What to do when PayPal offers no credit card option to customers

The online payment platform PayPal boasts more than 400 million users around the world, so it makes sense that many online vendors offer it as a payment option to their customers. It’s also easy to integrate PayPal on your website or online store so customers can quickly send payments for products and services.

PayPal not only enables cash transactions, but it also allows you to collect credit card payments as well. Usually, customers have the option to choose to pay by credit card when moving through the PayPal checkout process. Since many customers prefer to use credit cards, having no credit card option displayed could cause you to lose a sale.

No credit card option in the PayPal: How to troubleshoot

What should you do if your customers aren’t being offered the choice to pay with a credit card in PayPal? If you’re getting this feedback, it’s time to check your account to ensure you offer the right payment options.

Usually, the lack of a credit card payment option is associated with your PayPal account settings. Here’s a checklist to help you fix the issue.

1. Check your account type. The PayPal credit card option is only available for Business accounts. If you’re using a personal account, then you won’t have this feature. Set up a PayPal Business account to keep your personal and business transactions separate.
2. Make it optional for customers to have a PayPal account to pay. Look in your PayPal payment settings for the “PayPal Account Optional” setting under Seller Tools > Website preferences. Turn this setting on. It allows anyone to pay by credit card — even if they don’t have a PayPal account.
3. Verify your email address. Did you verify your email address when you set up your PayPal Business account? PayPal wants to check your information before you can start accepting certain types of payments. You might need to request a new verification link.
4. Link and verify your bank account. Link a bank account to your PayPal account. You have the option to link multiple accounts, but you’ll need to link at least one bank account to accept credit card payments.

When your PayPal account settings meet the above criteria, your customers should be able to see a credit card payment option when they reach checkout.

Other factors affecting the PayPal no credit card option

If you tried all of the tips above and your customers still don’t see the credit card option, here are a few other details to check.

• IP address: If PayPal has a history of transaction issues from your IP address, the service may block this feature.
• Business location: All PayPal features aren’t available in all countries, and your business might be in a country where this service isn’t available.
• Customer location: Similar to the business location issue above, your customers can’t pay with a credit card if these services aren’t unavailable where they live.

Credit card alternatives 

Is PayPal your primary payment collection method? Then it’s a good idea to integrate it with other digital tools you use to ensure PayPal payments are available on all your platforms. PayPal payment buttons and features are easy to add to websites and digital storefronts using cut-and-paste code.

If customers can’t find a credit card payment option at checkout with PayPal, make sure you’re providing other ways for them to pay by credit card. Having alternative payment methods increases the likelihood that the person will complete the payment — after all, credit card payment options are essential for customer retention.

One of the most straightforward solutions is to use Jotform’s PayPal Commerce Platform integration. With an all-in-one payment solution, it’s easy to provide your customers with more options. In addition, Jotform is a low-code tool that offers integrations for both credit card and PayPal payments. These transactions are always secure, and you don’t need to pay additional transaction fees when you collect PayPal payments through Jotform forms.