Overview

PayPal Commerce Platform (PayPal Checkout)

The Commerce PayPal for Drupal 8.x module provides several gateway options. PayPal Commerce Platform (PayPal Checkout) is the preferred option. It is an off-site payment gateway. For an explanation of off-site vs on-site and general payment gateway terminology, see the Drupal Commerce Payments documentation. When enabled to use Smart Payment Buttons, the PayPal Commerce Platform gateway provides the type of functionality you'd expect from PayPal. Payment buttons "powered by PayPal" are displayed during checkout and, optionally, on the cart page:

When customers click on one of the buttons, a pop-up modal window appears which allows them to interact directly with PayPal. They never need to enter payment information directly into your Drupal site.

The PayPal Commerce Platform gateway also provides a second option as an alternative to Smart Payment Buttons. If you select the "Accept credit cards" option while configuring your gateway, customers will not see PayPal buttons on their cart or during checkout. Instead, they will complete a traditional credit card form.

Depending on the credit card information entered, PayPal may request additional verification through a pop-up modal, like this:

PayPal Payflow Pro Gateway

PayPal Payflow Pro Gateway is an on-site payment gateway that allows customers to pay without leaving the store. From a customer's perspective, this means that they enter their credit card information through a standard form as part of the checkout process. PayPal Payflow Pro is only available to merchants based in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. This gateway option enables merchants to keep customers on their storefront for credit card transactions and allows customers to purchase without needing a PayPal account. Customers will see a standard credit card data entry form rather than PayPal buttons:

Note that an implementation for PayPal Express Checkout is also provided, but it a legacy/deprecated payment gateway and should not be used on new site installs. Setup and testing instructions for this gateway are not provided by this documentation guide.