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Introducing PayPal commerce

Introducing PayPal Commerce in Charitable: One Connection, Six Ways to Donate

Last updated on

  • By
Melinda Bartley

Donors are evolving! They want easy payment options like Venmo, Pay Later, or Apple Pay. When they don’t see it on your donation form, most of these donors disappear, and they don’t tell you why.

With Charitable Pro 1.8.15 and Charitable 1.8.11 we’re shipping PayPal Commerce!

This is a single integration that gives your donors the modern PayPal experience: PayPal balance, Venmo, Pay Later financing, credit and debit cards, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.

The best part, you can set this up through one one-click connection.

It’s PayPal – modernized! Ready for donors who want fast payment options, so you can capture every donation!

Why One Modern PayPal Connection Changes Everything

If you’ve been on the older Legacy PayPal integration, you’re missing out on Venmo, Pay Later, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and the modern card fields that PayPal now ships by default.

Donors who don’t see their preferred payment option don’t switch; they leave.

PayPal Commerce closes that gap.

All you have to do is click on a “Connect with PayPal” button. We’ll handle the rest.

This gives your donation form everything PayPal supports today, and your donors check out faster because PayPal already knows them.

More Ways to Pay, Without More Setup Work

What I love about this new PayPal connection is that it gives you everything in one connection. Earlier, adding payment methods used to mean adding plugins, copying API keys, and reading vendor docs. That’s done!

Paypal sample

Here’s how easy it is now:

🚀 One-Click “Connect with PayPal”: Sign in to your PayPal business account, approve the connection, and your donation form is live. No API keys, no developer needed.

💳 Six Ways to Donate: PayPal balance, Venmo (US), Pay Later financing, credit and debit cards through PayPal’s PCI-compliant card fields, Apple Pay on Safari, and Google Pay on Chrome. All available on the same form, with each donor seeing the options that work for them.

⚡ Save and Reuse Payment Methods: Returning donors can save their PayPal account or card during checkout and reuse it on future donations with a single tap. Faster checkout means more completed donations.

✅ Real-Time Capability Status: The connection panel shows you exactly which payment methods PayPal has approved on your account, with a Refresh Status button to recheck after PayPal updates your eligibility. No guesswork about why a button isn’t showing.

Recurring Donations That Just Work

Whether you want PayPal to manage the recurring schedule or you want full control, PayPal Commerce supports both.

Two Recurring Modes, Same Donor Experience: Choose PayPal Subscriptions API (PayPal manages the renewal cycle automatically and shows the subscription in the donor’s PayPal account), or Vault + Cron (your site stores the saved payment method and triggers each renewal). Donors see the same “Make it monthly” checkbox either way.

Donor Trust, From Start to Finish

The hardest moment in any donation flow is when something goes wrong. PayPal Commerce is built so that even the unhappy paths feel professional.

💬 Friendly Inline Error Messages: When PayPal can’t process a donation (a restricted merchant, a declined card, a country mismatch), donors see a plain-language inline message with a recovery hint, like “Your payment method was declined. Please try a different card or use PayPal balance.” No hostile browser alert dialogs.

👁️ Admin-Only Diagnostic Detail: If you’re signed in as an admin and a donor hits an error on your form, you see the underlying PayPal reason and debug ID inline. Triage takes seconds, not a log dive.

📣 Refunds and Cancellations From WordPress: Issue a refund or cancel a recurring donation directly from the donation admin. No need to log in to PayPal. The plugin updates the donation log with the refund ID and confirms with PayPal automatically.

For Agencies and Developers

Hooks, Filters, and Full Customization

Per-renewal platform fee logging is exposed via the charitable_paypal_log_platform_fee_on_donation filter (off by default), and the fee percentage itself is filterable via charitable_paypal_platform_fee_percentage. The donor cancellation redirect can be customized via charitable_donation_cancellation_page and charitable_donation_cancellation_args.

One PayPal Per Site

To prevent confusion on the donation form, only one PayPal integration shows at a time. Sites running Legacy PayPal continue using Legacy PayPal exclusively; new and unused sites see PayPal Commerce exclusively. The donation form stays predictable for your donors no matter which side you’re on.

Get Started With PayPal Commerce

PayPal Commerce is available right now in Charitable Pro 1.8.15 and Charitable Lite 1.8.11.

Update Charitable Pro, head to Charitable » Settings » Payment Gateways » PayPal Commerce, and click Connect with PayPal. You’ll be accepting modern PayPal donations in under five minutes.

Note if you are already using Legacy PayPal – PayPal Commerce won’t be available currently to maintain your current PayPal workflow. An “upgrade” option will be available soon if you do wish to update to the new PayPal Commerce.

Also note that Charitable Pro at this time is the only plugin that will have recurring donations support with PayPal Commerce.

For a step by step set up guide, head to our guide on Getting Started with PayPal Commerce »

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author avatar
Melinda Bartley
I’m the senior writer at Charitable, with over 15 years of experience in content creation, digital marketing, and SEO. Beyond my professional role, I’m the co-founder and trustee of a non-profit organization committed to animal rescue and welfare. Throughout my career, I’ve helped build 17+ blogs – many from the ground up, transforming them into successful marketing platforms that drive traffic, boost brand visibility, and generate revenue.
See Full Bio

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author avatar
Melinda Bartley
I'm the senior writer at Charitable, with over 15 years of experience in content creation, digital marketing, and SEO. Beyond my professional role, I'm the co-founder and trustee of a non-profit organization committed to animal rescue and welfare. Throughout my career, I've helped build 17+ blogs - many from the ground up, transforming them into successful marketing platforms that drive traffic, boost brand visibility, and generate revenue.
See Full Bio
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author avatar
Melinda Bartley
I'm the senior writer at Charitable, with over 15 years of experience in content creation, digital marketing, and SEO. Beyond my professional role, I'm the co-founder and trustee of a non-profit organization committed to animal rescue and welfare. Throughout my career, I've helped build 17+ blogs - many from the ground up, transforming them into successful marketing platforms that drive traffic, boost brand visibility, and generate revenue.
See Full Bio
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Melinda Bartley
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author avatar
Melinda Bartley
I'm the senior writer at Charitable, with over 15 years of experience in content creation, digital marketing, and SEO. Beyond my professional role, I'm the co-founder and trustee of a non-profit organization committed to animal rescue and welfare. Throughout my career, I've helped build 17+ blogs - many from the ground up, transforming them into successful marketing platforms that drive traffic, boost brand visibility, and generate revenue.
See Full Bio
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author avatar
Melinda Bartley
I'm the senior writer at Charitable, with over 15 years of experience in content creation, digital marketing, and SEO. Beyond my professional role, I'm the co-founder and trustee of a non-profit organization committed to animal rescue and welfare. Throughout my career, I've helped build 17+ blogs - many from the ground up, transforming them into successful marketing platforms that drive traffic, boost brand visibility, and generate revenue.
See Full Bio
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