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To pay using PayPal, customers are redirected from your website to PayPal. They choose a funding source: PayPal wallet, linked card, or bank account.

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Payment Method Details

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Prerequisites

  1. Connect and activate the PayPal integration in PayNext
  2. Turn on PayPal in your PayNext checkout configuration

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Testing

1

Configure sandbox credentials

Use PayPal Sandbox credentials in your PayNext integration
2

Make a test payment

Complete a PayPal payment via PayNext SDK on your website
3

Verify payment

Confirm the payment appears in the PayNext dashboard and check the statement descriptor

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Dynamic Statement Descriptor Advanced

When enabled, PayNext generates a unique code and passes it as the PayPal soft descriptor. This helps match transactions with chargeback alert providers (Visa CDRN, Ethoca), allowing you to refund before a dispute occurs. You can also use the descriptor to retrieve payment history when a customer forgot their account details or can’t access their account.

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How It Works

PayPal statement descriptors follow this format:
The total is limited to 22 characters. The PAYPAL * prefix takes 8 characters, leaving 14 characters for your merchant name and the dynamic code.
Enable this feature in Dashboard → Integrations → PayPal → Enable PayPal dynamic statement descriptor.

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Descriptor Length Examples

Your merchant descriptor is configured in your PayPal account under Business Profile settings.
If your merchant descriptor is longer (e.g., CEREBRUM IQ), the dynamic code gets truncated:
Only 1 character remains for the code, reducing uniqueness significantly.
Keep your PayPal merchant descriptor to 8 characters or less to ensure at least 3 characters are available for the dynamic code. Using fewer than 3 characters is not recommended as it significantly reduces the effectiveness of transaction matching.

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Card vs Wallet Payments

PayPal automatically selects the best funding source for the customer. The descriptor format tells you which was used:
If you see a short descriptor like *9VHI6 instead of the full PAYPAL *... format, the payment was processed from the customer’s PayPal balance or linked bank account—not a card.

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Where The Descriptor Appears

  • Searchable by and available for each payment in the dashboard
  • statement_descriptor field in the payment object

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If the customer cancels the billing agreement

A customer can cancel the PayPal billing agreement from their PayPal account. PayNext receives that from PayPal and sets the payment method status to revoked. A revoked payment method can’t be charged. Renewals stop being attempted—the aborted attempt is recorded as INCOMPLETE with decline_code payment_method_disabled—and the subscription stays past_due for 14 days before it is cancelled with reason dead_instrument. See Dead payment methods. Each change is reported by customer.payment_method.updated.