Trouble Shooting Guide

The PayPal Express Payment Gateway for WooCommerce plugin allows for the integration of PayPal with WooCommerce to process payments via the secure PayPal gateway. However, there are times when the plugin may produce API errors and warning codes during checkout. Below, we’ve gathered a list of the most common error codes, including their possible causes and solutions.

This error message commonly occurs when incorrect values are inputted in the API keys section of the plugin settings.

Access your PayPal business account.

• Get API Access credential in any of the two ways:
  • Navigate to Activity at the top of the page and select API Access or
  • From Account settings > API Access > View/Update.
• Scroll down to NVP/SOAP API Integration (Classic) and click Manage API Credentials.
• Generate the credentials if they aren’t present. Otherwise, replicate the following information:
  • API Username
  • API Password
  • Signature​

Next, access the plugin settings and paste the copied credentials into the relevant fields in the PayPal plugin settings.

This issue occurs when trying to use direct credit card checkout, which is only permitted for the US, UK, and Canada because of PayPal’s limitations.

 

You can bypass this limitation by turning off the direct credit card checkout feature while still using the express checkout option smoothly.

 

Make sure your merchant account has the PayPal Payments Pro feature activated. Remember, direct credit card checkout is only offered in the US, UK, and Canada.

 

 

This error often happens when the cart totals sent to PayPal are modified by other plugins or code on your website.

 

Look for plugins that influence cart totals, like discount plugins, additional fee plugins, or those that change shipping charges.

 

As a security practice, every page request from your website is being checked against various rules to filter out malicious requests. Sometimes, due to poor website coding, mod_security may incorrectly determine that a certain request is malicious, and disable its access while it is actually legitimate. 

 

a. Contact Your Hosting Provider

Since the error pertains to server-side settings, the most secure and straightforward solution is to contact your hosting provider’s support team. Describe the issue you’re encountering, and they will probably fix it by either turning off certain security rules that are causing the issue or by whitelisting the impacted page.

 

b. Disable mod_security Using the .htaccess File

This approach is not advisable since it will disable the entire mod_security Apache module for your site, which could be detrimental to your site’s security.

To turn off the mod_security Apache module:

• Create a backup of your current .htaccess file in the ‘wp-admin’ folder.
• Make a new ‘.htaccess‘ file and include the following content with a text editor.
• Place this new ‘.htaccess’ file in the ‘wp-admin’ folder.

 

If this solution doesn’t work, try the below one:

• Make a backup of your .htaccess file if it’s in the ‘public_html’ folder.
• Open the .htaccess file using a text editor.
• Add the following content to the file.
• Upload the modified .htaccess file to the ‘public_html’ directory.

C. Disable mod_security for Specific URLs

This approach provides a more security-aware solution by selectively turning off mod_security for certain URLs. This maintains protection while addressing the issue. Follow these steps:

 

• Back up your existing .htaccess file in the ‘wp-admin’ directory.
• Create a new ‘.htaccess‘ file and add the following content using a text editor.
• Create a new ‘.htaccess‘ file and add the following content using a text editor.
• Create a new ‘.htaccess‘ file and add the following content using a text editor.

• Replace the field_name with the specific name of the missing data field in the order details.
• Replace the field_key with the corresponding database field name for which data is missing from the order details.

To resolve this message, ensure that you’ve entered the correct PayPal API credentials in the plugin settings. Follow these steps:

• Go to WooCommerce > Settings > Payments > PayPal Express.
• Enable the gateway and click on Manage.
• Input the PayPal API credentials in the provided field.
• To get the API credentials:
  • Log in to your PayPal business account.
  • Click on Activity near the top of the page and select API Access.
  • Scroll down to NVP/SOAP API Integration (Classic) and click on Manage API Credentials.
  • Create the credentials if needed. Otherwise, copy the API Username, API Password, and Signature, and paste them into the relevant fields in the plugin.

If you’ve encountered a situation where orders placed using PayPal do not complete successfully and are automatically changed to the canceled status with the message Unpaid order canceled – time limit reached. The problem stems from the Hold Stock feature in WooCommerce’s Inventory management, which can lead to orders being canceled prematurely.

The Hold Stock feature in WooCommerce inventory management allows you to specify a duration during which stock is reserved for unpaid orders. During this period, the order status changes to “pending.” If the order remains unpaid when the time limit expires, the pending order is automatically canceled. By default, WooCommerce cancels orders that stay in the pending status for one hour.

While using third-party plugins such as discount plugins or coupon plugins along with PayPal express payment gateway for WooCommerce, there could be an amount miss match while billing. This issue mainly arrives when the payment plugin has a compatibility issue with the third-party plugins.

1. Enable Subtotal Mismatch Behavior

• From the WordPress admin dashboard, navigate to WooCommerce > Settings > Payments > PayPal Express > Manage.
• Scroll down and Enable Subtotal Mismatch Behavior.
• Save changes.

• If the error still exists, enable Remove line item under the Subtotal Mismatch Behavior.

2. Try uninstalling plugins

• If enabling Subtotal Mismatch Behavior doesn’t work, try uninstalling the plugins that offer discounts or coupon functionality.
• Once you identify the plugin with the compatibility issue, reach out to our support team with the plugin details.

While using PayPal express payment gateway for WooCommerce with other third-party plugins, you might encounter a situation where specific information from these third-party plugins doesn’t show up in the orders you create.

This situation mainly arises because of third-party plugin compatibility issues. With PayPal express payment gateway for WooCommerce, the orders are formed within the plugin itself. At the time, the PayPal plugin will override the WooCommerce fields. Unfortunately, the data from those third-party plugins might not be saved in the fields of the payment plugin, causing this mismatch.

This issue can be solved with the help of a code snippet.

This would be possibly a third-party conflict. To rectify this issue:

• Deactivate all plugins and activate them one by one.
• Once you identify the issue, reach out to the support team for assistance.

While contacting support, share:

• Logs of affected orders
• System status report
• Payment methods

If you’re facing errors not covered in this guide, please look into the list of other PayPal error codes and messages.

 

If you continue to experience difficulties, feel free to contact our support team. Provide them with the error code and log file to receive additional help and guidance.