Import saved PayPal payment methods

Learn how to import saved payment methods from PayPal.

You can import PayPal billing agreements created outside Stripe and re-use them through the Stripe integration.

Before you begin

Follow the instructions in Set up future PayPal payments to enable recurring payments.

Import PayPal billing agreements to Stripe Server-side

You can use the billing_agreement_id parameter of a Setup Intent to import an active PayPal billing agreement to Stripe. The resulting PaymentMethod allows you to charge your existing customer’s PayPal account without the customer needing to re-authorise the billing agreement. This guide shows the steps you need to follow.

PayPal will only send cancellation webhooks for billing agreements created through Stripe.

Caution

Deleting a Stripe Customer or detaching an imported PayPal payment method from a Customer cancels the associated billing agreement at PayPal. Don’t delete the Customer or detach the payment method if you need to continue using that agreement outside Stripe.

Create a Customer Server-side

Create a Customer object when your customer creates an account on your business. Associating the ID of the Customer object with your own internal representation of a customer lets you retrieve and use the stored payment method details later. If your customer hasn’t created an account, you can still create a Customer object now and associate it with your internal representation of the customer’s account later.

Command Line

Select a language

cURL

Stripe CLI

Ruby

Python

PHP

Java

Node.js

.NET

No results

Attach a payment method Server-side

After you create a customer, attach a payment method by creating a Setup Intent.