How To Use PayPal In Stores (And Other PayPal Questions)

The name PayPal is synonymous with P2P payments and digital wallets for consumers, but over the years PayPal has also dabbled in creating options for users to pay with their PayPal balances in stores. Despite a few failed attempts, PayPal seems to finally have worked out the kinks in the process. PayPal users can now use near field communication (NFC) technology to spend their balances at brick-and-mortar shops.

Wondering “how do I pay with PayPal in stores?” Do you have other questions about PayPal payments or how PayPal works in general? The answers aren’t always easy to find. Thankfully, Merchant Maverick is here to help. Let’s take a look at the answers to these questions and more and set the record straight about all things PayPal!

How Do You Pay With PayPal In A Physical Store?

If you have a PayPal balance and you want to spend it in a brick-and-mortar store, you actually have two options: NFC-based payment using your Android phone, or a PayPal-issued card (of which there are several options).

It’s also important to know that PayPal has discontinued two in-store payment options it previously offered: payment codes and the mobile phone + pin method. (Support ended for both on March 31, 2018.)

Let’s start with looking at the card options PayPal offers, and then we’ll talk about NFC payments with PayPal.

PayPal offers MasterCard-backed debit cards for business and personal users, depending on what type of account you have. For consumers, there’s even a prepaid card that allows you to load your PayPal balance in set increments, among other perks. These cards are linked to your PayPal balance and even allow you to withdraw cash from ATMs at no charge from PayPal (the machines themselves may still charge a fee).

PayPal also offers two branded credit cards (though, apart from depositing cash back rewards into your bank account, these cards have very little to do with your actual PayPal balance). The PayPal Cashback MasterCard (read our review) and the PayPal Extras MasterCard (read our review) offer different perks and incentives for their users.

Can You Use PayPal Credit In Stores?

Currently, PayPal doesn’t support the use of PayPal Credit in stores. Note that PayPal Credit exists separately from PayPal’s credit cards. PayPal Credit specifically applies to online purchases and offers 6 months of no-interest financing on purchases.

Where Can You Pay With PayPal In Stores?

There’s no specific list of businesses or locations that accept PayPal payments in-store, because the debit and credit cards are accepted by any merchant that can process MasterCard, which… is just about any business that can process credit cards to begin with. Likewise, to accept NFC payments, merchants need to have the appropriate hardware — specifically, an NFC-capable credit card reader or terminal.

How Do You Set Up PayPal NFC Payments?

At the time of writing this (February 2019), PayPal doesn’t currently support NFC payments from directly within the app itself. Instead, PayPal has opted to form a partnership with Google to allow Android phone users to connect PayPal to their Google Pay accounts and even make it the default payment option. That means in order to pay with PayPal in stores, you need an Android phone that supports Google Pay.

However, you can connect your PayPal balance to Google Pay from within the PayPal app. PayPal will ask you to set a PIN and also specify a top-up amount if your PayPal balance drops below a certain threshold or your PayPal balance doesn’t have enough funds to complete a purchase. (You should also open the Google Pay app and make sure that all of your settings are as you would like on the Google end of things.)

Samsung Galaxy users can also add a PayPal account to Samsung Pay if they prefer. Both options are easily accessible within the Settings menu of the PayPal mobile app.

Can You Add PayPal to Apple Pay?

Unfortunately, PayPal does not currently support NFC payments with Apple devices, and you cannot link your PayPal balance to Apple Pay or Apple Pay Cash. That may change in the future, but for now, it’s not an option. You won’t see an option to link PayPal in the Apple Pay wallet setup, or in the PayPal app on an iOS device.

However, Apple does allow you to link your PayPal balance to your iOS account so that you can use PayPal to pay for iTunes purchases, as well as iCloud and Apple Music subscriptions. By enabling PayPal’s One Touch feature, you can eliminate the need to log into your PayPal account to authorize each purchase.

How Can Merchants Accept PayPal Payments?

The good news is you don’t have to be a PayPal merchant to accept payments from PayPal customers in stores. (If you want to accept PayPal payments online, that’s another story and I suggest you check out our PayPal review to see whether the company’s merchant services fit your needs.)

Keep in mind that customers have two ways to pay with PayPal: using one of PayPal’s MasterCard-backed debit or credit cards, or NFC payments. The good news is that if you already accept debit or credit card payments, you don’t need to do anything more to accept PayPal cards. As long as your agreement includes MasterCard processing (and it almost certainly does), you’re good to go! If you don’t currently accept credit/debit cards and are considering making the leap, we recommend checking out our top-rated credit card processors as a starting point!

For most customers to pay with NFC via Google Pay, you (the merchant) need to have NFC-enabled hardware. Look for the contactless payment symbol on your credit card reader/terminal, or check the specs in the user manual or online. Samsung Pay users can use a nifty feature called MST (magnetic secure transmission) to emulate a card swipe even if the terminal doesn’t support NFC hardware, but you likely won’t see this feature used very often.

Now What?

PayPal offers an almost dizzying array of payment tools for both consumers and merchants, and it’s likely we’ll see the features list grow even longer in the future. Will we see NFC support in the PayPal app directly, or added support for Apple Pay? Currently, that’s an unknown, but in the meantime, we can all appreciate the fact that the future has finally arrived and we can actually spend our PayPal balances in stores — not just online.