Configure PayPal for ConfTool Pro

To use PayPal with ConfTool Pro you need an ordinary, verified PayPal-account. The account is free, but PayPal charges payment fees as listed on the PayPal website of the country of the payment receiver.

Details about creating such an account can be found at the PayPal Website. You should also include information about your reference account to be able to receive transfers from your PayPal-account.

The following steps are required in order to use your PayPal account with ConfTool Pro. Please note that the options may vary from country to country.

 

1. Account Upgrade

First you have to upgrade your account to a "Business Account" (if not already done before). Please note that this might have consequences on the fees of PayPal in your country.

To upgrade your account, please call the page "My Account" => "Profile"

In the left column "Account Information" select the link "My personal info" (or similar, PayPal changes the wording from time to time) and for the option "Business" click on "Update".

On this page select the button "Upgrade Now" and on the following page choose the business account and click "Continue" to enter the required details on the next page.

Please note that you will also have to verify your account to receive money. Furthermore, PayPal will probably ask for a proof of identity (as fax or uploaded document), if you receive more than a certain amount of money, e.g. 1,000 Euro for EU citizens or your company has a specific legal form. PayPal has to ask for these verifications to comply with international money-laundering laws.

In order to raise the transparency of transactions for your participants, you will have to enter your customer service information. Please be diligent while entering these data - they will be displayed and mailed to participants after the transaction has been carried out and they can only be changed by PayPal customer service. See: https://www.paypal.com/sg/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_onboarding-list

To increase the payment limit (total figure may vary from country to country), please go to My Account => Overview and click on "Account Limits: View Limits". Raise the limit by selecting the current limit and by clicking on "Lift limit". You will be asked to upload or fax further documents to verify your identity and credibility.

 

2. Settings of your PayPal account for the use with ConfTool Pro

You will have to configure several settings in your PayPal-account to be able to use it correctly with ConfTool Pro. These are listed below:

Please go to the page "My Account" => "Profile" left column "My selling tools".

In the right column, please choose "Selling online" (see image 1).

  • Points not mentioned hereafter are currently irrelevant
  • "PayPal Buttons": not relevant
  • "Credit card statement name": Choose an appropriate name, which also will allow your customers to be able to clearly attribute the payments.
  • "Custom payment pages": not required; if you want to, you can customize the PayPal payment pages.
  • "Website preferences" (see image 2):
    • Auto Return for Website Payments: On
    • Return URL: Please enter the address of your ConfTool installation, e.g. https://www.conftool.net/conference/ (the URL serves as a placeholder only; the correct URL will be set automatically by the ConfTool system).
    • Payment Data Transfer : On
    • Encrypted Website Payments: Off
    • PayPal Account Optional: On
    • Contact Telephone Number: Off (as you prefer)
  • API access: not relevant
  • Invoice templates: not relevant


 In the right column, please now choose "Getting paid and managing my risk" (image 3).

  • Points not mentioned hereafter are currently not relevant
  • "My automatic payments": not relevant
  • "Instant payment notifications" (see image 4): Enabled. 
    For the notification URL, please enter the address of your ConfTool installation, e.g. https://www.conftool.net/conference/ (the URL only serves as a placeholder; the correct URL will be set automatically by the ConfTool system).
  • "Block payments" (see image 5):
    • Block Payments in a Currency You Do Not Hold: Yes (recommended)
    • Block accidental payments by blocking duplicate invoice IDs: Yes
    • Block payments from users…: not used
    • Block the following payments: not used
    • Block payments from Student account users under 18 years old: Yes (recommended)
    • Display "Add Instructions to Seller": No
  • "Customer Service Message": You can enter an additional message to the participants. Normally, this is not necessary.

Please now continue with "More selling tools" in the right column (see image 6).

  • "Encrypted payment settings": Website Payment Certificates - Deactivated
  • "PayPal button language encoding": Western European Languages (recommended)
  • "Seller reputation number": not relevant

3. Enable PayPal in your ConfTool Pro installation

To be able to use ConfTool Pro together with PayPal, you have to configure a few settings in ConfTool (see image 7).

As the administrative user, please go to

Overview => Settings => Manage Payment Options

  • Set "Enable PayPal Payments" to Yes.
  • Disable the "Test Mode in PayPal Sandbox".
  • Enter the e-mail address of your PayPal Account.
  • Verify the 3 digit currency code for PayPal payments. Please note that this code must match the main currency of your ConfTool installation and that you usually can only receive payments in your national currency via PayPal. 

That should be it. Please test your configuration with a smaller booking. If you encounter any problems, please contact us at service@conftool.net.

 

Last but not least, some personal comments about PayPal:

  • PayPal works well for credit card payments from most countries, but it is not a full credit card merchant, i.e. on the client's bank statement PayPal will be listed for the payment, but not the name of your organization.
  • PayPal is available in the following countries: "PayPal - Send and Receive Payments Securely Worldwide"
  • In some countries, the participant needs a PayPal account to do the payment. The PayPal account is free of charge and set up quickly with most of the information already filled in by way of transmission from ConfTool. However, this prerequisite depends on the country of the merchant (conference organizer), for some countries it is not required. For example: If you have a PayPal-account in the USA, France, the UK or Germany and the associated checking account is in the same country, then participants do not have to register for PayPal (this is normally the case, conditions may vary).
  • The supported payment methods and credit cards depend on the countries of the involved parties, but mainly on the country of the receiver of the payment.
  • PayPal is quite cheap for credit card payments: They only charge per booking and charge no setup or monthly fees.
  • The money arrives immediately on your PayPal account, most acquirers transfer the money after 30 or 60 days to your bank account.
  • In our opinion the service of PayPal is the main drawback. They respond quite slowly on requests and their replies mainly consist of standard text modules. For example, if they "freeze" your account for "suspicious" activities, it might take about a week to reactivate it. However, there have been major improvements in the service level since 2011.
  • It can be useful to create two PayPal accounts in advance, so you have a "backup account" if one is under inspection by PayPal. If you try to create a second account after your primary account is under inspection, this account will most likely be "frozen", too.
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