URGENT: Marketplaces and Platforms - Onboard Sellers not working in LIVE app (works fine in sandbox)

[traintime-de]

Hi there

We are unable to onboard sellers before payment after implementing Partner Referrals API via the following documentation when we switch from sandbox -> live credentials:

https://developer.paypal.com/docs/multiparty/seller-onboarding/before-payment/

We seem to have all eligibility options enabled in our account eligibility:

https://developer.paypal.com/developer/accountStatus 

On the account status page there is an option integrate the PayPal Partner program:

However the link (https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/partner-program/global-programs) is now broken:

We applied for PayPal Partner program some time ago and contacted PayPal support to enable the functionality in our sandbox - all tested and working as expected and we are now ready to launch our platform.

In addition, we have now re-applied to the PayPal Partner program via the following link:

https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/partner-program/contact-us

Everything is working fine in our sandbox accounts - although unfortunately we get the following error when we switch to LIVE credentials:

API METHOD: POST 
API URL: https://api-m.paypal.com/v2/customer/partner-referrals 

responseBody: {
    name: 'NOT_AUTHORIZED',
    message: 'Authorization failed due to insufficient permissions.',
    debug_id: '***',
    information_link: '',
    details: [
        {
            issue: 'MISSING_SCOPES',
            description: "User doesn't have this API in their scope"
        }
    ],
    links: []
}

This is preventing us from launching our platform - please advise ASAP the steps that must be taken in order to add the scopes required to our LIVE credentials (as per our sandbox account)

Many thanks,
Christoph

[Startup001]

We are having the same issue with our account as well, Everything works fine with the sandbox environment but is unable to create the live credentials. We got in touch with support but no solution yet. 

[traintime-de]

After speaking to PayPal technical support we got the following response:

Hi Christoph, Thank you for contacting Merchant Technical Support (MTS). Our support does not assist with live activation of the PayPal Partner program for marketplace integrations. My understanding is that you will only be contacted if your business meets certain requirements for this program. Please contact Customer Support if you have any further questions about your application. Since this is not a technical issue I will close our case. Thank you for your patience and I hope you have a great day! Sincerely, (removed) Global Technical Support PayPal, Inc. Our https://www.paypal-status.com site provides a fast and easy way to stay in the loop about the operational health of PayPal’s products, APIs, and Sandbox environment. Take a moment to discover the https://www.paypal-status.com site, and subscribe to be notified of new events. ref:_00D30LaY._5002E1uzPkJ:ref

After contacting PayPal customer support we got the following response:

Hello, Christoph [removed] ! Thank you for contacting PayPal regarding PayPal account verification, Your PayPal account has now been fully verified and you can now integrate your PayPal account with your webshop, please follow the guide from Rest API and create a new one and then paste it into your web shop (Client and Secret id) If you have any other questions, we're always happy to help. Many greetings (removed) PayPal Customer Service Copyright © 1999-2022 PayPal. All rights reserved. PayPal (Europe) S.à r.l. & Cie, S.C.A. Société en Commandite par Actions Registered Office: [removed]

We have created a new Live PayPal App on the Dashboard, and ticked every box possible:

We did some comparisons between requests to (Exchanger API credentials for an access token) SANDBOX vs LIVE via Postman.

SANDBOX RESPONSE:

{ "scope": " https://uri.paypal.com/services/customer/partner-referrals/readwrite https://uri.paypal.com/services/invoicing https://uri.paypal.com/services/vault/payment-tokens/read https://uri.paypal.com/services/disputes/read-buyer https://uri.paypal.com/services/payments/realtimepayment https://uri.paypal.com/services/customer/onboarding/user https://api.paypal.com/v1/vault/credit-card https://api.paypal.com/v1/payments/.* https://uri.paypal.com/services/payments/referenced-payouts-items/readwrite https://uri.paypal.com/services/reporting/search/read https://uri.paypal.com/services/customer/partner https://uri.paypal.com/services/vault/payment-tokens/readwrite https://uri.paypal.com/services/customer/merchant-integrations/read https://uri.paypal.com/services/applications/webhooks https://uri.paypal.com/services/disputes/update-seller https://uri.paypal.com/services/payments/payment/authcapture openid https://uri.paypal.com/services/disputes/read-seller https://uri.paypal.com/services/payments/refund https://uri.paypal.com/services/risk/raas/transaction-context https://uri.paypal.com/services/partners/merchant-accounts/readwrite https://uri.paypal.com/services/identity/grantdelegation https://uri.paypal.com/services/customer/onboarding/account https://uri.paypal.com/payments/payouts https://uri.paypal.com/services/customer/onboarding/sessions https://api.paypal.com/v1/vault/credit-card/.* https://uri.paypal.com/services/subscriptions ", "access_token": "******", "token_type": "Bearer", "app_id": "******", "expires_in": 32400, "nonce": "******" }

LIVE RESPONSE:

{ "scope": " https://uri.paypal.com/services/invoicing https://uri.paypal.com/services/disputes/read-buyer https://uri.paypal.com/services/payments/realtimepayment https://uri.paypal.com/services/disputes/update-seller openid https://uri.paypal.com/services/payments/payment/authcapture https://uri.paypal.com/services/disputes/read-seller https://uri.paypal.com/services/payments/refund https://api.paypal.com/v1/vault/credit-card https://api.paypal.com/v1/payments/.* https://uri.paypal.com/payments/payouts https://api.paypal.com/v1/vault/credit-card/.* https://uri.paypal.com/services/subscriptions https://uri.paypal.com/services/applications/webhooks", "access_token": "******", "token_type": "Bearer", "app_id": "******", "expires_in": 31262, "nonce": "******" }

It looks like the following missing API scopes (there may be more) may preventing us from onboarding sellers:
 

https://uri.paypal.com/services/customer/onboarding/user https://uri.paypal.com/services/customer/onboarding/sessions https://uri.paypal.com/services/customer/onboarding/account

It is likely that we may also need additional scopes enabled to enable the Marketplace Integrations/Multi-seller payments
 

Therefore, we deduce that as everything is working in SANDBOX, and I have completed steps to create a new LIVE PayPal app & updated our infrastructure to use the new clientId / secrets, that it must one or both of the following to resolve the issue:
 

1. PayPal still have something to enable their end (we need them to do this)
2. We need to enable something in the developer.paypal.com dashboard

 Please advise next steps as this is causing serious delays for us to launch.

Thanks
Christoph

[Startup001]

Hello Christoph,

We have been calling them every day, but the sales team seems to have no idea, how could they enable the Multiseller permissions for our account. Everybody seems to be putting the ball in each other court. I don't know where to contact anymore.

 If you get lucky, I would request you to share the process with us.

[Dave312]

Almost the same with us, have you found a solution? https://www.paypal-community.com/t5/REST-APIs/Register-as-Paypal-Partner-Multiparty-for-Platform/m-p...

[RequestDeck]

Same problem here. Not sure what to do, or who to contact.

I don't see why the two (sandbox/live) API creation process could be made so different.

Also, they don't even have the same options upon setup.

Unbelievable!

[RequestDeck]

Just received this from PP tech support.

---

We are aware of this issue, and our tech team is working to get this resolved as quickly as possible. If you would like to work with the tech team, please file a MTS ticket. You can do this by going to www.paypal.com/mts, clicking "contact support" and then logging in with your PayPal log in info.

---

[filipned]

We're planing to integrate "onboard sellers before payment" and I just saw this thread. Have you managed to resolve problems?

Please update if you have new information! 

[Dave312 · Accepted solution]

Hey Filipned, we were able to solve the problem and find the right contact. We are in contact with PayPal in Europe (Germany), since there is a separate contact point for each country, I may not be able to help you. The only advice I can give you, convince in the mails with the sales of your product, sales, then you have chances to be accepted.

[Startup001]

@Dave312 The whole issue was about finding the right contact to get the feature enabled. Would have been helpful if you could have shared the contact details (at least for Germany).