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PayPal form set-up documentation?

  1. klondike91
    Member

    I'm new to GF and have the developer license for PayPal. Can someone tell me the best way to add my products/services to the form. Can I create a dropdown or list of check boxes with pricing? Perhaps a dumb question, but which form fields are recommended for passing pricing to Paypal (i.e. Standard Fields or Pricing Fields)? I've tried to find documentation, but can't find much on this topic. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

    Posted 12 years ago on Monday August 29, 2011 | Permalink
  2. Pricing fields. Start with Pricing fields, specifically a Product. When you add a Product, you will have the option to use any of these field types:

    • Single Product
    • Drop Down
    • Radio Buttons
    • User Defined Price
    • Hidden

    Once you have added Products in this manner, you can attach Options to the products (think an additional charge for larger sizes or certain variations). You have to start with a Product field.

    Once your form is set up, navigate to the PayPal form settings and set up a feed. I think once you work with it for a while it will begin to make sense. See if this gets you started and post back if you get stuck. Thank you.

    Posted 12 years ago on Tuesday August 30, 2011 | Permalink
  3. klondike91
    Member

    Got it. The form is now set for testing. Do you recommend using PayPal sandbox for testing? I've setup a sandbox account with a seller and buyer, but can't get it to work. Do I need a new IPN that links to the sandbox? Any tips on sandbox setup/use would be appreciated. Thanks!

    Posted 12 years ago on Tuesday August 30, 2011 | Permalink
  4. Yes, I would use the sandbox. Otherwise, you end up doing a bunch of $1 transactions and refunds.

    What happens when you try to use the sandbox? Which part does not work?

    Posted 12 years ago on Tuesday August 30, 2011 | Permalink
  5. klondike91
    Member

    What PayPal email address should be used as the Paypal Email Address field in the GF PayPal Transaction Settings? Do I use the sandbox address here or my normal seller paypal address?

    When I submit the form it asks me to login into the paypal sandbox. What do I login do I use here? Top level sandbox login, sandbox seller login or the sandbox buyer login? I have 3 emails and passwords for the sandbox, which should be used?

    Lastly, do I need to update the paypal IPN for use with the Sandbox? Sorry, but it's a bit confusing and the documentation is pretty limited in this area.

    Thanks!!

    Posted 12 years ago on Tuesday August 30, 2011 | Permalink
  6. It is confusing, I agree. I just went through the setup so maybe I can help.

    In the GF PayPal Transaction Settings, when you are in Test Mode (radio button select Test not Production) you will use the Seller account that you set up inside the sandbox. Not the first email you used to create your sandbox. Think of that very first email address (the real one, but not an existing PayPal account) as your account login into the sandbox. You had the option once inside the sandbox to create a buyer and a seller account. Whatever you have for the Seller is what should be entered here.

    When you make a purchase on your site and land at PayPal, log in there with the sandbox BUYER account. You are making a purchase with the sandbox buyer account. Fake credit card numbers, fake bank accounts, fake money. I keep checking the URL in the address bar to be sure I am still in the sandbox :-)

    And yes, you will need to set the IPN URL for the sandbox seller account. When you first create the sandbox Seller account, IPN is turned off. I think I found it at the PayPal sandbox at Profile > More Options > Instant Payment Notification (IPN). Click the radio button to enable it, and then paste in the URL from your Gravity Forms PayPal settings page. This URL will be the same as the URL used for real purchases. The reason for that is that your site does not care that it's a test purchase or real purchase. The website (Gravity Forms) just needs to know if the payment went through. So this URL is the same in your real PayPal account and the sandbox PayPal Seller account.

    I hope that helps. Please let me know if not.

    Posted 12 years ago on Wednesday August 31, 2011 | Permalink
  7. klondike91
    Member

    Chris, thank you! I'll give it a try and I really appreciate your detailed directions.

    On another note, although I have the "Subscribe to this Topic Via Email" box checked, I don't get any notifications via email of your posts. Does this forum feature work? Thanks again.

    Posted 12 years ago on Wednesday August 31, 2011 | Permalink
  8. klondike91
    Member

    Chris, at the very bottom of the PayPal setting page is a checkbox option to enable "PayPal Condition". Can you explain what this does and why / why not it should be used?

    Posted 12 years ago on Wednesday August 31, 2011 | Permalink
  9. klondike91
    Member

    Chris, the sandbox works perfectly.

    In terms of the Form Settings > Confirmations, can you make any recommendations on which method to use (text, page or redirect)? I'd like to provide the user with a copy of all the information they submitted, but I'm not sure which confirmation method works best (text, page or redirect).

    Thanks!

    Posted 12 years ago on Wednesday August 31, 2011 | Permalink
  10. The PayPal Condition allows you to configure a condition that must be met in order for the user to be redirected to PayPal. For example, if you have a drop down asking them to make a payment and they say Yes... you'd configure the condition so if that value is selected they are sent to PayPal. If it is No... the form shows the Thank You message and doesn't send them to PayPal.

    Use the Text confirmation and use the "Insert form field" drop down to insert the all selected field merge tag and that will display all of the values they submitted.

    Posted 12 years ago on Wednesday August 31, 2011 | Permalink
  11. this is the single most helpful thread on the entire paypal section of the forums. sticky this please! would have saved me several hours yesterday!

    Posted 12 years ago on Friday December 16, 2011 | Permalink
  12. and you should incorporate a more step by step demystification of how to setup the sandbox environment correctly for a beginner, and explain how to best setup gravity forms to use the sandbox accounts through paypals developer tools. to a first time user, it is complicated and its easy to forget that fact once youve gone through it a bunch of times... because after you get it working you find out how easy it was to do.... but the process of discovery and execution can be a bear.

    Posted 12 years ago on Friday December 16, 2011 | Permalink