◆ Payments help
Connect PayPal to VenueFuze
PayPal works well if your donors and ticket buyers already use it. This guide walks you through creating an app in the PayPal Developer dashboard and grabbing the three values VenueFuze needs.
You'll need: a PayPal Business account (free — paypal.com/us/business). Personal accounts don't expose the API keys you need.
Open the PayPal Developer dashboard
Go to developer.paypal.com/dashboard/applications and sign in with the same email + password you use for PayPal Business.
The toggle at the top right of the page switches between Sandbox (test) and Live (real money). Start with Sandbox while you're testing.
Create an app
Sandbox: PayPal auto-created a Default Application with usable Client ID + Client Secret. Either rename it to "VenueFuze events" and use its existing keys, OR click Create App to make a new one. Either works.
Live: always create a new app — click Create App, pick a name (e.g. "VenueFuze events"), choose Merchant as the type, then click Create App.
Copy the Client ID
On the next screen you'll see your app's API credentials. Copy the Client ID — a long string starting with a letter. Paste it into the VenueFuze Client ID field.
Reveal + copy the Client Secret
Right below, click Show next to Client secret. Copy the value and paste it into the VenueFuze Client secret field.
The client secret is sensitive — never share it outside the VenueFuze payments page. If you suspect it leaked, click Generate new secret in PayPal to invalidate it.
(Recommended) Set up the webhook
Webhooks let PayPal tell VenueFuze when a payment completes, refunds, or fails. Without one, the dashboard might lag a few minutes behind PayPal.
- Still on your app page, scroll to Webhooks and click Add Webhook.
- Webhook URL:
https://venuefuze.com/api/paypal/webhook - Event types: pick Payment capture completed, Payment capture refunded, and Payment capture denied. Optionally also subscribe to Checkout order voided so abandoned PayPal sessions clean up from the dashboard instead of lingering in PENDING.
- Click Save. Then open the webhook you just created — at the top, copy the Webhook ID (a long string of letters + numbers) and paste it into the VenueFuze Webhook ID field.
Save in VenueFuze
Back in VenueFuze, pick the correct Mode (Sandbox = test, Live = real money) matching the keys you copied, then click Save PayPal keys.
PayPal is live.
Once saved and marked as primary at the top of /organizer/payments, every new checkout routes through PayPal. Refunds + dashboard reconciliation update within seconds via the webhook.