PayPal Card Payments

We added this payment gateway in WHMCS 8.9 and strongly recommend PayPal Payments and PayPal Card Payments for all new PayPal® merchants.

PayPal Card Payments augments the functionality of the PayPal Payments module and uses its linked PayPal accounts. When you activate PayPal Payments, WHMCS also automatically activates PayPal Card Payments. This module allows you to display an unbranded option for credit and debit card payments that is visually separate from the PayPal checkout experience.

WHMCS includes several options for accepting payments through PayPal. For more information, see PayPal.

Supported Features

Type: Token

One-TimeRecurringRefundsReversals
3D SecureRemote Update CardRemote Delete CardAddPayMethod API
✖️
This module supports 3D Secure for newly-entered cards and processing of vaulted (stored) cards.

Adding the PayPal Card Payments Payment Gateway

  • If PayPal does not fully support PayPal Advanced Cards for your country or region, you cannot activate PayPal Card Payments. However, if you activate PayPal Payments, a Credit/Debit Card option for one-time payments will display with the PayPal option in the Client Area.
  • If you enabled this module while using the Beta release of WHMCS 8.9, you must reactivate the module before using it with WHMCS 8.9 Release Candidate or later. If you do not do this, you may experience problems.

To set up the PayPal Card Payments payment gateway in WHMCS:

  1. Activate and configure the PayPal Payments module.
    This will also activate PayPal Card Payments.
  2. Find the PayPal Card Payments module in the list of active gateways at Configuration () > System Settings > Payment Gateways. By default, this module uses Pay with Cards as the display name here and in the Client Area.
  3. Check Show on Order Form to display this payment option in the Client Area during checkout.
    You cannot enable Show on Order Form for this module without first enabling Show on Order Form for the PayPal Payments module.
  4. Optionally, enter a new display name for Display Name.
  5. Click Save Changes.

Using PayPal Card Payments

The PayPal Card Payments module works with the PayPal Payments module and uses its configuration.

For more information, see PayPal Payments.

Vaulting

This module supports vaulting for vaulting-enabled PayPal merchant accounts.

In PayPal-supported countries, the PayPal Payments and PayPal Card Payments modules ensure the security of your customers’ stored payment details with merchant-level vaulting through PayPal Vault. When clients pay using PayPal Card Payments, a Save card for faster checkout in future* option will display while entering credit card details.

  • Selecting this option causes PayPal to attempt to add the card to PayPal Vault.
  • This option is not available in the Admin Area.

After PayPal successfully stores a payment method, it will be available for the client when they pay an invoice manually.

If PayPal does not fully support PayPal Vaulting for your country or region but does support PayPal Advanced Cards, you may still be able to use this module for one-time payments. In this scenario, your customers will not have the option to save payment methods.
For more information, see Vaulting.

Disputes

You can manage disputes for this module from within WHMCS at Billing > Disputes.

Payment Gateway Balances

You can view your PayPal merchant account balance directly within the WHMCS Admin Area at Billing > Transactions List.

For more information, see Viewing Balances and Transactions.

Troubleshooting

You can find information about most payment gateway-related errors in the logs at Billing > Gateway Log and in the Module Log.

For more information, see Troubleshooting Payments.

You may encounter the following common issues when using PayPal payment gateways:


Error or IssueCauseNext Steps
DUPLICATE_INVOICE_IDYour PayPal® configuration is blocking the transaction.Duplicate Invoice ID Errors
A payment successfully deposits to your PayPal® account but does not appear in WHMCS.This problem can occur due to several different issues.Missing PayPal Payments
The system has detected a missing subscription. The subscription is not associated with any services, but the event was attributable to a client and/or invoice.The subscription is not associated with any service, product addon, or domain but the system found an alternate ID to use.Missing PayPal Subscriptions
You are experiencing problems that relate to stale cached data or PHP script execution.The OPcache PHP extension is enabled.OPcache Warnings
The system has detected an orphaned subscription. It is not associated with any services, nor was attributable to an invoice or client.The subscription is not associated with any service, product addon, or domain and the system could not find an alternate ID to use.Orphaned PayPal Subscriptions
No Local Credit Card Payment Gateways EnabledYou disabled the option to save card details for later.PayFlow Pro Local Card Errors
Details could not be saved. Remote storage failedYou attempted to create a payment method.PayFlow Pro Remote Storage Errors
You receive an email stating that a PayPal® Instant Payment Notification (IPN) failed or you see IPN Handshake Invalid or IPN Handshake Error error messages.PayPal could not send a payment notification to your WHMCS installation or WHMCS cannot verify a callback.PayPal IPN Failures
The system has detected an orphaned subscription. It is not associated with any services, nor was attributable to an invoice or client. or The system has detected a missing subscription. The subscription is not associated with any services, but the event was attributable to a client and/or invoice.The subscription is not associated with any service, addon, or domain.PayPal Log Entries
Referenced transaction or order is too oldThe transaction is more than 24 months old.PayPal Old Transaction Errors
You are experiencing problems with subscriptions after attempting to migrate to PayPal Payments while using WHMCS 8.9 through 8.11 RC.WHMCS 8.9 through 8.11 RC do not support migrating from another PayPal gateway to PayPal Payments if you process any recurring payments through PayPal.PayPal Payments Issues
L_SHORTMESSAGE0 => Security errorThe API details in your PayPal® payment gateway configuration are invalid.PayPal Security Errors
The system will not connect to PayPal® correctly.Some PayPal payment gateway modules require an HTTPS-secured connection.PayPal SSL Errors
Transaction ID X already existsThis log entry does not indicate a problem. You can safely ignore it.PayPal Transaction ID Errors
You receive an Invalid Receiver email.The payment receiver value does not match your PayPal® configuration in WHMCS.PayPal® Invalid Receiver Errors
Not SupportedThe payment receiver value does not match your PayPal® configuration in WHMCS.PayPal® Not Supported Errors
Things don't appear to be working at the momentYour system has sent invalid details to PayPal®.PayPal® Not Working Errors
Unrecognized CurrencyThe payment receiver value does not match your PayPal® configuration in WHMCS.PayPal® Unrecognized Currency Errors
Your customers are receiving notification emails from PayPal® about a subscription cancellation after they make a payment.WHMCS must cancel PayPal Basic and PayPal Checkout subscriptions to transition them to PayPal Payments.Unexpected PayPal Cancellation Emails

Last modified: 2025 January 30