Receive Event Payments with PayPal Express Smart Buttons

Event organizers in many countries around the world can accept online payments such as credit cards, debit cards, and PayPal funds from their attendees with our PayPal Express payment gateway. With our new PayPal Express Checkout Smart Payment Buttons payment gateway, attendees can also pay using Venmo (on mobile phones) or PayPal Credit (where available). Your attendees will have even more flexible ways to pay online for their event registrations.

Get online payments for event registrations with Venmo

Venmo is a payment service from PayPal. And with our new payment gateway with the Smart Payment Buttons, an attendee can pay online for their event registrations from their mobile phone using Venmo.

With the current PayPal Express Checkout payment gateway, an attendee is taken to a page on PayPal.com where they can make a payment and afterward, they are returned to your Event Smart website. Our new PayPal Express Checkout Smart Payment Buttons payment gateway offers an improved checkout experience, so an attendee pays on your Event Smart website. Instead of being temporarily taken to another site, they will see a small window appear over your website where they can pay and instantly see a confirmation of their payment and event registrations. The payment gateway is also versatile so, an attendee can pay from a computer, tablet, or even a mobile phone.

Here is an example of how the smart payment buttons will appear on mobile devices and on a computer:

PayPal Express Checkout Smart Payment Buttons has several improvements over the existing PayPal Express Checkout payment gateway:

– Smart Payment Buttons will dynamically show extra payment options that are available like PayPal Credit (where available) and Venmo (mobile phones only) offering your attendees’ more ways to pay online for their event registrations
– An attendee can now make an online payment without leaving your Event Smart website (even if they don’t have a PayPal account)

Here is an overview of the existing and new payment gateway for PayPal:

The new payment gateway is a better choice for you as an event organizer because your attendees will have more flexible options to pay and they’ll be able to pay even faster as compared to the existing PayPal Express Checkout. Plus, PayPal handles this behind the scenes for you by using your specific configuration and a buyer’s location and cookies.

How to switch to PayPal Express Checkout Smart Payment Buttons

Moving to PayPal Express Checkout Smart Payment Buttons from another PayPal payment gateway for Event Smart is optional.

If you are currently receiving payments through PayPal Standard, PayPal Express Checkout, PayPal Payflow Pro, or PayPal Website Payments Pro, then you can continue receiving payments without making any changes.

If you are interested in making the switch, so your attendees have more ways to pay for their event registrations, then here are important points to know:

– Guest checkout is automatically enabled so an attendee can pay without having a PayPal.com account
– Your events and attendee information will not be removed by making the switch
– A new set of API credentials will be required as this new payment gateway feature upgrade uses PayPal’s REST API (see the steps information below)

Here is an overview of the steps to make the switch to PayPal Express Checkout Smart Payment Buttons. First, subscribe to the new payment gateway, so it is added to your Event Smart website. Afterward, you’ll create an app through your developer.paypal.com, add those credentials to the payment gateway settings on Event Smart, turn off your old payment gateway, and cancel the subscription for the prior payment gateway through your My Account page.

These steps will take around 10 minutes to complete:

1. Subscribe to the PayPal Express Checkout Smart Payment Buttons payment gateway
2. Follow the steps in the PayPal Smart Payment Buttons help doc to create an app and add the live credentials to your Event Smart website so you can receive online payments
3. Try out an event registration so you can see the new experience for PayPal Express Checkout Smart Checkout Buttons
4. Deactivate the prior PayPal payment service that you were using. For example, if you are moving from PayPal Standard, then click on PayPal Standard on the payment methods page in your Event Smart dashboard, scroll down and click the button deactivate it
5. Go to your My Account page and cancel the subscription for the old PayPal payment gateway (e.g., PayPal Express Checkout, PayPal Standard)

Event payments will be now be handled by the PayPal Express Checkout Smart Payment Buttons payment gateway.

Remember that your events and your attendee information will not be affected by switching your payments to the new PayPal payment gateway.

Questions and Answers

Here are a few questions and answers for the PayPal Express Checkout Smart Payment Buttons payment gateway.

Do my attendees need a PayPal.com account to pay for their event registrations?
Your attendees can pay using a credit or debit card such as Mastercard, Discover, American Express, and VISA. If they have an existing PayPal.com account, then they can log in to their account and pay with PayPal funds or PayPal Credit (where available). And if they are on a mobile phone, then they’ll be offered to pay with Venmo.

Will my events or attendee information be lost?
Your events and attendee information will still be there when you switch to PayPal Express Checkout Smart Payment Buttons from another payment gateway.

Where can I find the documentation for PayPal Express Checkout Smart Payment Buttons?
You can see the documentation for the PayPal Express Checkout Smart Payment Buttons payment gateway here.

Remember that if you have any questions about the new payment gateway or Event Smart, then you can get help today by reaching out to us through the blue help icon in the lower right of your Event Smart dashboard or you can start a conversation with us through our contact page.

Photo by Rawpixel on Unsplash