PayPal

Connect PayPal to MagicPost to take one-time payments and recurring subscriptions with the PayPal REST API.

PayPal supports every MagicPost plan type. Prepaid and Lifetime plans are paid as a PayPal order that MagicPost captures when the customer returns. Monthly and Yearly plans use PayPal subscriptions.

Setting	Value
Settings page	Admin → Finance → Payment Gateways → Paypal
Name at checkout	PayPal
Test mode	Mode → Sandbox, with your PayPal sandbox app
Webhook URL	https://YOUR_DOMAIN/webhooks/paypal
Webhook events	BILLING.SUBSCRIPTION.RENEWED, PAYMENT.SALE.COMPLETED, BILLING.SUBSCRIPTION.CANCELLED, BILLING.SUBSCRIPTION.EXPIRED, BILLING.SUBSCRIPTION.SUSPENDED
Return URL	https://YOUR_DOMAIN/app/user/payments/return/paypal, set by MagicPost on each payment
Cancel URL	https://YOUR_DOMAIN/app/user/billing, set by MagicPost on each payment
Currency	The currency of the plan

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Get your credentials from PayPal

1. Open the developer dashboard

   Sign in to the PayPal Developer Dashboard.

2. Choose Sandbox or Live

   Open Apps & Credentials and select the environment you are setting up. Sandbox and Live have separate apps and separate credentials.

3. Create an app

   Click Create App, enter an App Name such as your product name, and choose Merchant as the app type.

4. Copy the credentials

   Open the app. Copy the Client ID and the Secret.

Keep the Secret private. Do not share it or put it in client-side code.

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Create the webhook in PayPal

1. Add a webhook

   On the same app page, find the Webhooks section and click Add Webhook.

2. Enter the URL

   Enter:

   https://YOUR_DOMAIN/webhooks/paypal
   
3. Select the events

   Select the events MagicPost acts on:

   • BILLING.SUBSCRIPTION.RENEWED
   • PAYMENT.SALE.COMPLETED
   • BILLING.SUBSCRIPTION.CANCELLED
   • BILLING.SUBSCRIPTION.EXPIRED
   • BILLING.SUBSCRIPTION.SUSPENDED
4. Copy the Webhook ID

   Save the webhook, then copy its Webhook ID.

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Add the credentials in MagicPost

1. Open the PayPal card

   Go to Admin → Finance → Payment Gateways and click Paypal. The page is titled Paypal Settings.

2. Enable it

   Under General, turn on Status, then choose Live or Sandbox under Mode.

3. Paste the credentials

   Under Keys, fill in:

   • Live Paypal Client ID
   • Live PayPal Client Secret
   • Sandbox Paypal Client ID
   • Sandbox PayPal Client Secret
4. Paste the Webhook ID

   Under Webhooks, compare Webhook URL with the one you gave PayPal, then paste the ID into Webhook ID.

5. Save

   Click Save.

If Webhook ID is empty, MagicPost accepts webhook requests without verifying them with PayPal. Fill it in on a live site. There is one Webhook ID field for both modes, so replace it when you switch Mode.

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How payments work

One-time plans (Prepaid, Lifetime). MagicPost creates a PayPal order for the plan price and sends the customer to PayPal to approve it. The checkout page shows your site name (the application name) as the brand and asks for no shipping address. When the customer returns, MagicPost captures the payment, records the order, and for Lifetime plans creates the subscription.

Recurring plans (Monthly, Yearly). The first time someone buys the plan, MagicPost creates a PayPal catalog product and a billing plan that charges every month or every year with no end date. It then creates a PayPal subscription for the customer and sends them to PayPal to approve it. You do not create billing plans by hand.

After PayPal. The customer comes back to the return URL. MagicPost checks the result, records the order and opens the success page. The customer must come back in the same browser session in which they started the payment.

Renewals and cancellation.

• BILLING.SUBSCRIPTION.RENEWED and PAYMENT.SALE.COMPLETED extend the subscriber’s period and renew the credit allowance.
• BILLING.SUBSCRIPTION.CANCELLED, BILLING.SUBSCRIPTION.EXPIRED and BILLING.SUBSCRIPTION.SUSPENDED mark the subscription as cancelled.
• When a subscriber is cancelled in MagicPost, MagicPost also cancels the PayPal subscription.

Price changes. When you change a plan’s name, price, currency or type, MagicPost deactivates the old billing plan and creates a new one at the next purchase.

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Currency

MagicPost sends the plan’s currency code in uppercase and the price with two decimals. Your PayPal account must be able to receive that currency.

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Test mode

Select Sandbox, enter the sandbox Client ID and Secret, and save. MagicPost then talks to PayPal’s sandbox, where you pay with a sandbox buyer account from the developer dashboard. Switch back to Live before you accept real payments.

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Common errors

This payment method is not available right now.

Status is off for PayPal. Turn it on and save.

We could not start the payment. Please try again or contact support.

The credentials for the selected Mode are missing or wrong. In the log you see “PayPal is not configured” or “PayPal authentication failed” with PayPal’s reply.

PayPal could not start the payment. Please try again. / PayPal could not start the subscription. Please try again.

PayPal refused to create the order or the subscription. The response is logged in storage/logs/laravel.log.

We could not prepare this plan for PayPal billing. Please contact support.

The product or billing plan could not be created. Check the credentials and that the plan has a price above zero.

Missing PayPal session reference.

The customer reached the return URL without the session that started the payment, for example in another browser or after the session expired.

PayPal could not capture the payment. / PayPal could not verify the subscription.

PayPal rejected the capture or the status lookup after the customer came back. Check the log entry for PayPal’s answer.

Subscription was not activated.

PayPal returned a status other than ACTIVE, APPROVED or APPROVAL_PENDING.

PayPal webhook returns 400 invalid signature

Webhook ID does not belong to the webhook that sent the event, or belongs to the other environment.

See also Payment gateways and Billing problems.