Help · PayPal

Finding your PayPal keys

You'll need three things from the PayPal Developer Dashboard to connect PayPal to Checkout DM: your Client ID, your Secret, and your Webhook ID. This walks through exactly where each one lives — plus what needs to be true about your PayPal account before you get there.

Your Secret is sensitive — treat it like a password. Never paste it anywhere other than your Checkout DM Payment Settings.

Account requirements

Before you start

The Developer Dashboard itself is open to anyone with a PayPal login, but actually receiving live payments through it depends on the state of your regular PayPal account.

You need a PayPal Business account

A personal PayPal account can log into the Developer Dashboard and create Sandbox credentials for testing, but it can't accept live payments through the API. To go live, your account has to be a Business account.

If yours is currently personal, log in at paypal.com and look for the option to upgrade to a Business account — this is done in your regular PayPal account settings, not in the Developer Dashboard.

Complete identity verification (KYC) if PayPal asks for it

Depending on your country, PayPal may require you to verify your identity and business details — sometimes called KYC — before you can receive live payments. If this applies to you, PayPal will usually show a 'Verify your identity' prompt inside your regular account, asking for documents like a government ID and proof of business.

This step, and exactly what's required, varies by country and is set by PayPal, not by Checkout DM. If you don't see a verification prompt, it likely isn't required for your account yet — but PayPal can still ask for it later before releasing a payout.

Once verified, head to the Developer Dashboard

With a verified Business account in place, you're ready to generate your Client ID, Secret, and Webhook ID using the steps below. Sandbox credentials, for testing, don't require any of this and can be created right away.

Step 1

Client ID & Secret

These two values authenticate every payment request Checkout DM sends on your behalf, through a PayPal 'app' tied to your business account.

Go to developer.paypal.com and log in using your regular PayPal account credentials — the same login as your Business account.

Go to Apps & Credentials

From the Dashboard menu, click Apps & Credentials.

Pick Sandbox or Live

Use the toggle near the top of the page to switch between Sandbox (for testing with fake payments) and Live (for real customer payments).

Sandbox and Live each have their own separate app, Client ID, Secret, and Webhook ID — don't mix them up. Live will only work once your account meets the requirements above.

Create or open an app

If you don't have an app yet, click Create App, give it a name, and create it. If you already have one, click into it from the list.

Copy the Client ID and Secret

On the app's detail page, the Client ID is shown in full. Click Show next to Secret to reveal it, then copy both.

You can come back to this page and reveal the Secret again any time — it isn't a one-time reveal like some providers.

Step 2

Webhook ID

The webhook is how PayPal tells Checkout DM the moment a payment completes. The Webhook ID is what Checkout DM uses to verify that a webhook really came from PayPal.

Scroll to the Webhooks section

Still on your app's detail page, scroll down to the Webhooks section, then click Add Webhook.

Your Checkout DM webhook URL

Paste this exact URL into the URL field in PayPal — it's the same for every merchant, so you don't need to look it up anywhere else in your dashboard.

https://n8ncdm.checkoutdm.com/webhook/checkoutdm-paypal-webhook

Paste in the webhook URL

Paste the URL above into the URL field.

Choose which events to send

Below the URL field is a checklist of event types. This is where you tell PayPal which payment events should actually notify Checkout DM.

At minimum, Checkout DM needs PAYMENT.CAPTURE.COMPLETED — that's the event that marks an order as paid. It's also worth ticking PAYMENT.CAPTURE.DENIED and PAYMENT.CAPTURE.REFUNDED if you see them, so failed or refunded payments are reflected too.

Copy the Webhook ID

Once saved, the webhook appears in the Webhooks list with its own Webhook ID shown directly beneath it — copy that value.

What each event actually means

PAYMENT.CAPTURE.COMPLETED — the payment was successfully captured. This is the main event Checkout DM uses to mark an order as paid.
PAYMENT.CAPTURE.DENIED — the capture attempt was declined. Checkout DM can use this to let the customer know and, where possible, prompt them to retry.
PAYMENT.CAPTURE.REFUNDED — a previously captured payment was refunded, in full or in part.

PayPal maintains the full, always-up-to-date list of webhook event names — across payments, disputes, subscriptions, and more — in their own documentation. Worth a look if you want to go beyond what Checkout DM currently listens for.

PayPal's webhook event names documentation

Where these go

Paste your Client ID, Secret, and Webhook ID into the PayPal section of your Payment Settings in Checkout DM. Nothing is charged until this is saved and verified.