The Event Genius Pro plugin allows you to accept payments and sell tickets or registrations to events directly on your site, with minimal setup. The plugin integrates with multiple payment processors, one of which is PayPal. Below are steps to enable and configure the PayPal Standard payment method in the plugin.
Enabling PayPal Payments
To enable PayPal payments:
1. Go to the plugin’s Payments settings page: Events > Settings > Payments.
2. In the Payment Methods section, enable the toggle next to the “PayPal Standard” option. The first time you do this, the toggle will alert you that configuration is required. Don’t worry, we’ll go through how to configure things below.
3. On this page you can also change the order of how the payment methods are displayed when users are buying tickets on your site. The first payment method is shown first in the list of options for users at checkout.
4. To configure the options for the PayPal Standard payment method, click the “Configure” button next to it.
5. Here you can add your PayPal account information and choose to use the PayPal Sandbox mode to test payments before going live.
Sandbox Mode
The PayPal Sandbox Mode can be used to test accepting payments without actually processing real transactions with real money. Using Sandbox Mode is completely optional. If you’d like to skip straight to Live Mode then you can skip to the directions in the next section.
To enable Sandbox mode:
1. Enable the toggle next to the “Sandbox Mode” field.
2. Go to developer.paypal.com and log in with your existing PayPal account, or sign up for one if you don’t have one yet.
3. In the Dashboard click on Testing Tools > Sandbox Accounts.
4. You should already see both a business and personal test account created here. If not, then you can create one of each using the “Create account” button at the top.
5. Copy the email address from the Business account.
6. Paste this into the “Sandbox Business Email” field in the plugin. Don’t close the PayPal Developer page – you’ll need more info from here in a few steps.
7. Click the “Save Changes” button at the bottom of the page. Sandbox mode is now configured.
Testing Sandbox Mode
1. Payments of any kind will only work with events which a) have a cost (they won’t work for free events), and b) has Registration enabled for it. You can configure both of these things inside the editor page for an event.
2. To test payments for an event, first go to the public-facing event page for that event on your website and click the “Register” button.
3. Fill in the registration form and click the button.
4. If you have multiple payment methods enabled then ensure that the “PayPal” option is selected. If PayPal is the only payment method you have enabled then you won’t see any options available. Click the “Pay with PayPal” button.
5. This will then open a login prompt for PayPal. You will need to use the login credentials for the Personal sandbox account on your Developer page.
6. Go back to your PayPal Developer page. Click on the Personal account in the list to open it.
7. Copy the email address and password and paste them into the PayPal login box. Then click the “Log In” button.
8. Click “Complete Purchase” to finish the test transaction. Note: A dummy bank account will be displayed, this is not using real funds and is just an example of what the checkout will look like for your users.
9. You can view the details of the test transaction on the plugin Registrations page.
Note: If you are using localhost to test site locally on your machine then the payment will stay as Pending status. If testing Sandbox payments on a live/remote site then the payment status should change to Complete once it has processed.
Live Mode
Live mode is used to accept live payments from your users. Many of the steps are the same as above, just using your live PayPal credentials instead of the Sandbox ones.
1. To enable live mode, disable the “Sandbox Mode” toggle on the plugin settings page.
2. In the “Live Business Email” field, copy and paste the email address from your real Business PayPal account (double check to avoid typos).
Note: In most circumstances, it’s also possible to use the email address from a Personal PayPal account here instead of a Business one, although support for all Personal accounts is not guaranteed and so we recommend using a Business account whenever possible. Visit paypal.com/business to register for a Business PayPal account.
3. After entering your email, click the “Save Changes” button at the bottom of the page. Live PayPal mode is now configured and you’re ready to accept payments.
Additional Settings
Currency
This determines the currency that you would like to accept payments in.
Payment Option Description
This text is shown under the PayPal option at checkout to describe what it does.
Button Text
This is the text on the button displayed for the user to complete their PayPal payment.
Debug Mode
Enabling debug mode will log any PayPal payment activity in the Debug Logs on the plugin Support page in WordPress: Events > Support > Debug Logs. This allows you to troubleshoot any potential errors or issues and can be used to help our support team debug when needed.
Can't Find What You Need?
We're here to help with fast & friendly support