

PayPal powered by Braintree supports recurring payments with ACH Direct Debit only.  If you choose not to offer ACH Direct Debit. you can enable PayPal Pay Later to give your shoppers the ability to pay over time.

How do I offer ACH Direct Debit to my customers?

For setup steps, see PayPal powered by Braintree | Automated Setup.

What are "Smart Buttons"?

When PayPal is enabled, the shopper is automatically shown additional payment methods that are best suited to them, based on the device they are using and the geographical region they are in. For example, shoppers using a mobile device with Venmo set up and with USD as their selected currency will see the option to pay with Venmo, and shoppers in supported countries are shown the option for PayPal Pay Later.

If you would like to offer Venmo, you will need to toggle Enable Venmo from the Braintree Settings tab in your control panel before shoppers will see it as an option in the cart page and quick cart. Note that Venmo will not appear in your list of payment options at checkout.

Can I customize/style how payment buttons look on each page?

Yes, you can control how the PayPal, PayPal Pay Later, and Venmo buttons appear using Page Builder if your store meets the following requirements:

• PayPal powered by Braintree must be enabled on your store.
• Your storefront must be using a compatible theme (like Cornerstone).
• Your store must be using Optimized One-Page Checkout.

Does PayPal powered by Braintree support Level 2 and Level 3 data fields?

Yes, Level 2 and Level 3 data fields are supported for US domestic transactions for commercial shoppers. See Braintree's documentation for a list of required fields in order for transactions to be processed as Level 2 or 3.

Which Level 2 and 3 data fields are collected by Braintree?

See the table below for a complete list of collected data fields. Bolded fields are required. Note that fields like ships_from_postal_code and commodity_code must be entered in your store in order to be collected.

How do I add Smart Buttons to my product pages?

If you are using Cornerstone 6.6.1 or newer and have not customized your theme files, you can enable payment buttons for PayPal Checkout and Venmo on the product page by checking Show quick payment buttons in the theme’s Product display settings.

If you are using a different theme, or you have customized your Cornerstone theme files, your theme will require additional customization in order to support product page payment buttons. For assistance with applying these customizations to your theme files, we recommend reaching out to a BigCommerce Partner by visiting our Partner Directory or submitting an Agency Design Request.

How can I place Smart Buttons at the top of my checkout page?

You can place Smart Buttons at the top of checkout by checking Show wallet buttons at the top of checkout located under Settings › Checkout.

Troubleshooting and Payment Disputes

Why did my customer receive an error when trying to pay?

Look up your error code in the list of PayPal Decline Codes to see why the error occurred. From there, you can contact BigCommerce support, who will direct you to the right place.

How are payment disputes handled?

You’ll need to manage disputes in both the Braintree virtual terminal and the PayPal console. For more information, see PayPal's article on Understanding Disputes.

How do I contact PayPal/Braintree's support as a BigCommerce client?

Talk to BigCommerce support first, and we’ll direct you to the right place.