Braintree Sandbox Contact Sales

PayPal and Venmo QRC

Enabling QR Code transactions for in person wallets can be done using a merchant-presented flow on the Braintree In-Person readers. This feature is in a limited release.

Since this feature is in a limited release, additional approvals are required before enabling. If you are considering this feature for your integration please discuss approvals with your Solutions Engineer and Account Executive or Customer Success Manager before integrating.

Access New Customers and Enable Next Generation In-Person Checkout Experiences

The PayPal and Venmo QR Code (QRC) based payment flow is meant to be a seamless experience for both integrators, merchants and customers. Once enabled, the card reader will display an option for the customer to select on the reader which when selected will prompt for the generation of a QR code which the customer can scan with either their PayPal or Venmo mobile apps.

From an integrator standpoint all you need to do is:

Sign Up for a PayPal Developer Account

Follow the below steps to set up your PayPal sandbox environment so that you can test the PayPal/Venmo QRC payment flows with your Braintree In-Person solution.

  1. First, you will need to sign up for a PayPal developer account

  2. Then, you'll need to create both a sandbox Business account, as well as a sandbox Personal account.

  3. Once you've created your sandbox Business account, you'll need to retrieve the Payer ID, which is referred to as the Account ID in your new PayPal developer account. To do this, first find your sandbox business account and go to "Manage Accounts" > click "view/edit" and your Account ID will be under the "Profile" tab

  4. The Account ID/Payer ID will be used to enable QRC on your locationId and the login credentials for the Personal account will be used to login to the test flight app for end-to-end testing.

Once you have your Account ID/Payer ID, work with your Solutions Engineer or Integration Engineer to finalize the setup.

Pre-requisite Steps to Enabling QRC

You should onboard PayPal and Braintree accounts with your Solutions Engineer before making any QRC transactions. They will help you through the following required steps:

  • Associate your Braintree merchant account for each currency to be used for retail transactions in the Braintree console panel.

  • Click on action_url given by TAM and login to the PayPal account

    • Click on “Agree and Connect” button, which will grant third-party permissions

  • Provide the PayPal Payer ID, Business name, and Logo URL

    • The business name and logo URL will show up on the consumer app during the QRC transaction

Step 1.1 - Creating a Location enabled for QRC

During setup, pair your reader to a location that has the QRC Enabled and specify the PayPal Payer ID for the account you wish to receive funds for the QRC transactions.

By clicking on the "GraphQL Variables" tab below you will notice that there are variables called "enableQRCodePayments" which must be "true" and "payerId" which will be retrieved from your own PayPal account as mentioned in Sign Up for a PayPal Developer Account.

Please note that the value which is passed in the internalName API field in your location ID creation mutation call will be the value that is propagated in the storeId field in PayPal settlement reporting for QR code transactions. So, we would suggest using a store + brand identifier that is less than 64 characters. 

mutation CreateInStoreLocation($input: CreateInStoreLocationInput!) {
  createInStoreLocation(input: $input) {
    location {
      id
      name
      internalName
      address {
        streetAddress
        region
        locality
        postalCode
        countryCode
      }
      geoCoordinates {
          latitude
          longitude
      }
    }
  }
}

You should not use more than 64 characters in the internalName field when creating your location ID. Doing this will cause an error when you attempt a QRC transaction.

Step 1.2 Updating an existing Location to enable QRC

If you want to update a location that was already created and you want to enable the QRC, you can provide the PayPal Payer ID for that location:

mutation UpdateInStoreLocation($input: UpdateInStoreLocationInput!) {
    updateInStoreLocation(input: $input) {
        clientMutationId
        location {
            id
            internalName
            geoCoordinates {
                latitude
                longitude
            }
            qrCodePaymentsEnabled
            payerId
            name
            address {
                streetAddress
                extendedAddress
                locality
                region
                postalCode
                countryCode
            }
        }
    }
}

Step 2 - Make a transaction with QRC

To make a transaction with QRC does not require any extra steps. For more details, Make a transaction.

Note that the customer must touch the QRC button (with PayPal & Venmo logos) shown above on the main payment page. This will take the screen to the QRC page shown above on the right. After that, the customer can scan the QR code using their PayPal/Venmo app.

Vaulting and QRC

QR Code payment methods do not support vaulting, and these payment options are automatically hidden when the vaulting flag is set to the below in your requestCharge:

vaultPaymentMethodAfterTransacting":

"when": "ON_SUCCESSFUL_TRANSACTION"

For Cash & Carry or other transactions where vaulting is not required simply remove this flag from your API call to show the QR code payment options.

Optionally you may also use the qrcOverrideAPI flag to control whether the QRC payment method option is displayed on the reader. See the example API request below:

mutation RequestChargeFromInStoreReader($input: RequestChargeFromInStoreReaderInput!) {
    requestChargeFromInStoreReader(input: $input) {
        clientMutationId
        inStoreContext {
            id
            status
            transaction {
                id
                orderId
                status
                customer{
                    id
                }
                paymentMethodSnapshot{
                    __typename
                    ... on CreditCardDetails {
                        brandCode
                        bin
                        last4
                        cardholderName
                        expirationMonth
                        expirationYear     
                    }
                }
            }
            reader {
                id
                name                
                status
                softwareVersion
            }
        }
    }
}

Note that you have two potential options to pass in the QRC override API flag:

  • "SHOW_QRC_NO_VAULT" which will display the QR code payment option. This should be used when you do NOT require a reusable payment method token.

  • "HIDE_QRC" which will hide the QR code payment option. This should be used when you DO require a reusable payment method token.

Step 3 - Look for a New Payment Method Snapshot

Request a charge from the card reader like normal. After polling, the instore context will move to COMPLETE. For PayPal and Venmo transactions, you will see a new type of PaymentMethodSnapshot with additional data available.

query ID($contextId: ID!) {
  node(id: $contextId) {
    ... on RequestChargeInStoreContext {
      id
      status
      statusReason
      reader {
        id
        name
        status
      }
      transaction {
        id
        orderId
        status
        customer {
          id
        }
        statusHistory {
          ... on PaymentStatusEvent {
            status
            timestamp
            terminal
            ... on AuthorizedEvent {
              processorResponse {
                authorizationId
                emvData
                message
                legacyCode
                retrievalReferenceNumber
              }
            }
            ... on GatewayRejectedEvent {
              gatewayRejectionReason
            }
            ... on FailedEvent {
              processorResponse {
                retrievalReferenceNumber
                emvData
                message
                legacyCode
              }
              networkResponse {
                message
                code
              }
            }
            ... on ProcessorDeclinedEvent {
              processorResponse {
                legacyCode
                message
                authorizationId
                additionalInformation
                retrievalReferenceNumber
                emvData
              }
              declineType
              networkResponse {
                code
                message
              }
            }
          }
        }
        merchantAddress {
          company
          streetAddress
          addressLine1
          extendedAddress
          addressLine2
          locality
          adminArea2
          region
          adminArea1
          postalCode
          countryCode
          phoneNumber
        }
        amount {
          value
          currencyIsoCode
        }
        merchantAccountId
        merchantName
        createdAt
        channel
        customFields {
          name
          value
        }
        paymentMethodSnapshot {
          ... on CreditCardDetails {
            origin {
              details {
                ... on EmvCardOriginDetails {
                  applicationPreferredName
                  applicationIdentifier
                  terminalId
                  inputMode
                  pinVerified
                }
              }
            }
            brandCode
            last4
            bin
            expirationMonth
            expirationYear
            cardholderName
            binData {
              issuingBank
              countryOfIssuance
              prepaid
              healthcare
              debit
              commercial
            }
          }
          ... on PayPalTransactionDetails {
            authorizationId
            captureId
            paymentId
            appUsedForScanning
            payer {
              payerId
              email
            }
          }
          ... on VenmoAccountDetails {
            username
            venmoUserId
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Testing QRC Flows End to End

To test QR code flows for PayPal and Venmo payment methods you will also need to download the PayPal and Venmo test-flight apps to scan the QR code on your sandbox readers to complete the payment. To get you access to these test apps, you will need to request this from your Braintree Solutions Engineer or Integration Engineer.

When requesting access to these test apps, we will need to know whether you will be testing on an iOS or Android device. We will also need to know the emails associated with either your Apple Store or Google App Store accounts.

Use of the orderId field for PayPal and Venmo Transactions

By default, your PayPal account may have the "Block Payments" setting configured to "Yes, block multiple payments per invoice ID" which would reject transaction requests using the same orderId. This could either impact your regular testing or split tender transactions, which could use the same orderId. To resolve this, log into your PayPal account, navigate to Account Settings > Payment Preferences > Update Block Payments, and set to "No, allow multiple payments per invoice ID" as depicted below:

When making this change, consult with your PayPal Solutions Engineer or Integration Engineer, as it may impact other components of your integration.

Refunding Transactions with QRC

We only support referenced refunds and reversals for QRC transactions. In the event that you are unable to complete one of these refund types, you may complete an unreferenced refund to an alternate payment method (credit or debit card) of the customer's choice.

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