The simplest QR code for PayPal is your PayPal.me link in a pattern. It opens a page with your name and photo, the payer confirms in PayPal, and the money lands in your account. It suits a craft stall, a tip jar, a club collecting dues or a freelancer's invoice.
PayPal can already show a QR code in its app, and between two people standing together that is the fastest route. Your own code is worth making when it goes on paper: a vector file for the printer, a fixed amount built into the link, and a design that matches your sign.
Making a PayPal QR code from your PayPal.me link
Find or create your PayPal.me link
Log in to PayPal and look for PayPal.me in your profile or among the options for getting paid. If you have not set one up, you can create it at paypal.me. The link is paypal.me followed by the name you chose.
Decide whether to include an amount
Leave the link as it is to let people choose what to send. To request a set sum, add it after a slash, with a three-letter currency code if needed: paypal.me/yourname/15USD.
Paste the link and look at the page
Paste it into the web address field, then open the same link in a private browser window. The name and photo you see there are what every payer will see.
Download, then test with real money
Ask a friend to send a small amount through the printed code, then refund it. PNG for an office printer, SVG for a sign maker.
A PayPal QR code generator or PayPal's own code
PayPal's app can display a QR code for your account, and business accounts can use PayPal's QR codes for in-person selling. Those suit a counter where you want PayPal's own checkout and notifications; check the fees PayPal lists for QR code sales before relying on them.
A code made here encodes your PayPal.me link. That is the better fit for print you design yourself, such as an invoice template, a flyer or a label on a donation box, or when you want a fixed amount built in. Any phone camera opens it.
Friends and family, or goods and services
Depending on the account and country, PayPal may ask the payer what kind of payment they are making. For a sale, goods and services is correct: it gives the buyer PayPal's purchase protection, and PayPal charges the seller a fee. Asking customers to pay as friends and family to avoid that fee leaves the buyer unprotected and is not what the option is for.
Amounts, currencies and tips in the link
The PayPal.me address can carry more than your name.
A set price
paypal.me/yourname/25 requests 25 in your default currency, handy for a class fee or a raffle ticket. Add a three-letter code, as in /25EUR, when payers may be abroad.
Tips and donations
Leave the amount off so people choose, and print a few suggested amounts beside the code.
What the PayPal code contains
Your PayPal.me address and nothing else: no email address, no account number, no password. PayPal shows your name and photo on the page it opens. The code is built in your browser, so the link is not sent anywhere.
https://paypal.me/yourname/15USDWhere a PayPal code works, and at what size
On an invoice or receipt, 25 mm beside the total is plenty. On a counter stand or tip jar, 40 to 50 mm lets people scan without picking it up; a stall sign read from two meters needs about 20 cm.
Print it at least 25 mm (2.5 cm) wide
PayPal QR mistakes to avoid
An amount without a currency
Without a currency code, the link asks in your default currency, and a visitor from abroad can pay the wrong sum.
Changing your PayPal.me name later
If you change the name, the old link no longer leads to you, and neither does every code printed with it. Settle the name before printing.
A code anyone can cover
A loose sticker on a tip jar is easy to paste over with a fraudster's code. Print it into the sign and put your PayPal name beside it.
Does a PayPal code need to be dynamic?
Usually not. A PayPal.me link is stable, a static code is free and never expires, and nothing stands between the payer and PayPal.
Choose dynamic if you print fixed-amount codes for recurring events and want to change the amount later without reprinting, or want a scan count for a particular flyer. Setting one up takes a free account with a verified email address; your first 2 dynamic codes cost nothing, ever.
How dynamic QR codes workPayPal codes in practice
- A craft seller prints a fixed-price PayPal code on the tag of each item at a weekend fair.
- A community choir puts a PayPal.me code for the annual subscription in its newsletter.
- A freelance designer adds a code with the invoice amount at the bottom of every PDF invoice.