Important: you must use a PayPal Business account for integration with AccessAlly.
ARTICLE CONTENT:
Why Integrate PayPal With AccessAlly
AccessAlly includes a built-in ecommerce feature that’s designed especially for you if you’re looking for a quick and easy way to sell a small variety of products and/or subscriptions from inside your membership site.
Note: when you are placing testing orders, you cannot use the same PayPal account that was integrated in the AccessAlly -> General Settings -> Payment section.
Step 1: Integrate PayPal With AccessAlly
Important: You must use a PayPal Business account for integration with AccessAlly.
Enable PayPal Express in AccessAlly
Go to AccessAlly’s General Settings -> Payments -> PayPal tab and click the checkbox to next to “PayPal Express” to enable PayPal.
Login to PayPal: Choose “Account Settings”
Oncd you’ve logged into your PayPal account, choose the “Account Settings” in the top navigation.
Select API Access
Click the “Update” link next to the API Access section.
Click on NVP/SOAP API Integration
You may need to create a new set of API keys here, or if you’ve already created some you’ll see a link to manage existing keys. If you don’t select the NVP/SOAP API integration section, you won’t get the right kind of API keys to integrate with AccessAlly.
Answer PayPal’s Security Prompt
You may be asked to verify your credentials before you can proceed to the API keys.
Copy & Paste the API Keys into AccessAlly
Copy and Paste the 3 sections from inside your PayPal account directly into your AccessAlly settings. Hit save, and make sure that no errors appear after you’ve saved your API keys.
Step 2: Additional CRM Configuration
Depending on which CRM you’re using, you may need to take some additional configuration steps. (Most notably: for Infusionsoft and Ontraport, you’ll need to create a special opt-in form to allow affiliate links to be tracked.)
When a subscriber unsubscribes and later makes a purchase, the ActiveCampaign system marks them as “inactive,” so they can’t be re-added to any automations (which means a password can’t be generated and they will not receive any further emails).
To bypass this issue, please create an opt-in form (that does NOT require a double opt-in) inside ActiveCampaign and link it to AccessAlly:
AccessAlly > General Settings > Payment > CRM Integration
Important: this opt-in form should not be used for any other lead generation purposes.
By default, AccessAlly adds the Drip tracking Javascript to every page to the site, so you don't need to manually add it.
Step 3: Enable Recurring Payments For PayPal
By default, PayPal recurring subscriptions are not enabled – so you’ll need to go under AccessAlly’s General Settings -> Payment -> PayPal to enable them.
Once you’ve located this tab, simply enable the checkbox on the “PayPal Recurring Subscriptions” section and hit Save.
That’s all you have to do to enable recurring payments or payment plans through PayPal. Now when someone checks out through the AccessAlly order forms, they can pay for a payment plan or recurring subscription via their PayPal account.
A few things to keep in mind:
- Anyone can cancel a subscription through their own PayPal account. If they cancel, AccessAlly will apply the “Payment Failed” automation so you can get in touch with the customer to come back and complete their payments.
- This is especially important for a payment plan instead of a recurring monthly subscription, and you may want to word your follow-up emails accordingly.
- Members can still cancel their subscriptions through AccessAlly’s interface, too.
- If you decide to turn off and disable PayPal recurring subscriptions down the line, your existing PayPal subscriptions will continue to be charged and run successfully – but the PayPal option will stop showing on the checkout pages.
Step 4: Configure PayPal Timezone Settings
Go to: AccessAlly > General Settings > Payments > PayPal.
Here, scroll down until you see the timezone settings.
Please set the Time zone to match the one set in your PayPal account. (PayPal > My Profile > My settings > Time zone)
If these timezones do not match, you might receive the “Subscription start date should be greater than current date” error when purchasing a subscription.
Testing & What The End Client Will See
It’s always a good idea to test your integration with a small dollar payment (you can set up a coupon for yourself here).
On the 2nd step of the order form, you’ll be able to select the PayPal option (if you also have Stripe enabled).
Then you’ll see a button to click to process the payment in PayPal. When you click it, you’ll see a new screen open up prompting you to login to PayPal.
After logging in, you’ll be able to choose the source of funds. This does include any linked credit cards or bank accounts, as well as PayPal Credit.
Note for Facebook Browser Users
Please be aware that making a purchase via PayPal is currently not possible within the Facebook browser. If a user does attempt an order form purchase with PayPal when using the Facebook browser, they will see this message:
