Connecting Stripe and PayPal
What connecting actually does, the onboarding states, what each one unlocks, and what to check before going live.
Settings, Payment. A card processor has to be connected before it can be enabled. Connecting links your account with the shop so payments go to you rather than through anybody else.
Availability depends on more than the shop
Each processor operates in its own list of countries and currencies, and each underwrites merchants individually. Onboarding can be refused for where your business is registered or for what you sell, and that decision is theirs rather than the platform's. Connect what you intend to use well before launch.
The Status Column
Each gateway shows one of four states.
| Status | Means |
|---|---|
| Not connected | Nothing has been linked yet |
| In progress | Onboarding started and not finished |
| Connected | Ready, and can be enabled |
| Failed | The processor rejected something |
A gateway that is connected but not enabled is invisible at checkout. Both are required.
Connecting Stripe
Press Connect Stripe. You are taken to Stripe, you either sign in to an existing account or create one, and you are returned to the shop when it is done.
Stripe asks for the usual business questions: who you are, what you sell, and where the money should land. Expect to have your bank details and a form of identification to hand. The account can take payments immediately in most countries, with payouts beginning once Stripe has finished its own checks.
The money goes to your account, not through the platform
Connecting links your own Stripe account. Payouts, fees and disputes are between you and Stripe, and the shop records what the customer paid rather than what Stripe eventually pays you.
Once connected you can choose which payment methods Stripe offers: cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Klarna, Cash App, iDEAL, Bancontact, Giropay, EPS, Alipay and others. Only switch on what is relevant to where you sell, because every extra button at checkout is one more decision for the shopper.
Connecting PayPal
Press Connect PayPal and complete PayPal's onboarding, which is the same shape: sign in, confirm your business, come back.
PayPal brings more than itself. Once connected it can offer Pay Later, Venmo, Apple Pay and Google Pay through the PayPal button, which is why shops often run it alongside a card processor rather than instead of one.
Wallets appear for the shopper, not necessarily for you
Apple Pay and Google Pay only appear on devices and browsers that support them. Not seeing them on your own machine does not mean they are not working for customers. Test on a phone before concluding they are missing.
Authorize.net, Square and Braintree
These are connected by entering credentials rather than through a redirect, because they issue them from their own dashboards.
Authorize.net needs an API Login ID and a Transaction Key, both from the Authorize.net merchant interface. It also offers eCheck for bank debits, which has to be enabled on the account at their end before the shop can use it.
Square needs an Access Token, an Application ID and a Location ID. The location matters: Square ties payments to a location, and the wrong one puts your online sales in the wrong place in their reporting.
Braintree needs a Merchant ID, a Public Key and a Private Key.
Keys are not interchangeable with test keys
Every one of these processors issues a separate set of sandbox credentials. Pasting sandbox keys into a live shop produces payments that look successful and never arrive. If takings are being recorded and your bank shows nothing, check this first.
Restricting a Gateway to Certain Customers
A gateway can be restricted to customer groups, which is how purchase orders are offered to trade accounts and nobody else. The method simply does not appear at checkout for anyone outside the group.
The Checkout Label
Each method has a label shown to the shopper. The defaults are fine, but this is where you change "Check / Money Order" to whatever your customers actually call it, or add a few words such as "Invoice, 30 days" so the choice explains itself.
Before You Go Live
Four checks, in this order.
Place a real order with a real card and confirm the money reaches your processor's dashboard, not just that the shop says it succeeded.
Refund it from the shop and confirm the refund appears at the processor too.
Check the confirmation email that the customer receives, since that is where a wrong shop name or address shows up.
Check on a mobile device, because that is where the wallet buttons appear and where most card entry actually happens.
If Payments Stop Working
Look at the gateway's status first. A connection can lapse: tokens expire, accounts get restricted, and a processor can suspend an account pending information without telling the shop.
Then look at an actual failed order, which records the reason the processor gave. That is almost always more precise than anything you can infer from the outside.