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Overview
PayPal is an online payment system used for money transfers. CRM.COM integrated with PayPal to refund customer's PayPal accounts either through manual or automated process refunding.
Major features
For integration with other payment gateways visit Stripe and Generic Gateways
- PayPal can handle
- Refunding PayPal customer's account if a refund is executed in CRM.COM
- Redeeming of instant spent awards earned through participation in reward programs
- PayPal refund requests are automatically created whenever manual refunds related to the gateway are created or when PayPal runs are executed
- WEB APIs are available for the update of PayPal requests. Refer to Integrating Payment Systems for a full guide on how to integrate any PayPal with CRM.COM
Setting Up PayPal
PayPal Provider
PayPal provider is used to define the parameters needed to communicate with PayPal, as well as the refund methods that will trigger creation of refund requests to PayPal.
Provider fields
The table describes the sections of PayPal Provider Data Entry page, and explains how the fields in the page are used.
Mandatory
Configurable
Main Information | |
|---|---|
Mode: The mode that Paypal will operate which can be either Test or Live Payment Gateway: Set automatically to PayPal Email Subject: The subject of the email that the customer will receive through Paypal, whenever a pay-out is processed through Paypal | |
| Authentication Settings | |
Credentials used to connect to PayPal. Depending on the 'mode' set at Main Information the respective (test or live) credential fields are available
| |
| Supported Attributes Defines the attributes that must be used by refunds which should be processed by PayPal | |
| Refund Methods | Select the refund methods associated with PayPal. When CRM.COM refunds using these refund methods are posted, they will be submitted to PayPal; provided the information requested by PayPal is specified. Refund Methods cannot be included in more than one Payment Gateway Providers. For example, if you have used a refund method is Stripe or a Generic Gateway then you won't be able to use it for PayPal |
The list of currencies (supported by PayPal)
The option to support all currencies or specific currencies is available. | |
Related configuration areas
The following modules are related to PayPal and may or must be configured for PayPal module to operate at its full capacity.
| Manual Link | Area | Description | Configuration Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Financial Transactions | Refund Methods | The refund methods which are associated with PayPal. i.e. when refunds with the specific method are created then refund gateway requests can be triggered. | Optional |
| Financial Transactions | Refund (Financial Transaction Type) | The refund type that will be used to create refund transactions. | Mandatory |
| Accounts Receivable | Payment Preference | The payment preference which is associated with the payment gateway and selected on the customer's accounts receivable. Additional information such as online account credentials will be provided in the payment preference section of the account. | Mandatory |
| Platform | Currencies | Currencies which are supported by the Gateway Provider and added to the accounts of customers | Mandatory |
| Rewards | Participating Rewards Merchants | Enable back end reduction and set the refund method that should be used to make refunds to PayPal refund accounts | Optional |
Using PayPal
Finance > Payment Gateway > PayPal Payment Gateway > > Manage Payment Gateway Requests
PayPal's primary purpose is to handle refund requests created through manual and automatic processes in CRM.COM to ensure refunds are made to customer's PayPal account. A request is created when a manual refund of supported methods defined in the provider, is created through Financial Transactions or on executing a PayPal Run which will create refunds for rewards participants. Refer to Refunding Rewards Participants for spending awards for more information.
All requests are available through a dedicated Summary page. No manual update is allowed, and therefore requests do not have a Data Entry page
PayPal Requests fields
The table describes the fields of Summary page, and explains how the fields are used
Number | An auto-generated number that uniquely identifies each PayPal request. |
|---|---|
| Payment Gateway Provider | Provider that will process PayPal request. |
| Payment Gateway Run | PayPal processing run that created the request, if it was created automatically. |
| Refund | The refund number of the refund created in CRM.COM |
| Account Number | The accounts receivable number associated with PayPal request. |
| Accounts Receivable Payment Preference | The Payment Preference which was used to perform the refund. The payment preference holds the information related to the customer's PayPal account |
| Execution Date | The date on which the request was posted or rejected by PayPal provider. |
| Life Cycle State | The life cycle state of PayPal request which can be:
Requests are 'Pending' until processed by PayPal. Once processed they will either be set to Posted or Rejected. The Refund transaction related with a refund request will be created in a 'Pending Veriication' life cycle state and will be set to 'Posted' or 'Rejected' accordingly once the related payment gateway request is updated. |
| Error Code | The error code received by PayPal provider, in case of an error. |
Creating and processing PayPal Requests
Actions are subject to validations which take place before an action is initiated (prerequisite) or after it is submitted (postcondition).
Creating PayPal refund requests through manual financial transactions
Refund your customer's PayPal account by creating a refund financial transaction in CRM.COM using a refund method which is associated with PayPal provider through the 'Supported Attributes' tab at the PayPal Provider.
On creating the financial transaction, CRM.COM will also create a PayPal refund request which will be sent to PayPal for processing once the PayPal gateway run is executed. Note that, no change will be done to the customer's account in CRM.COM until the refund is successfully processed by PayPal. That is, the financial transaction's (refund) life cycle state will be set to 'Pending Verification' and the request's life cycle state will be set to 'Pending' until the PayPal's response is received, to either reject or post both transaction and request.
Creating PayPal refund requests through PayPal gateway runs
Finance > Payment Gateways > Paypal Payment Gateway > Perform Paypal Payment Gateway Requests Runs
As mentioned above, PayPal requests are created as soon as refund is created in CRM.COM, and is associated with PayPal either through its method. Paypal payment runs are used to send the pending refund requests and identify rewards participants whose PayPal accounts should be refunded due to an award, create refund requests and send the request to PayPal. Refer to Refunding Rewards Participants for spending awards for more information.
Navigate to PayPal Payment Runs and schedule a run. Once completed SUBMIT the run to create and send all refund requests.
Mandatory
Configurable
| Main Information | |
|---|---|
| |
| Process Runs | |
| Includes the standard Process Run Information related to the processed requests. |
Applying business flows on PayPal
Refunding Rewards Participants for instant discount (Back-end reduction)
When rewards participants get an instant discount, for example, earn awards from their purchase and directly spend them on it as a discount, there 2 ways the system can handle this, depending on your business setup.
- Front-end: Directly at the POS (The customer will pay for the discounted price)
- Back-end: Indirectly through a PayPal (The customer will pay for a full price at the POS and then get the awarded/discounted amount back to his bank or online account, for example PayPal, through a CRM.COM refund)
In order for the back-end reduction to be handled it is important to set the 'Refund Method' that should trigger the refund in PayPal provider and configure the Back-End Reduction Settings at the Participating Rewards Merchant. Refer to the business example below for a full description of how to setup and use CRM.COM for back-end reductions using PayPal.
Communicating PayPal refunds
PayPal refund information, can be communicated through Communications Data Entry page. You can use PayPal related communication tags (text that is automatically replaced by values specific to selected records) when creating communications for PayPal. Tags are available for selection by typing '#'. There are available tags for PayPal requests and PayPal cards where applicable. Refer to Communications manual for a complete list of PayPal tags.
Or, set up CRM.COM to automatically communicate to your customers, information related to refunds associated to their PayPal accounts and always keep them informed with no need of user intervention. For more information on how to set it up refer to Event Based Communications
PayPal Analytics
Segmenting PayPal
You can group PayPal requests with common business characteristics. Use the lists in system business processes for identification of customers or for simple statistical calculations.
For more information on segmentation and how you can create PayPal lists refer to Segmentation.
PayPal Business Examples
Refunding PayPal accounts of Rewards participants for back-end reductions
Scenario 2
Company ZX would like to handle auto-spend customer returns through their PayPal account. This means that when a rewards participant makes a purchase for which he receives an award which can be deducted from his purchase, the customer will make a full payment at the POS and the awarded money will be returned to his PayPal account. (In CRM.COM this is referred to as Back-end reductions)
Solution
Configuration
- Configure the refund method that will be used for back-end refunds through PayPal
- Configure a refund transaction type and add the refund method as allowed
- Configure the PayPal provider and select the allowed refund method that will be logged by back-end reduction
- Configure PayPal Payment Run Definitions that will refund participant’s PayPal account and schedule it to be executed every 1 hour
- Enable the back-end reduction method and define the refund type and method that will be used to refund participant’s PayPal account
- Configure an accounts receivable payment preference and relate it to PayPal Gateway
User Process
- Accounts Receivable:
- When the user registers an Accounts Receivable with Paypal, the Paypal Payment Preference must be selected the customer's email address provided as an Identifier
Notes
- If you are using a previous release, view CRM.COM Release Changes.
Glossary
| CRM.COM Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Accounts Receivable | A ledger of the financial transactions carried out between a company and its customers, such as invoices and payments. The accounts receivable keeps a running balance of debits and credits and displays the amount a company is owed in exchange for goods supplied and services rendered. |
| Rewards Participant | The customer who has signed up for Rewards or have been automatically selected to participate. |
| Rewards Participating Merchant | Merchants that have a partnership with the business that owns the Rewards platform and can participate in the provided reward offers. |
| Auto-spend | Spend the awards earned from a purchase on the same purchase. Used as an instant discount. |
| Back-end reduction | The customer that is rewarded with an 'instant discount' pays for the whole amount of the purchase at the POS and gets the money earned from the award on his online account. |