PayPal MassPay & Reference Transactions: What it is and how to register?

As a business leveraging PayPal for financial transactions, have you taken advantage of PayPal services to boost your company’s productivity? If not, the dynamic possibilities of PayPal MassPay and Reference Transactions may be what you are looking for.

In this article, you will learn what PayPal MassPay and Reference Transactions are, how they can elevate your business efficiency, streamline financial transactions, and how you can register these amazing services.

1. What are mass payments and how do they work?

1.1. What are mass payments?

Mass Payments refer to a method where businesses or individuals can send multiple payments simultaneously to various recipients. This is particularly useful for organizations that need to disburse funds to multiple recipients, such as employees, affiliates, or suppliers. PayPal's Mass Payment is a feature that facilitates the efficient processing of bulk payments.

1.2. How do mass payments work?

Step 1: The sender initiates a batch payment through a payment system or service provider, like PayPal Mass Pay.

Step 2: The sender provides details for each recipient, including their payment amount and contact information. This data is often uploaded in a specified format or entered into the payment system.

Step 3: The payment system processes the batch, calculating and transferring funds to each recipient based on the provided information.

Step 4: Recipients are notified of the incoming payment. Depending on the system, this could involve email notifications, SMS alerts, or notifications within the platform. After that, each recipient receives their designated payment.

2. PayPal MassPay (PayPal mass payment) 

2.1. What is the function of PayPal Mass Payment (MassPay)?

PayPal Mass Payment, or MassPay, is an API utility designed for Merchants (PayPal account holders) to instantly and simultaneously send money to multiple recipients.  With Mass Pay, you can send payments to a maximum of 5000 recipients at once. Recipients can be suppliers, marketing agencies, or other business partners

2.2. How to make payment with PayPal MassPay

You can use one of the following methods to send batched payments:

Method 1: Uploading CSV file

• You can upload files containing up to 5,000 records with email addresses of recipients’ PayPal accounts, payment amounts, and currency IDs.
• Merchants can add one column for transaction IDs and one column for optional notifications for each recipient.

Method 2: Using PayPal Mass Pay API.

• You can send up to 250 payments per request.
• Mass Pay API will respond with an Instant Payment Notification (IPN) to the NotifyURL appointed in your account.
• Detailed transaction information is archived in the business’s PayPal account history.

2.3. Why should you consider using PayPal MassPay?

PayPal MassPay allows account holders to:

1. Make payments in batches quickly and give their recipients instant access to their money. Unlike other methods, recipients do not need to wait.
2. Minimize accounting paperwork by downloading transaction history.
3. Easily reconcile exceptions by automatically returning unclaimed payments.
4. Avoid PayPal transfer fees. For transactions via Mass Pay, the sender pays a nominal transfer fee and recipients do not need to.

2.4. How to Register for PayPal MassPay

Only "VIP" PayPal Business accounts with significant monthly transaction volumes can register for Mass Pay. If you are interested in Mass Pay, you need to complete PayPal Underwriting to qualify for a VIP PayPal Business account. 

For detailed guidance on completing PayPal Underwriting, you can read our article PayPal Underwriting: Your Ultimate Guide or reach out to Global Link Asia Consulting for personalized assistance.

3. Reference Transaction

3.1. What is the Reference Transaction?

Reference Transaction allows merchants to suggest and process additional transactions seamlessly with a buyer immediately after the primary transaction. It simplifies the purchasing process for buyers, encouraging them to make additional purchases without the need to re-enter payment information.

When buyers purchase an item on a PayPal-integrated site, a transaction ID is generated. Merchants can use this ID to initiate another transaction for the same buyer. This is called a Reference Transaction.

3.2. How does Reference Transactions work?

When buyers purchase an item on a PayPal-integrated site, a transaction ID is generated. merchants can use this ID to initiate another transaction for the same buyer. This is called a Reference Transaction. 

If the buyer agrees to purchase additional items, they can proceed with the payment seamlessly. There is no need to re-enter account information, streamlining the checkout process.

For example, a buyer selects product A from your website and decides to buy it. Then the buyer enters their full information and pays for the order with PayPal. When they check out their cart, the store can advertise or promote a certain product. 

If they agree to purchase it, they just need to click on the payment button to buy immediately. There’s no need to enter any additional information - even their PayPal account information! This shortens buyers’ time for purchasing additional products.

3.3. Benefits of using Reference Transactions

Reference Transactions are valuable for upselling, as they enable merchants to showcase related products immediately after the buyer has made a purchase.

• After a buyer has completed their order payment, Reference Transaction will display the recommendations of the store’s related products. For example, after a buyer pays for makeup remover, they are recommended to buy cotton pads without entering their account information again. 
• Buyers do not need to enter account information again to complete payments. This will encourage them to come back or continue to buy other products on the website to save time and experience the convenience of the checkout process.
• Since no sensitive payment information is added to the merchant's database, Reference Transactions maintains a high level of security.

4. How can you register for the Reference Transactions feature?

Similar to PayPal MassPay, only “VIP” PayPal Business accounts with large monthly transaction volumes can register for this feature. You can apply to do PayPal underwriting, register for Reference Transactions and PayPal Pro, and optimize the checkout process.

5. How can we help you register PayPal MassPay and Reference Transaction

Global Link Asia Consulting, as your trusted one-stop corporate service provider helping hundreds of business owners start their businesses overseas and manage their companies with success, we can

• Provide advisory services for international monetary transactions, optimizing business cash flow;
• Do PayPal Underwriting to get access to PayPal Pro and advanced features:PayPal MassPay and Reference Transaction;
• Assist in registering and maintaining VIP accounts with international payment gateways, offering faster processing and lower fees.
• Offer guidance on compliance with payment gateway User Agreements and help resolve disputes.
• Help you create new PayPal Business accounts, crucial for those with prior account issues or high transaction volumes.
• Advise on strategies for increasing transaction limits with PayPal and avoid PayPal limitations and restrictions.

In addition, we offer corporate services for entrepreneurs in PayPal, Stripe non-listed countries wanting to set up their PayPal Business Account:

• Register a company in Singapore; Hong Kong, and the U.S;
• Open a corporate bank account in Singapore with a 99% success rate;
• Choose the right company types for tax optimization in Singapore;
• Apply for business licenses;
• Get an affordable, professional registered office address for business;
• Support to open, authenticate, and manage Stripe Paypal Business in Singapore, Hong Kong, and the U.S;
• Handle all your tax accounting needs, timely annual filings, auditing, and more.

6. FAQs related to the Mass Pay API

1. Are there any fees for sending payments via PayPal’s Mass Pay?

PayPal charges senders a percentage of each payment, depending on the currency. Recipients do not need to pay the fees, no matter what type of PayPal account they hold.

To see the fees calculated for a specific MassPay transaction, check out this Merchant Fee page.

2. Which countries does PayPall allow to receive payments via MassPay feature?

Mass Pay is available in over 150 countries and over 20 currencies. Please note that the currency limitations do not allow to exchange into Peso Argentina (ARS), Real Brazil (BRL), or Ringgit Malaysia (MYR).

PayPal’s currency exchange rate applies if senders or recipients need to change the payment currency.

3. Can you send payments in different currencies using PayPal MassPay?

Yes, but you have to make different payment IDs for each currency. If your business would like to send payments in the same currency to different countries, your recipients can choose to exchange it for their selected currency.

4. A recipient tells me that they have not received the payment yet. What are the potential reasons?

Below are some common explanations:

Incorrect email address: Verify the recipient’s email address. If it is incorrect, the Merchant can cancel an unclaimed payment and resend that payment.

The recipient’s email address is not confirmed: Your recipient cannot receive payments with an unconfirmed email address. Please request that your recipient confirm their email address with PayPal. After completing the confirmation, payment will be sent to the recipient’s PayPal account in a few minutes.

The recipient has not received the payment email: Sometimes, PayPal email is moved to the recipient’s spam folder. If so, the recipient needs to log into their PayPal account to review the payment.

With over a decade of experience serving as a trusted partner to more than 750 business owners seeking professional development and breakthroughs in the international market, we are an  expert strategic corporate service provider helping you incorporate and operate successfully in 10 different countries

Our areas of expertise include:

• Strategic Consulting and Company formation in over 10 different countries worldwide such as Singapore, Hong Kong, the U.S., Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, and offshore destinations like BVI, Belize, Seychelles, and more.
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• Registered adress;
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• Employment Pass application in Singapore and Hong Kong;
• Website design, international SIM number provision;
• DUNS registration.

With over 10 years of experience and a team of experts with 5 to 25 years of experience (international standard certifications) as well as direct partnerships with institutions such as OCBC, UOB, DBS, PayPal, and Stripe, we are proud to offer professional, legal, transparent, sustainable services with no hidden costs.

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