Create a PayPal business account and connect it

Cards through Stripe are technically enough. This is not about technology but about the moment a guest is standing with their phone and no card at hand. Someone used to PayPal who cannot find it often does not order at all — and that costs more than any fee.

You can offer both side by side. The guest chooses at checkout, and your panel shows which method was used on every order. PayPal is optional and can be switched off at any time.

• Your registered business name as on the Gewerbeanmeldung, with the legal form.
• The business address and a phone number for the restaurant.
• The IBAN of the business account.
• An ID document for the person authorised to represent the business.
• An email address for the restaurant — it becomes your PayPal username and guests can see it.

1. Open paypal.com/de/business and choose to open a business account. Make sure business account is really selected at the top, not personal.
2. Enter the restaurant’s email address and set a password.
3. Fill in the business details: name, legal form, address, phone. Pick food service or restaurant as the industry.
4. Describe briefly what you sell. One sentence is enough: food for collection, ordered online in advance.
5. Confirm the email address through PayPal’s link.

A fresh account can receive payments, but PayPal caps how much you can withdraw until it is verified. Do this straight away rather than when the first money is stuck.

1. Add and confirm your bank account. PayPal verifies it with a small test transfer or directly through your bank.
2. Prove your identity. Upload the ID; companies also need the commercial register extract and the beneficial owners.
3. Check the account status for anything still open. PayPal lists open items in the dashboard.

You set up the connection yourself in your OwnGo panel — in the setup step “Receive payments” or later under Settings → PayPal. For that you create a small “app” at PayPal; its credentials connect your account to your ordering site.

1. Sign in at developer.paypal.com with your PayPal business account.
2. Open “Apps & Credentials”, switch to “Live” at the top and choose “Create App” (type: Merchant).
3. Copy the app’s Client ID and Secret and paste both into the panel. “Check and save” asks PayPal right away whether they are right.

PayPal then appears at the checkout of your ordering site. The secret is stored encrypted and never shown again. We use the credentials only to create, capture and refund payments for your orders; we do not need your PayPal password. Delete the app at PayPal and the connection ends at once.

The business account itself is free: no base fee, no setup. PayPal charges a fee on each payment received.

So PayPal is noticeably dearer than a card. That is the price of a guest who would otherwise have abandoned the order finishing it. These figures are as of September 2026; PayPal’s fee schedule is always the binding source.

• A personal account created by mistake. The most common error. Trading revenue on a personal account can lead to a limitation, and then the balance is frozen for a while.
• Verification postponed. You find out the first time you try to withdraw and cannot.
• Business name differs from the register. PayPal compares them and comes back with questions.
• A private email address as the username. It appears on every payment confirmation and is awkward to change later.
• Sandbox copied instead of Live. “Live” must be selected at the top of “Apps & Credentials”. The panel refuses sandbox credentials and tells you so.

If you get stuck anywhere: ask Bon in your panel or send us a screenshot — but never the secret.