PayPal

PayPal is a global payment platform that enables businesses and individuals to send and receive payments securely. The PayPal API provides comprehensive tools for payment processing, transaction management, invoicing, and financial reporting across multiple currencies and markets.

Power end-to-end data operations for your PayPal API with Nexla. Our bi-directional PayPal connector is purpose-built for PayPal, making it simple to ingest data, sync it across systems, and deliver it anywhere — all with no coding required. Nexla turns API-sourced data into ready-to-use, reusable data products and makes it easy to send data to PayPal or any other destination. With comprehensive monitoring, lineage tracking, and access controls, Nexla keeps your PayPal workflows fast, secure, and fully governed.

Features

Type: API

SourceDestination

• Seamless API Integration: Connect to any endpoint as source or destination without coding, with automatic data product creation
• Visual Composition & Chaining: Build complex integrations using visual templates, chain API calls, and compose workflows with data validation and filtering
• API Proxy: Expose curated slices of your data securely with a secure and customizable API proxy that validates and transforms data on the fly
• Request optimization with intelligent batching, retry, and caching to minimize API calls and costs

Prerequisites

Before creating a PayPal credential, you need to obtain your OAuth2 Client ID and Client Secret from your PayPal account, and identify your API environment. PayPal uses OAuth2 2-legged authentication (Client Credentials flow), which allows Nexla to authenticate with PayPal using your application credentials without user interaction.

To obtain your PayPal API credentials, follow these steps:

1. Sign in to your PayPal Developer account, or create a new account at PayPal Developer.

2. Navigate to your PayPal Developer Dashboard or My Apps & Credentials section in the PayPal Developer interface.

3. Look for the REST API app section in your PayPal Developer account.

4. If you don't have a REST API app yet, click Create App or Create REST API App to create a new application.

5. Configure your REST API app settings:

   • Enter a name for your app (e.g., "Nexla Integration")
   • Select the API environment (Sandbox for testing or Live for production)
   • Review and select the API scopes or permissions for the app

6. Click Create App to create the REST API app.

7. After creating the app, your Client ID and Client Secret will be displayed. Copy both values immediately, as the Client Secret may not be accessible again after you navigate away from the page.

8. Identify your PayPal API environment URL:

   • PayPal Live Environment: https://api.paypal.com (for production)
   • PayPal Sandbox Environment: https://api.sandbox.paypal.com (for testing)

9. Store all credentials securely, as you will need them to configure your Nexla credential. The Client ID and Client Secret are sensitive information and should be kept confidential.

The Client ID and Client Secret are used in the OAuth2 2-legged authentication flow to obtain an access token. The access token is then sent in the Authorization header with the Bearer prefix for all subsequent API requests to the PayPal API. The API environment URL determines which PayPal API server (live or sandbox) your API requests will be sent to. The access token is automatically obtained and refreshed by Nexla as needed. If your credentials are compromised, you should immediately revoke them in your PayPal Developer Dashboard and create new ones. For detailed information about PayPal authentication, API access, and available endpoints, refer to the PayPal API documentation.

Authenticate

Credentials required

Authenticate using PayPal OAuth 2.0 Client Credentials flow

Field	Required	Secret	Description
PayPal API Environment	Yes	No	Select the PayPal API environment Allowed values: PayPal Sandbox Environment (Test environment - use for development and testing); PayPal Live Environment (Production environment - use for real transactions)
Client ID	Yes	No	Your PayPal REST API Client ID from Developer Dashboard > My Apps & Credentials > REST API apps
Client Secret	Yes	Yes	Your PayPal REST API Client Secret from Developer Dashboard > My Apps & Credentials > REST API apps

Create a credential in Nexla

1. After selecting the data source/destination type, click the Add Credential tile to open the Add New Credential overlay.

New Credential Overlay – PayPal

2. Enter a name for the credential in the Credential Name field and a short, meaningful description in the Credential Description field.

3. Select your PayPal API environment from the Rest API Environment pulldown menu. Select PayPal Live Environment (https://api.paypal.com) for production environments, or PayPal Sandbox Environment (https://api.sandbox.paypal.com) for testing environments. The API environment determines which PayPal API server your API requests will be sent to.

4. Enter your PayPal Client ID in the Client ID field. This is the Client ID you obtained from your PayPal Developer Dashboard (My Apps & Credentials >> REST API app section). The Client ID is used along with the Client Secret to obtain an access token for API authentication.

5. Enter your PayPal Client Secret in the Client Secret field. This is the Client Secret you obtained from your PayPal Developer Dashboard (My Apps & Credentials >> REST API app section). The Client Secret is used along with the Client ID to obtain an access token for API authentication. The Client Secret is sensitive information and must be kept confidential.

   Your PayPal API credentials can be found in your PayPal Developer Dashboard under My Apps & Credentials >> REST API app section. The Client ID and Client Secret are used in the OAuth2 2-legged authentication flow to obtain an access token. The access token is then automatically sent in the Authorization: Bearer {token} header for all subsequent API requests to the PayPal API.

   The access token is automatically obtained and refreshed by Nexla as needed. If your credentials are compromised, you should immediately revoke them in your PayPal Developer Dashboard and create new ones. The Client ID and Client Secret provide access to your PayPal account and should be treated as sensitive information. Keep your credentials secure and do not share them publicly.

   For detailed information about PayPal authentication, API access, and available endpoints, see the PayPal API documentation.

6. Click the Save button at the bottom of the overlay. The newly added credential will now appear in a tile on the Authenticate screen during data source/destination creation.

Use as a data source

To create a new data flow, navigate to the Integrate section, and click the New Data Flow button. Select the PayPal connector tile, then select the credential that will be used to connect to your PayPal account, and click Next; or, create a new PayPal credential for use in this flow.

Endpoint templates

Nexla provides pre-built templates that can be used to rapidly configure data sources to ingest data from common PayPal endpoints. Select the endpoint from which this source will fetch data from the Endpoint pulldown menu. Available endpoint templates are listed in the expandable boxes below.

Get Transactions

This endpoint template lists all transactions from your PayPal account. Use this template when you need to retrieve transaction data, including transaction IDs, amounts, dates, statuses, and other transaction details. Check out the API documentation URL for more details.

• This endpoint automatically retrieves all transactions from your PayPal account. The endpoint uses incrementing page-based pagination to handle large datasets efficiently.

This endpoint lists all transactions from your PayPal account, including transaction IDs, amounts, dates, statuses, and other transaction details. The endpoint uses incrementing page-based pagination with page and page_size parameters to handle large datasets efficiently. Nexla will automatically fetch subsequent pages of data by incrementing the page number. The endpoint returns up to 500 transactions per page by default.

For detailed information about transaction management, API response structures, pagination, and available transaction data, see the PayPal API documentation.

Get Invoices

This endpoint template lists all invoices from your PayPal account. Use this template when you need to retrieve invoice data, including invoice IDs, amounts, dates, statuses, and other invoice details. Check out the API documentation URL for more details.

• This endpoint automatically retrieves all invoices from your PayPal account. The endpoint uses incrementing page-based pagination to handle large datasets efficiently.

This endpoint lists all invoices from your PayPal account, including invoice IDs, amounts, dates, statuses, and other invoice details. The endpoint uses incrementing page-based pagination with page and page_size parameters to handle large datasets efficiently. Nexla will automatically fetch subsequent pages of data by incrementing the page number. The endpoint returns up to 100 invoices per page by default.

For detailed information about invoice management, API response structures, pagination, and available invoice data, see the PayPal API documentation.

Get Disputes

This endpoint template lists all customer disputes from your PayPal account. Use this template when you need to retrieve dispute data, including dispute IDs, amounts, dates, statuses, and other dispute details. Check out the API documentation URL for more details.

• This endpoint automatically retrieves all customer disputes from your PayPal account. The endpoint uses incrementing page-based pagination to handle large datasets efficiently.

This endpoint lists all customer disputes from your PayPal account, including dispute IDs, amounts, dates, statuses, and other dispute details. The endpoint uses incrementing page-based pagination with page and page_size parameters to handle large datasets efficiently. Nexla will automatically fetch subsequent pages of data by incrementing the page number. The endpoint returns up to 50 disputes per page by default.

For detailed information about dispute management, API response structures, pagination, and available dispute data, see the PayPal API documentation.

Once the selected endpoint template has been configured, click the Test button to the right of the endpoint selection menu to retrieve a sample of the data that will be fetched. Sample data will be displayed in the Endpoint Test Result panel on the right, allowing you to verify that the source is configured correctly before saving.

Manual configuration

PayPal data sources can also be manually configured to ingest data from any valid PayPal API endpoint, including endpoints not covered by the pre-built templates, chained API calls, or custom request parameters. Select the Advanced tab at the top of the configuration screen, and follow the instructions in Connect to Any API to configure the API method, endpoint URL, date/time and lookup macros, path to data, metadata, and request headers.

PayPal API typically uses the GET method for retrieving data, with endpoint paths such as /v1/reporting/transactions or /v2/invoicing/invoices. For the Response Data Path, use $.transaction_details[*] to extract all transactions, or $.items[*] to extract items, depending on the endpoint. PayPal uses incrementing page-based pagination with page and page_size parameters, starting at page 1.

Once all of the relevant settings have been configured, click the Create button in the upper right corner of the screen to save and create the new PayPal data source. Nexla will now begin ingesting data from the configured endpoint and will organize any data that it finds into one or more Nexsets.

Use as a destination

Click the + icon on the Nexset that will be sent to the PayPal destination, and select the Send to Destination option from the menu. Select the PayPal connector from the list of available destination connectors, then select the credential that will be used to connect to your PayPal account, and click Next; or, create a new PayPal credential for use in this flow.

Endpoint templates

Nexla provides pre-built templates that can be used to rapidly configure destinations to send data to common PayPal endpoints. Select the endpoint to which data will be sent from the Endpoint pulldown menu. Then, click on the template in the list below to expand it, and follow the instructions to configure additional endpoint settings.

Create Orders

This endpoint template creates an order in your PayPal account using records from a Nexset. Use this template when you need to create new orders for payment processing, checkout flows, or other order management purposes. Check out the documentation URL for more details on record schema.

• This endpoint automatically creates orders from your data. No additional configuration is required beyond selecting this endpoint template. The request body should contain the order data in JSON format matching the PayPal API structure.

This endpoint sends data as JSON in the request body to create orders in your PayPal account. Each record from your Nexset will be sent as a separate API request to create a new order in PayPal. The request body should contain the order data in the format required by the PayPal API.

The order structure must match the PayPal API's expected format. Check out the documentation URL for more details on record schema. For detailed information about order creation, request body formats, available order properties, and order management, see the PayPal API documentation.

Create Products

This endpoint template creates a product in your PayPal account using records from a Nexset. Use this template when you need to create new products for catalog management, product listings, or other product management purposes. Check out the documentation URL for more details on record schema.

• This endpoint automatically creates products from your data. No additional configuration is required beyond selecting this endpoint template. The request body should contain the product data in JSON format matching the PayPal API structure.

This endpoint sends data as JSON in the request body to create products in your PayPal account. Each record from your Nexset will be sent as a separate API request to create a new product in PayPal. The request body should contain the product data in the format required by the PayPal API.

The product structure must match the PayPal API's expected format. Check out the documentation URL for more details on record schema. For detailed information about product creation, request body formats, available product properties, and product management, see the PayPal API documentation.

Manual configuration

PayPal destinations can also be manually configured to send data to any valid PayPal API endpoint. Select the Advanced tab at the top of the configuration screen, and follow the instructions in Connect to Any API to configure the API method, data format, endpoint URL, request headers, attribute exclusions, record batching, and response webhooks.

PayPal API typically uses the POST method with JSON content format, with endpoint paths such as /v2/checkout/orders or /v1/catalogs/products. The request body is typically {message.json} to send the entire Nexset data as JSON, with field names matching the PayPal API's expected structure for the endpoint you're using.

Save & activate

Once all endpoint settings have been configured, click the Done button in the upper right corner of the screen to save and create the destination. To send the data to the configured PayPal endpoint, open the destination resource menu, and select Activate.

The Nexset data will not be sent to the PayPal endpoint until the destination is activated. Destinations can be activated immediately or at a later time, providing full control over data movement.