How to integrate paypal advanced Checkout

Payments + Shipping & Fulfilment

Topic summary

Goal: add PayPal Advanced Checkout (card payments via PayPal) to a Shopify store where Stripe and similar options aren’t available.

Current platform status:

  • Supported by Shopify: PayPal Express, PayPal Payflow Pro, and Venmo (per Shopify staff + docs link shared).
  • Not supported: PayPal Advanced Checkout. Shopify’s checkout is locked and cannot be custom-coded to add it.

User feedback and issues:

  • Merchants want a PayPal-powered credit card gateway; Express alone is insufficient.
  • Reports that Shopify support steers merchants to Shopify Payments even when restricted or unavailable.
  • One user mentions past reliance on PayPal Website Payments Pro (UK), which PayPal sunset due to 3DS (3‑D Secure cardholder authentication) compatibility.
  • Frustration escalates to concerns about restrictions and questions on how to formally escalate to Shopify; allegations of preferential treatment of Stripe are voiced by users (unverified).

Actions/outcomes:

  • Shopify staff will pass feedback to developers; no immediate workaround beyond using supported gateways.
  • No resolution; request for PayPal Advanced Checkout support remains open/unsatisfied.
Summarized with AI on December 21. AI used: gpt-5.
1

Hi there! So I want to integrate PayPal advanced checkout into my Shopify store since my country doesn’t support stripe 2checkout etc.. i want there to be a credit card payment gateway powered by PayPal, I have watched an official tutorial from PayPal but it doesn’t show how to integrate into Shopify

Note: I already have PayPal express checkout installed.

2

Hi @Tawfiq1 ,

Thank you for reaching out to the Community! I’m happy to provide some assistance with setting up PayPal on your shop, to ensure this gets resolved.

To share some insight, Shopify currently supports a few PayPal payment integrations. This includes the following:

  • PayPal Express
  • PayPal Payflow Pro
  • Venmo

While I can completely understand how that may not be ideal, I’m more than happy to pass this feedback along to our Developers. We’re always looking for ways to improve the platform and appreciate your feedback. To learn more about PayPal, you can check out our Supported PayPal Providers documentation as it touches on this further.

Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

3

Hello,

You cannot integrate ‘PayPal Advanced Checkout’ with Shopify. It’s a major limitation of Shopify. Shopify’s checkout is locked down so you can’t just code in ‘PayPal advanced Checkout’, and there’s no native support for it within Shopify’s array of payment gateways.

It’s a real shame and Shopify will just keep telling you to join up to Shopify Payments, even if your product is restricted from being sold through Shopify Payments (Stripe), which leaves you face palming.

When having brought this up with Shopify multiple times over the past few years, Shopify seem to pass the book to PayPal, and then I speak to PayPal and they pass the book to Shopify regarding this downfall. I can’t see that PayPal would have any reluctance to have ‘PayPal Advanced Checkout’ work natively with Shopify’s checkout, I mean PayPal would instantly increase their turnover. I have a strong feeling it’s due to Shopify being “in bed” with Stripe.

3 Likes
4

This is completely unacceptable, and screams antitrust/FTC consumer protections. How can store owners escalate this as a demand to Shopify? We just moved to Shopify because we were told it offered the most robust ecommerce solutions, and we have encountered multiple barriers to entry with Shopify’s restrictions.

5

I’ve tried for years to get the ball rolling with Shopify allowing PayPal Advanced Checkout capabilities, but never got anywhere. Tried tweets at both Shopify and PayPal, emails to both etc.

Shopify support will just tell you to use Shopify Payments, even if you cannot use them due to the various restrictions that they have in place.

Shopify used to tell you to use PayPal Website Payments Pro (UK), and I used that for many years from 2009 to 2021, but that product was officially shelved by PayPal several years ago as it lacks proper functionality with the latest versions of 3DS authentication.