PayPal Tracking automatically syncs shipment tracking from WooCommerce to your PayPal transactions when an order is marked Shipped or Completed. This helps release held funds faster, reduces disputes, and keeps your PayPal transaction records accurate.
Prerequisites
- A PayPal Business account — personal accounts do not support the tracking API.
- A PayPal REST app with a Client ID and Client Secret. See How to get your PayPal API credentials.
- At least one PayPal payment method active on your store (PayPal Payments, PayPal Checkout, or PayPal Standard).
How it works
- 1A customer pays via PayPal and places an order.
- 2You add a tracking number to the order in WooCommerce (manually, via CSV, or via API) and the order status moves to Shipped or Completed.
- 3AST PRO immediately sends the tracking number, carrier name, and shipment status to the PayPal transaction via the REST API. A note is added to the WooCommerce order confirming the sync.
- 4(Optional) If you use TrackShip, the shipment status on PayPal is updated again automatically when the carrier marks the package as Delivered.
The sync fires once when tracking is first added, and again on each status update if TrackShip is active. If a sync attempt fails, AST PRO logs the error — view it under PayPal tracking error logs. You can re-send a failed order using the bulk export tool.
Settings
Go to WooCommerce → Shipment Tracking → Settings → PayPal Tracking.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Enable PayPal Tracking | Activates the sync. No tracking is sent to PayPal until this is on. |
| Enable PayPal Sandbox | Routes all API calls to PayPal’s sandbox environment for testing. When sandbox is on, you must enter sandbox Client ID and Secret — live credentials will not work against the sandbox endpoint and vice versa. |
| PayPal API Client ID | Your REST app’s Client ID from the PayPal Developer Dashboard. See How to get your PayPal API credentials. |
| PayPal API Client Secret | Your REST app’s Client Secret. Keep this private — treat it like a password. |
| PayPal Payment Methods | Select which PayPal payment gateways on your store trigger a sync. Current PayPal gateway IDs include PayPal Payments and PayPal Checkout. Select all that you have active to avoid missed syncs. |
| Send Email from PayPal | When enabled, PayPal sends its own shipping notification email directly to the customer. Disable if you prefer customers to receive only your WooCommerce tracking email. |
| Enable Log | Logs every sync attempt and any errors. Go to WooCommerce → Status → Logs and filter by source ast-pro-paypal to find the entries. See also: how to view PayPal tracking error logs. |
Tracking visibility
After a successful sync, two things appear in your WooCommerce admin:
- Order note — a private note is added to the order confirming the tracking number and carrier were sent to PayPal.
- PayPal Tracking column — the WooCommerce orders list shows a PayPal Tracking column with a checkmark for synced orders. Hover for tracking details.
Deleting tracking
If you delete a tracking number from a WooCommerce order, AST PRO automatically cancels the corresponding shipment record on the PayPal transaction. Go to the order, remove the tracking entry, and save — no manual action in PayPal is needed.
Troubleshooting
- Sync not firing — confirm Enable PayPal Tracking is on and the order’s payment method is selected under PayPal Payment Methods.
- Authentication error — double-check that you are using sandbox credentials with the sandbox toggle on, or live credentials with it off. Mixing these is the most common setup mistake.
- Tracking sent but PayPal shows nothing — PayPal can take a few minutes to reflect the update. If it does not appear after 10 minutes, check the error log (source:
ast-pro-paypal) for a failure response. - Failed past orders — use the bulk PayPal export tool to re-send tracking for orders that missed the sync.
Next: Stripe Tracking