Setting Up PayPal for nopCommerce

Businesses are always looking for ways to justify the existence of their digital marketing. One way companies do this is with eCommerce products. Depending upon the level of customizations you want you to have choices such as Etsy, Shopify, WooCommerce, and of course nopCommerce which is what we're writing about here. We love nopCommerce from the standpoint of its acceptance of internet standards, being open source, and the allowance to tie and integrate with many backend systems within growing small businesses.

We won't go into how to choose an eCommerce platform except to give some quick tips when choosing an eCommerce platform. You need to determine which one not only meets your current needs but can grow with you (think long-term needs). You need one that you can accept the fees on. Some will appear free or low-cost but come with monthly fees that dig into your companies profits. When looking at solutions we look at how much customization is allowed, customer service, upselling and cross-selling, along with the ability to extend our solutions without locking a custom into a specific platform (or even a company).

The following steps are as of January 2018 for setting up PayPal with nopCommerce.

Requirements

• You need a PayPal Pro account
• You need a nopCommerce website (we used nopCommerce 4.0 for these instructions but previous versions will work the same)
• Domain name on a Microsoft IIS Web Server (we use Microsoft Windows Server 2016 for our core eCommerce servers)
• The nopCommerce website must have SSL enabled and running

PayPal Steps

1. Log into your PayPal account
2. Click on Profile (top right with a gear)
3. Click on Profile and settings
4. Click on My selling tools
5. Click on update for Website Payment Preferences
6. Click Auto Return On
7. Set the return Url to https://_domain_name_/Plugins/PaymentPayPalDirect/IPNHandler
8. Set the Payment Data Transfer (optional) coupon to On
9. Copy the Identity Token as you will need it for nopCommerce
1. Note: You may not see the identity token until after you save. When you do save you will be redirected back which will require you to go back to the steps above so that you can copy the identity token.
10. Set Block Non-encrypted Website Payment to Off
11. Set PayPal Account Optional to On
12. Set Contact Telephone Number Off
13. Set Express Checkout Settings to No
14. Click on Save
15. Click My business info
16. Note the Email that you are set up to use. You will need this as well.

nopCommerce Steps

1. Log into your nopCommerce website
2. Click on Configuration
3. Click on Payment
4. Click on Payment Methods
5. Click on Configure for Payments.PayPalStandard
1. Uncheck Use Sandbox
2. Enter the email address you got from PayPal above
3. Enter your PDT Identity Token you copied from PayPal above
4. Check any other items you want (not normal)
5. Click on Save
6. Click on Edit for Payments.PayPal Standard line
1. Check the box that says Is Active
2. Click on the button that says Update