Integrating PayPal as a new payment method for our merchants through PayPal's Third-Party partner programme, with a simpler onboarding flow to connect or create their business account.
problem
A must-have payment method, but not a simple one to offer
PayPal is a frequently requested payment method, but integrating it takes work for each merchant. They need to create, set up, verify and manage their business account. Our challenge was to offer PayPal as an additional payment option without asking our merchants to handle that complexity themselves.
approach
Building on PayPal's Partner programme
The project was built around PayPal's Third-Party partner programme, which lets a platform simplify PayPal onboarding for its merchants. I scoped the work by studying the API documentation, particularly Partner Referrals for onboarding, as well as the account-connection mechanisms. I also structured delivery around several areas. These included configuring our PayPal Partner account, writing user stories with acceptance criteria covering the full journey (onboarding, account connection, payment), and defining the flows needed for merchants to offer PayPal as a payment method.
solution
One onboarding flow, and one payment flow
We built two complementary integration flows. First, an onboarding flow that guides merchants through connecting an existing PayPal account or getting started with a new one. Then, a payment flow where customers can pay the merchant using their own PayPal account. Both flows were tested with the developers before moving forward, to check that each step worked correctly.
impact
A complete PayPal journey tested in development
The full journey — onboarding and payment — was scoped and tested in development. It allows merchants to connect their PayPal account and customers to pay with their own. This work provides a clear foundation for the next stage of the project and for adding PayPal to the payment methods we offer our merchants.
