Payment Setup Checklist for PayPal

To access the Payment Setup Checklist, go to the Settings section of your Dashboard and select Bank & Payments from the sidebar. The checklist is located in the Overview tab.

Learn more about what the checklist includes by reading the sections below.

Starting the process

After selecting this step of your Payment Setup Checklist, you will be asked to Start the verification process. You must complete the process within 30 minutes, so be sure to have your materials ready. You will be taken to PayPal’s secure portal to complete the process.

Your PayPal account

You will have the option to enter credentials for a verified PayPal account with a bank account attached or create a new PayPal account during the verification process (if you’re creating a new PayPal account, make sure you have all relevant business information ready).

Note: You cannot change which PayPal account is associated with your Dashboard once it has been verified and attached. Please ensure that the PayPal account you use to complete the Payment Setup Checklist is the desired account you’d like to use with your FareHarbor Dashboard permanently.

If you create a PayPal account without using the FareHarbor Dashboard, please confirm that you select the correct processor country by selecting the flag icon in the bottom-right of the PayPal signup window. If you do not select the correct processor country during setup, you will need to create an entirely new PayPal account from scratch.

Note: You must use the same processor country in PayPal as you do in FareHarbor. Otherwise, you will not be able to accept payments.

Finishing the process

Either way, you’ll need to follow the given steps to ensure your PayPal account is properly linked to your FareHarbor Dashboard. This will include things like allowing permission for FareHarbor to link to your PayPal account, agreeing to any relevant terms of service, or verifying your email (if required).

When you are finished and select Done, you will be redirected back to your Payment Setup Checklist in FareHarbor, which will be green to indicate the completion of the process.

Note: If you have created a new PayPal account through this process, you must verify your email in order to properly activate your PayPal account to be able to receive payments.

What it looks like

Your customers will now see the PayPal payment method when completing the checkout process. Selecting this option will open a pop-up of PayPal’s secure payment portal. When they have completed their payment, they will be taken back to your site’s confirmation page. The payment method will be shown as “PayPal” on their confirmation emails, receipts, and bank statements.

When you view your payments in PayPal, you’ll be able to see all the Transaction Details, which includes:

• Customer name
• Transaction date
• PayPal Transaction ID
• Order Details that show:
  • FareHarbor item name
  • Date of booking
  • Booking start time
  • Booking ID
  • FareHarbor URL to the booking in your Dashboard

In addition to connecting to your bank account, we highly recommend that you manually add money to your PayPal account balance as well as add a credit card to your PayPal account. Because money cannot be pulled automatically from your attached bank account or credit card, manually adding funds to your PayPal account ensures you are always able to refund your customers, if needed. Your PayPal balance should be an amount you feel is sufficient to process the typical amount of refunds you need to each day. You can always add money to your account at any time.

To have the best experience using PayPal with FareHarbor, the following steps are recommended:

1. Add and verify a bank account in PayPal.
2. Complete Know Your Customer (KYC) validation.

Completing these steps helps prevent holds from PayPal and ensures you can take payments quickly and easily.

Important note if you are connecting a bank account in certain countries: 

If you are attempting to connect a bank account to a PayPal account in the following countries,

Antigua & Barbuda, Albania, Algeria, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Egypt, Fiji, Grenada, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, Malawi, New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Palau, Seychelles, Turks & Caicos Islands, Trinidad & Tobago

you will only be able to attach a US-based bank account for your payouts to go directly to a bank account. Alternatively, you can connect a Visa card to your PayPal account for your payouts. Please be aware that this is a necessary step in fully completing your PayPal setup and must be completed before we are able to successfully accept payments on your Dashboard.

For further information and restrictions please view this page on the PayPal website.

PayPal prioritizes protecting their clients to ensure that their platform remains as safe and secure as possible. As such, there may be scenarios where a PayPal transaction is put on hold or in a pending status immediately. Learn more about when this happens and what actions you can take to ensure timely, secure payment.

What does it mean when a payment is pending?

There are some instances where PayPal will label a payment as “pending review”. This happens more often with newer PayPal accounts or PayPal accounts in certain areas that are at a higher risk for fraud. It can also occur if you have not completed your Know Your Customer (KYC) validation or did not verify a bank account, so please make sure to complete those steps in order to avoid pending payments as much as possible.

When a payment is labeled as pending, PayPal holds the funds until the payment can be processed. If this occurs, you will receive a notification email from PayPal. In most cases, you should be able to process the funds and successfully accept the payment. In some cases, however, the pending review can take up to 21 days, after which PayPal will release the funds to you.

You can read more from PayPal about releasing held payments (note: as a FareHarbor user, you will fall under the “intangible item” category in PayPal’s documentation).

What will pending review payments look like on my FareHarbor Dashboard?

Payments that PayPal has labeled as “pending review” will appear as normal, successful payments on your FareHarbor Dashboard.

What happens if I decline a pending payment?

If you want to decline a pending payment, you can refund the charge directly in your FareHarbor Dashboard. The payment will be declined and the money will be refunded to the customer.

If you accidentally declined the payment and would like re-collect it, you will need to reach out to the customer and collect payment manually. To correct any accidental declines in your FareHarbor Dashboard, adjust the booking using custom refund, then ask the customer book again.

Reported processing fees and pending payments

PayPal doesn’t provide any of the processing fees for payments which are pending review. Because of this, FareHarbor will display fees for these payments in reports as $0.00. The fee amounts will automatically update once the payment has been cleared and PayPal provides the information (Note: this may change the total net from day to day if you have a lot of pending payments).

How can I avoid pending review captures?

Completing the following steps will help minimize the amount of payments marked as pending in your PayPal account.

• Add and verify a bank account or debit card.
• Complete all KYC requirements.
• Provide all the necessary information for PayPal to verify your business. PayPal will attempt to automatically verify your business by accessing electronic records according to your country of operation.
  • This process will differ depending on your location, but in every case, PayPal will alert you about any additional required steps to verify your business through your PayPal dashboard or your PayPal resolution center.
• Verify the email address used by your PayPal account.
• Verify the phone number used by your PayPal account.

While using PayPal with FareHarbor, we want to help prepare you for any disputes that may occur. To help you successfully process disputes, here are some examples of what is considered compelling evidence that a customer actually went on your item.

Examples of Compelling Evidence for Intangible Goods

How soon will I start receiving payments after completing the Payment Setup Checklist?

You can start accepting payments as soon as you have completed the Payment Setup Checklist and ensured that your PayPal account is ready to receive payments. Make sure to log into your PayPal account to complete any supplemental tasks, such as verifying your email.

Once a customer makes a booking using PayPal, the funds will be moved directly to your PayPal account. You are able to hold those funds as a reserve or transfer them to a PayPal connected bank account. FareHarbor does not hold any PayPal funds in escrow.

How do I process refunds?

You should process all refunds through your FareHarbor Dashboard. Once processed, you will be able to see the status of the refund throughout your Dashboard.

If you have accidentally processed a refund through your PayPal dashboard, you should create a custom refund to reflect it in your FareHarbor Dashboard. Though this will not fix slight discrepancies you may see in reports due to processing your refund in PayPal, using a custom refund avoids potential errors and ensures that your FareHarbor Dashboard correctly displays the transaction as refunded.

What if I get a dispute?

If you receive a dispute on a PayPal payment, you will receive an email from PayPal notifying you of the dispute and requesting your response. You must respond within the timeframe indicated or the refund will be automatically processed in the customer’s favor as per PayPal’s policy.

Note: You must respond within the given timeframe for any PayPal disputes or the refund will be automatically processed in the customer’s favor as per PayPal’s policy.

Why did my customer’s booking get automatically refunded?

Occasionally, PayPal will set a transaction as “pending” in order to ensure that the payment isn’t fraudulent. When this happens, your FareHarbor Dashboard won’t create a booking and automatically refunds the customer’s PayPal payment.

Whether a customer calls in about their refunded booking or you reach out directly to a customer whose payment you believe to be legitimate, you can ask them to try booking again with a different payment method to complete the transaction.

Can I run reports on PayPal payments?

Because PayPal monitors fee and tax information specific to certain countries and regions, you must run reports through PayPal’s portal to accurately reflect that information. Read more about reporting with PayPal.

Why isn’t my verification working?

Sometimes, you may need to add additional information in order to complete your PayPal verification successfully. Here are some common statuses and extra steps you may see in your Dashboard:

• Please confirm your email address to receive payments: This message means that you still need to confirm the email address that is associated with your PayPal account. You must confirm your email address to verify your PayPal account. Confirm your email address by locating the confirmation email sent to you by PayPal and following all associated instructions.
• You currently cannot receive payments due to a restriction on your PayPal account: This message means that there is a hold on your PayPal account that must be resolved through PayPal’s website in order for you to use the PayPal account with your FareHarbor Dashboard. You can complete any associated steps by logging into your PayPal account directly.
• PayPal account country invalid: In order for PayPal to work with your FareHarbor Dashboard, the country associated with your PayPal account must be the same as the country associated with your FareHarbor Dashboard. Reach out to FareHarbor Support to resolve this issue.
• PayPal permissions not granted: This message means that you have not added the correct permissions on your PayPal Dashboard to work with FareHarbor. Reach out to PayPal Support and ask them to grant FareHarbor the correct permissions in your PayPal account.

Still having trouble? Feel free to reach out to FareHarbor Support with any of your questions.