Online Booking Payments: How to set up PayPal to accept card payments for online bookings with Cheqdin?

Modified on Mon, 25 Mar, 2024 at 6:16 PM

In this article, we'll show you how to set up PayPal for collecting online booking payments.

To start collecting online debit or credit card payments from parents or carers you'll have to link a payment gateway such as PayPal with Cheqdin. Learn more about PayPal.

Step 1: Login or create a PayPal account

Log in to your PayPal account. The PayPal account you use for your centre or school must be a PayPal business account.

If you don't have a PayPal account, you can create one for free. When creating a new PayPal account, you must ensure that you select the correct region (country where your centre will be based).

Step 2: Head to the PayPal developer portal

Navigate to your developer portal once logged in. If you cannot find the menu of the developer portal, click on the below link once logged in https://developer.paypal.com/home

Step 3: Go to your 'Dashboard'

Click on the 'Dashboard' link found on the menu bar. This will take you to your account's dashboard.

Step 4: Go to Apps & Credentials

Click on the 'Apps & Credentials' link on the menu bar. This will take you to a page where you can create credentials for your account which you'll have to link with Cheqdin.

Step 5: Select Live and create an app

Here you'll see options for 'Sandbox' and 'Live' accounts. Sandboxes are created solely for the purpose of testing, so you can ignore that option. Select the 'Live' option.

Step 6: Create your App

After you've selected the 'Live' option, click on 'Create App'. Give your app a name of your choice. We recommend using the legal name of your centre if registered or your small business name so that you can easily identify it later on. In this instance, we'll use a dummy name 'Afterschool Club Test'.

Step 7: Live Account API Credentials for integration with Cheqdin

Once your app has been created, PayPal will auto-populate your API Credentials, the Application Programming Interface (API). An API is nothing but the credentials that define interactions between software applications, in simpler terms, it is a connection between two or more applications. You'll require the Live API Credentials to integrate your PayPal account (to receive payments directly) with Cheqdin.

Important!

For security reasons, do not save your client secret information (API Keys) elsewhere or share the keys with anyone.

Step 8: Adding the API Credentials to Cheqdin

In this step, you can add the credentials to Cheqdin so that you can link your account. Make sure that you're logged into your Cheqdin account (admin).

Go to 'Online Bookings' > 'Online Booking Setup' 'Payment Methods' > Select whether you wish to invoice immediately or later when a booking is placed. Click on 'Set Up Now' to collect booking fees.

Step 9: Add your PayPal API Credentials to Cheqdin

Copy-paste your credentials from your Paypal account (Refer to Step 7). Please ensure that you copy/paste the fields correctly without any spaces. There are two types of credentials that you'll need to update:

Client ID
Secret or Secret ID

Firstly, copy and paste the Client ID field. Secondly, copy and paste the Client-Secret or Secret ID field. Click 'Add API Credentials'.

Step 10: Check if the API integration (account linking) was successful

After saving the credentials, the system will perform a real-time check to see if the credentials were authenticated successfully. If the details entered are correct, you'll see a system confirmation stating 'API credentials authenticated successfully!'

Step 11: Publish and share your booking link:

Perform a final check to ensure that you have published and/or shared your booking link on your website or social media so that parents or carers can book and pay online.

You can now start collecting fees for your bookings. Shown below is an example of what your customers will see at checkout when making a booking.