PayPal · Create an invoice and send it — A PayPal invoice with items, emailed to the customer — makes an invoice in your PayPal account. PayPal emails the customer a link to pay it.

Who can do this

Workspace Admins and Editors, on every plan. Viewers see the step's settings but cannot change them.

Before you start

A PayPal connection — see Connect PayPal.

Steps

  1. Select +. In the step picker, open Apps, select PayPal, then Create an invoice and send it.
  2. In Connection, choose your PayPal connection.
  3. In Customer email, who the invoice goes to — accounts@northwind.example.
  4. Optional: Customer name — Northwind Logistics.
  5. Under Items, select Add a field for each item — its name on the left, its amount on the right — Each item and its amount, in the currency's main unit. For example Consulting, October and 49.00.
  6. In Currency, leave $ US dollar or choose € Euro, £ Pound sterling, A$ Australian dollar, C$ Canadian dollar or S$ Singapore dollar.
  7. Optional: Note, shown on the invoice.
  8. Send it is on by default. Switch it off to leave a draft — Off: it stays a draft in PayPal.
  9. Select Run this step.

Output

Field What it is
id PayPal's id for the invoice — starts INV2-.
status SENT, or DRAFT when Send it is off.
number The invoice number.
url The page where the customer pays it.
amount, amountCurrency, amountText The total — 49.00, USD, $ 49.00.

Good to know

  • Item names must differ. Two items with the same name become one — the last. A name cannot contain a colon.
  • Each item is one line, quantity one.
  • When it is paid, PayPal sends Invoice paid — see Start a workflow from PayPal payment events.
  • Runs once per item. Ten items make ten invoices.

If something goes wrong

What you see Why What to do
Customer email is empty when the step ran — … The value it reads came out empty. Check the value it reads.
Items is empty — add each item and its amount. No item has a name. Add at least one item.
The amount for Consulting, October “…” is not an amount — write it in dollars, like 1499.00. An item's amount has no number in it. Type a number for that item.
PayPal refused: … PayPal would not make or send it, in its own words — an email it cannot read, a currency the account cannot invoice in. Fix what it names.