When you use the WP Express Checkout Plugin, your customers can checkout using PayPal’s Pay in 4 option. The Pay in 4 is PayPal’s Buy Now, Pay Later Interest-Free Installments Option. As the seller, you will receive the full amount for the product at the time of the purchase, the customer will pay it off to PayPal over time.
This can provide a boost to your product sales as it increases the affordability of your products. It gives customers the opportunity to pay off an item over four interest-free payments, rather than the total amount of the product/service upfront. Even though the customer will be paying the item/service off over 4 payments, the total amount, minus the transaction fee is sent to the merchant upfront.
Pay in 4 is worthwhile setting up so that your customers have this option when checking out, although there are a couple of criteria that need to be met for it to work on your website. We will take a look at the requirements for using PayPal’s Pay in 4 in this tutorial, as well as delve into how you can set it up on your own website.
Set-Up Requirements for ‘Pay in 4’
PayPal stipulates a number of requirements for companies that wish to accept ‘Pay in 4’ payments for goods/services they sell from their websites. Below are the set-up requirements for ‘Pay in 4’:
- The product you are selling needs to be between $30.00 and $1500.00 for the ‘Pay in 4’ option to appear on the checkout window.
- The customer must reside in an eligible country/state. United States is supported. The countries that PayPal offers the Pay in 4 feature is expanding, and in the future additional customers from around the world will be able to use this option to pay for goods and services. So check with PayPal if your country is supported at this moment.
- The customer will need to have a PayPal account.
You can read more about PayPal Pay in 4 eligibility on their website here.
If you have set up ‘Pay in 4’ in your PayPal account, although the customer cannot see the option in the WP Express Checkout popup payment window, the customer may not meet all the criteria to be able to use this payment option.
If you meet the set-up requirements above on your WordPress website, jump to the next step to find out how to start accepting ‘Pay in 4’ payments via the WP Express Checkout Plugin.
Setting Up Pay in 4 for the WP Express Checkout Plugin
If you are using the WP Express Checkout Plugin for WordPress and you wish to now offer your customer base the option to Buy Now, Pay Later, you can enable the ‘Pay in 4‘ payment type from within your PayPal business account.
- Ensure you have installed, activated and set-up the WP Express Checkout Plugin. This will allow you to create products/services that you can sell through the PayPal payment gateway and in turn give your customers (where applicable) the option to use ‘Pay in 4’ option.
- Make sure that your product/services meet the edibility criteria and price range for ‘Pay in 4’ transactions.
- Set up the ‘Pay in 4’ payment settings from within your PayPal developer account.
- Complete a test transaction to make sure you can see the option to use ‘Pay in 4’.
How Can My Customers Use the ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ Option?
Once you have the WP Express Checkout plugin activated and you have a product where the price is between $30.00 and $1500.00, those customers who reside in eligible countries should see the option to use ‘Pay in 4’ when they click on your payment button. The option is shown within the checkout popup window. The customer can simply click to ‘Pay in 4’ payments, rather than having to pay the total amount upfront.
The customer will be shown the dates of when the 4 amounts will be deducted from their account, and they will need to agree to the terms of use. Certain customers may not be able to ‘Pay in 4’ for a number of reasons, including soft credit checks. Once the customer goes through a couple of steps required to ‘Pay in 4’ they will receive a message letting them know they have been approved for the ‘Pay in 4’ and the first of four equal payments will be withdrawn from their nominated account via PayPal. After 2 weeks the second payment will be deducted and so forth until the full amount is paid off.
As a merchant, you will receive the total (minus the PayPal transaction fees) within your account after the transaction is complete. While the customer still has 3 payments to make, PayPal takes on the responsibility and you receive the total amount upfront.
You can also read our in-depth Tips and Tricks HQ article on PayPal’s Pay in 4 by clicking here.
Video Tutorial: Completing a Transaction as a Customer with PayPal Pay in 4
In the following video tutorial, we take a look at the process for a customer to checkout with the ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ PayPal payment option using the WP Express Checkout Plugin. This plugin ensures that the entire transaction is able to take place in one neat checkout popup window. This tutorial outlines the simple and easy checkout process for a customer who meets the criteria to use ‘Pay in 4’: