You can create a fully functioning course website with Thinkific. The platform even allows you to take payments via credit card and debit card. But can you also link your Thinkific site to your PayPal account?
There are a few different ways to integrate different payment gateways into your Thinkific website, including PayPal. In this article, we find out if can you link Thinkific to your Paypal site and how to take or accept payments on Thinkific.
Can You Link Thinkific To Your PayPal?
Does Thinkific work with Paypal the answer is Yes, you can connect your Thinkific course website with your PayPal account to take payments for your courses. All existing user or new user needs to connect both PayPal account with Thinkific through their handy and seamless integration.
How To Link Thinkific To Your PayPal?
Linking Thinkific to PayPal to create a PayPal payment option on your site is quick and easy. Here are all the steps you need to easily connect PayPal and Thinkific
Create A PayPal Business Account
The first step to connecting Thinkific with PayPal is by creating a PayPal account. You will need PayPal’s standard business account to ensure that all payments are correctly processed.
If you currently only have a personal PayPal account, then you can easily upgrade this to a business account without any additional fees.
All you have to do for this is to go into your personal PayPal account, go into the settings options and then select your account options. In the account pricing options, you can choose to “Upgrade to a business account”.
Find Your PayPal Merchant ID
Once you have access to your PayPal standard business account, you will need to look for your PayPal Merchant ID. The Merchant ID is made up of digits and letters, both upper and lower case. It is around 13 characters long.
When the enrolled user creates the student’s enrollment procedure where he can receive money or send money through the Paypal payment gateway
In order to find your PayPal Merchant account ID, you will need to log into your PayPal account, go to account settings, and then your business information.
You will find the Merchant ID displayed with all the other information related to your business. Just copy the Merchant ID carefully as it is case-sensitive.
Add Your PayPal Details To Thinkific
Now you will need to log into your Thinkific site as the site owner. Go to Settings and then select the Payments tab. You will need to scroll down until you can see the PayPal section. This should be under additional payment gateway methods.
Then, find the PayPal email field and enter the PayPal account email that you use for your PayPal business account. Next, you will need to add the PayPal Merchant ID into the requested field underneath.
Lastly, make sure that you save everything. This is all you need to do to add PayPal payment options to your Thinkific website.
Show PayPal Refunds In Reports
Steps 1 to 3 are everything you need to display a PayPal option on your Thinkific site. However, if your students or customers ask for a refund on PayPal, this won’t show up in your reports without additional integration.
If you want PayPal refunds to show in your analytics, then you will need to add your PayPal IPN to Thinkific as well. An IPN is an Instant Payment Notification that sends any information related to PayPal transactions from your PayPal account to your Thinkific site instantly without delays.
This means that an IPN allows PayPal to send any refund details related to a previous order to Thinkific, and your Thinkific reporting is updated immediately. In order to find your PayPal IPN, you will need to go into your PayPal settings and click “Show PayPal IPN”.
Copy your IPN link and then open another tab in your browser going to paypal.com. Log in as normal to your account. Next, choose the small gear icon in the right-hand corner. Then go to account settings and opt for notifications in the left menu.
Next, you will need to click on Update under Instant Payment Notifications on the right. You will see a new screen with more information about Instant Payment Notifications. Click on Choose IPN Settings.
Lastly, you will need to paste your IPN into the field for the Notification URL. Also, ensure that the option for “Receive IPN messages” is enabled. Then, you will just need to click save and Thinkific will receive any PayPal refund transaction details.
How To Use The Same PayPal Account For Multiple Thinkific Accounts?
If you have more than one Thinkific account, then you can use the same PayPal account and details to take payments on different Thinkific sites. This being, you will need to ensure that you enable duplicate invoice IDs in your PayPal settings.
This is only required when you want to use multiple Thinkific accounts. In order to enable duplicate invoice IDs, just log into your PayPal account and select the Settings option in the top right-hand corner. Then click on Account Settings.
This will display all your account-related settings. Select Account & Security on the right, then Payment Preferences. Next to Block Payments, select the Update option.
Under Block accidental payments, choose “No, allow multiple payments per invoice ID”. Lastly, you just need to click save and you can use your PayPal account for more than one Thinkific account.
Why Add PayPal To Your Thinkific Site?
You can see PayPal as a payment option on a great number of online stores. It has become one of the standard ways to pay for products and services. Here are some of the most important reasons why you should link your Thinkific site to your PayPal account.
Secure Payment
When it comes to handling sensitive data, then merchants need to ensure that all customer and transaction details are securely stored and processed. Thinkific uses integrations with third parties to ensure secure payments.
For credit card and debit card payments, Thinkific can be connected to Stripe. But you can also integrate PayPal on your Thinkific website to ensure that all your customer transactions are handled securely through PayPal.
Customer Trust
As PayPal has become a standard payment option, consumers feel that their data is safe when they pay for a product or service through PayPal.
This means that when you add a PayPal payment option to your website, then your customers or students are more likely to buy from you. This can lead to an increase in sales and revenue for your products, services, or courses.
Secure Refund Options
In addition, PayPal also provides refund options which are often not covered by individual merchants. This means that customers can request a refund through PayPal. This is often much easier than requesting a refund via their bank.
Will My Students Need To Create A PayPal Account To Buy My Course?
If your students want to buy your course with the PayPal payment option, then they will need to have their own PayPal account. They will need to sign in to their PayPal account during checkout.
Final Thoughts
Linking your PayPal business account with your Thinkific account is easy and it takes just a few minutes.
This allows you to add a PayPal option to your Thinkific checkout page where your students and customers can buy your courses or products with PayPal, credit card, and debit card.