You can set up PayPal under Setup » Automated Payments and can choose either semi-automated or automated payments. If you are part of the EU, then only the semi-automated options apply.
Semi-Automated Payments With PayPal
The Semi-Automated payment option means that your invoices are generated and sent automatically to your members, but the member must manually click on "Pay now with PayPal" in order to complete the transaction. Members can pay their invoices and buy additional time passes with PayPal directly from their member portal.
In order for this integration to work, you must first have a merchant account with PayPal. Check out their website to get started.
Once you have your account, go to Setup » Automated Payments » Add Payment Method » Add PayPal.
You will then be asked to enter your PayPal API credentials. Here are the basic steps to get the required information.
**You may need to reach out to PayPal's support team to get the data you need. You can find that contact information within your PayPal account dashboard.
How Will This Look to Your Members?
If left as a visible payment method, your members will now be able to choose 'PayPal' from the drop-down in their member portal under Membership » Payment Method. Here's how it looks to them:
How your members receive their invoices will depend on your invoice settings:
If you would like your member to receive their invoice automatically via email as soon as it is generated, go to Setup > Invoice Settings > check 'Send invoices by email' > Save. If activated, the member will receive an email with a payment link as soon as their next payment is due. They will be directed to the PayPal website to make the payment.; once completed, the corresponding invoice will show up as Paid via PayPal.
If you do not activate the emails, then the invoices will be posted to their member portal under Membership. They can login to process payments against them by clicking on 'Pay Now'. They will be directed to the PayPal website to make the payment; once completed, the corresponding invoice will show up as Paid via PayPal.
Important Notes:
If your member chooses to change their payment method to PayPal after invoices have already been generated, they will now see a 'Pay Now' button at the top of any outstanding invoices. Once they click on it, they will be redirected to their PayPal login screen to complete the transaction.
If you choose to offer time passes your coworkers will be able to buy them within their member portal dashboard and pay via PayPal.
Fully Automated Payments With PayPal Express
ONLY AVAILABLE TO SPACES OUTSIDE OF THE EU
We have extended the integration to allow for automated payments through PayPal as well. The only thing to consider is that your PayPal account needs to be enabled to accept reference transactions, which requires the two following conditions:
A PayPal account that has been in existence for at least 90 days.
The account needs to have processed 5000€ or $6000 in the last 90 days.
If you have met both those requirements, then:
Contact PayPal and ask them to turn on reference transactions for you as these conditions are a requirement of PayPal, not Cobot.
Wait for reference transaction to be enabled, and you will get an email like this:
Once this has been done, your members will be taken to the PayPal login screen as soon as they click on 'Update Payment Method' from their member portal. They only have to log in to their account once, and then all invoices will be auto charged to their account from that point on.
Important Notes:
If you are asked to "Add New Third Party Credentials" in the signup process, this will need to come from PayPal, please reach out to their customer support directly.
Reconciling Payments
Once a PayPal transaction has been initiated, PayPal sends a message to Cobot marking the invoice as paid, regardless of whether the money has arrived in your connected account. This means, you'll still need to manually reconcile this as we can't really do anything about the message PayPal sends or control the timeliness of the funds transfer.
We recommend you do this monthly to ensure your accounting and analytics are correct.
Next Step
If you want to use pro-rated invoices, Cobot can calculate them for you.