Important: Only enable this integration if you are using PayPal’s standalone payment buttons. This means you have generated a PayPal button script on your PayPal account and copied to a page or post on your WordPress site. If your eCommerce/Membership system already provides PayPal functionality, do not enable this integration.
To enable support for tracking affiliate referrals with PayPal buttons, go to AffiliateWP » Settings » Integrations and check the box that says PayPal Buttons:
Once enabled, AffiliateWP will now be able to track affiliate referrals on purchases made with PayPal buttons on your website.
If you are unsure of how to create a PayPal button or place it on your site, please see PayPal’s documentation.
Set your Store PayPal Email
Once PayPal Buttons is checked, the Store PayPal Email setting appears below the list of integrations. Enter the email address of the PayPal account that receives your PayPal Buttons payments, then save. Most stores have just one. If your buttons pay into more than one PayPal account of yours, enter one email per line. Your PayPal merchant account ID also works in place of the email.
This is your store’s own PayPal account, not the account you use to pay affiliates. Until you save it, AffiliateWP shows a notice in the admin asking for it, and new PayPal Buttons referrals stay Pending for your review.
Let AffiliateWP find it for you. While the setting is empty, AffiliateWP checks the PayPal Buttons forms in your published pages and posts and lists the PayPal accounts it finds under the setting. Add each one that belongs to your store with the button next to it, then save. Nothing is used until you save it, because a page can also carry a PayPal button that pays someone else, such as a partner’s or a charity’s donate button.
If your PayPal account isn’t listed, enter its email yourself. AffiliateWP can’t find the account for:
- Buttons saved in your PayPal account. Their code has a button ID where your email would be.
- Buttons added by another plugin’s shortcode or block, or placed in a widget or your theme.
Important notes
How PayPal Buttons referrals are completed
When a visitor who came through an affiliate’s link clicks a PayPal button on your site, AffiliateWP creates a pending referral with an amount of 0.01. When PayPal reports the payment, AffiliateWP calculates the commission from the real purchase total and marks the referral Unpaid, but only when both of these are true:
- The payment went to the PayPal account you saved as your Store PayPal Email (see Set your Store PayPal Email above).
- The payment is in your store currency.
If no Store PayPal Email is saved yet, or the payment is in another currency, the referral gets the real amount but stays Pending so you can approve or reject it. A payment to a PayPal account that isn’t in your Store PayPal Email is ignored, so its referral keeps the 0.01 amount and stays Pending.
Supported button types
This integration fully supports the following PayPal button types:
- Buy Now
- Add to Cart
- Donate
- Subscribe
- Gift Certificate
Note: You must use the embed code shown on the “Website” tab of the button edit screen. Using the URL in the “Email” tab will not work.
Recurring payment tracking
This integration will generate referral commissions on the initial signup payment for a subscription. If you would like automatic renewal payments for subscriptions to also create referral commissions, you’ll need our Recurring Referrals add-on.
Renewal referrals follow the same rule as the first payment: they are marked Unpaid automatically only when the renewal went to your Store PayPal Email in your store currency. See the Recurring Referrals doc for details.
Rejecting referrals when a refund is processed via PayPal
When the Reject Unpaid Referrals on Refund setting is on, AffiliateWP rejects a referral automatically when PayPal refunds or reverses the payment that created it, as long as the referral hasn’t been paid. This includes referrals waiting as Pending for your review, so a refunded sale can’t be approved by mistake later. Paid referrals are never changed.