Paying your members via PayPal is a convenient, popular option. But there are some hiccups along the way that can occur. We have outlined them here for you, along with what causes them, so you can get them resolved quickly and move forward.
Keep in mind: if you are not sure which of these errors is happening with your integration, a good first step in the meantime is always just to check the possible causes of all errors (listed below) and make sure none of them are present in your account. If you have made sure that all of the below troubleshooting steps have been taken care of and you are still having trouble with your PayPal payouts, please reach out to our support team and we will help from there!
Error: Client Authentication Failed
This error is usually displayed for one of two reasons:
Reason 1: Payouts isn’t enabled and authorized to be live in your PayPal account.
Reason 2: Sandbox details are copied over into Buzzbassador instead of Live details from PayPal
Review these steps for properly setting up PayPal Payouts.
Error: An Authorization Error Occurred
Possible reasons:
Reason 1: This error occurs when your PayPal business account is not linked to a checking account. You are not authorized to make any API calls without a linked and verified bank account.
Reason 2: Your linked bank account in PayPal is NOT verified. If your bank displays a red unverified message like the image below, you cannot pay via Payouts until it is verified.
Error: Denied Payment Status
Possible reasons:
Reason 1: Not enough funds to cover transaction + PayPal fees. Transactions of $0.01 will require at least $0.26 in your PayPal balance to cover the $0.01 and $0.25 PayPal transaction fee.
Reason 2: You are trying to send funds to the same email address as your business PayPal account (this typically occurs when someone is trying to test their PayPal Payouts integration). You cannot send a payment to the same email address that you use to log in to your business PayPal account; the receiving email needs to be different than the sender.
Reason 3: Transaction declined due to risk concerns. Sometimes, PayPal will flag certain users or transactions as fraudulent or high-risk. Please check your PayPal dashboard for details, or reach out to PayPal support.
Error: Insufficient Funds
Reason: Your PayPal balance in the same currency is insufficient. PayPal requires that your PayPal account balance — not just your linked bank account — has sufficient funds in the currency you wish to pay out in order to use Payouts.
As an example, if you are trying to make a $5 USD commission payment in Buzzbassador, and your PayPal balance has 5 AED (UAE), then you will receive an ‘insufficient funds’ error message because you do not have enough USD in your balance to make the payment
PayPal does not automatically convert any of your funds to a different currency to process the payment and you must manually convert the funds in your PayPal balance to the desired currency. You can review PayPal’s help article on this topic here.
Again, if you're not sure which error is causing your payouts to fail, reach out to our support team and we can help you get to the bottom of it! Always here to help :)