Accept PayPal at Checkout

PayPal is now an option you can show on your checkout page, right alongside Venmo. Your buyer picks it, pays you on PayPal, and comes back to confirm — no more trading messages to sort out a total.

What this replaces

Internal vs external, in one line

Internal means the money moves through Thryft Ship — cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Cash App, Klarna, or a buyer’s Thryft Ship balance. We process it, we see it land, and the order marks itself paid.

External means the money goes straight from your buyer to you. PayPal and Venmo are both external. We show the option, we send the buyer over, and we keep the order open until you tell us the money arrived. We can’t see your PayPal account, so we can’t check for you.

Turning it on

1. Open your payment settings

   Go to Accept Payment settings.

2. Switch on PayPal

   You’ll be asked to acknowledge a short note explaining that we don’t process or track these payments. That’s a one-time thing.

3. Add your PayPal details

   This is what your buyers are sent to, so check it carefully — a typo here sends someone else your money.

Why you still have to accept cards

PayPal is an extra option on your checkout page, not a replacement for it. To offer it, you need Thryft Ship Payments switched on, which means completing Stripe onboarding.

Two reasons that’s a good thing:

• Your buyers get choice. Plenty of people don’t use PayPal, and plenty won’t send money to a stranger through an app with no buyer protection. Giving them a card option is what turns a browser into a buyer.
• It proves you’re you. Stripe onboarding verifies your identity and your bank account. Being a verified Thryft Ship seller taking real card payments is a reputation signal — it tells a nervous first-time buyer that there’s a real business behind the account.

What your buyer sees

Card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Cash App, Klarna and balance sit at the top of the checkout page. PayPal and Venmo live underneath, under Other payment options.

When they pick PayPal, we show them a screen before sending them over telling them to come back afterwards — because paying in PayPal doesn’t finish the Thryft Ship order on its own. When they return, they get asked whether they actually sent it, with a clear note that you’ll be confirming before anything is marked paid.

What you see

A card appears at the top of the order telling you your customer says they paid, for how much and when, with two buttons: Confirm payment received and Reject.

Until you confirm, every line on the order — the items and the shipping — carries a red Owed badge and the total paid reads $0.00. Once you confirm, all of it flips to a green Paid badge.

If you’re using the Sales Assistant, confirming also stops the payment reminder DMs for that buyer, so nobody gets nagged for money they’ve already sent.

The money side

• No 2% platform fee. We’re not processing the payment, so we don’t charge for it.
• It doesn’t count toward your payment volume. These orders sit outside your Thryft Ship payment totals.
• The money never touches your Thryft Ship balance. It goes straight to your PayPal account, so there’s nothing to pay out.
• You can still buy the shipping label whether or not you’ve confirmed payment yet.
• No dispute cover from us. If something goes wrong with the payment, that’s between you, your buyer and PayPal.

Using the right kind of PayPal account

You’re selling, so use PayPal the way PayPal expects a seller to — a business setup and goods-and-services payments, not personal transfers between friends. We can’t see your PayPal account, so we can’t check this for you. Staying inside PayPal’s rules is on you, and it’s what keeps your account from getting limited.

Common questions