How to take PayPal payments in a Garmin watch app

To take PayPal in a Garmin Connect IQ app, the watch shows a QR code, the buyer approves the payment on PayPal's site on the phone, and a server completes it and tells the watch to unlock. WearCheckout does this on your own PayPal account, while KiezelPay and PayToUse take the payment into their own accounts and pay you later. PayPal's standard US rate is 3.49% + 49¢, so for prices under $10, ask PayPal for its micropayments rate of 4.99% + 9¢.

How does a PayPal payment reach a Garmin watch?

Through the buyer's phone and a server, in five steps.

1. The watch shows a QR code, already linked to that watch.
2. The phone opens PayPal's own site. The buyer approves the payment there, with a PayPal balance or a card.
3. The server completes the payment on your account. PayPal calls this a capture.
4. PayPal tells the server with a PAYMENT.CAPTURE.COMPLETED event.
5. The watch asks the server and unlocks, within about a second if its buy screen is open.

With WearCheckout, the money lands in your PayPal balance, and you withdraw it from PayPal. We make WearCheckout, so weigh our view with that in mind. WearCheckout is not affiliated with Garmin.

What does PayPal charge on a small Garmin app sale?

PayPal's standard US checkout rate is 3.49% + 49¢, and its micropayments rate is 4.99% + 9¢. Micropayments cost less than the standard rate below about $26, and less than Stripe below about $10.

Checked 23 October 2026: PayPal's US merchant fees page, last updated 1 October 2026, and Stripe's US pricing (see Sources).

• Standard: 3.49% of $2.99 is $0.10, plus $0.49, is $0.59. On $4.99, $0.17 + $0.49 = $0.66.
• Micropayments: 4.99% of $2.99 is $0.15, plus $0.09, is $0.24. On $4.99, $0.25 + $0.09 = $0.34.
• You apply for it. PayPal says you may apply for micropayments pricing for certain lower-value payments.
• Buyers abroad: payments from outside the US add 1.5% at either rate.

On a $4.99 sale you keep $4.33 at PayPal's standard rate, or $4.65 at its micropayments rate. WearCheckout's plan price is the same whichever processor you use.

Who holds the money with each PayPal option?

With WearCheckout or your own integration, you do. With KiezelPay and PayToUse, the money reaches them first.

Checked 23 October 2026, on each company's own pages (see Sources).

KiezelPay's buyers can pay by PayPal or card, and KiezelPay handles sales tax. With WearCheckout you are the seller, so sales tax is yours.

How do you connect PayPal to WearCheckout?

Through your own PayPal REST app: one in PayPal's sandbox for testing, and one live.

1. Make a REST app in PayPal's developer dashboard, under Apps & Credentials, in the sandbox.
2. Connect it on WearCheckout's Payments page. Its secret is stored encrypted.
3. Add WearCheckout's webhook address on the app's Webhooks page, exactly as Payments shows it.
4. Tick four events: PAYMENT.CAPTURE.COMPLETED, PAYMENT.CAPTURE.REFUNDED, CUSTOMER.DISPUTE.CREATED and CUSTOMER.DISPUTE.RESOLVED.
5. Send a test event with Simulate events. It shows up on Payments within a minute.

Repeat with a live REST app when you go live. One connection serves all your apps. See Connect PayPal.

What does the watch do after a PayPal refund or dispute?

It locks again at its next check, or at once if its buy screen is open.

If PayPal can't reach WearCheckout, payments still go through, but refunds won't lock watches until it works again. Payments shows Needs attention, with the fix. Test refunds and disputes in the sandbox only. See refunds, disputes and renewals.

Can you sell a Garmin app subscription with PayPal?

Not through WearCheckout's PayPal connection: its docs cover one-time payments only. For a subscription, connect Stripe or Polar, whose docs list renewal events.

If you build your own integration, PayPal has its own subscriptions API. The subscriptions guide compares every option.

Sources

Facts about PayPal and the other services come from their own pages, checked on 23 October 2026.

• PayPal: US merchant fees, last updated 1 October 2026 (3.49% + $0.49 checkout, 4.99% + $0.09 micropayments, 1.5% international)
• PayPal: Orders API (create, approve and capture a payment)
• PayPal: subscriptions
• Stripe: US pricing (2.9% + 30¢ per domestic card payment)
• KiezelPay: FAQ (27% fee, PayPal or card, payouts by PayPal, sales tax)
• PayToUse: developer manual (PayPal fee, 13% fee, withdrawals)
• WearCheckout: connect PayPal
• WearCheckout: refunds, disputes and renewals
• WearCheckout: what you can sell (prices and currencies)
• WearCheckout: terms of service (you are the seller, we never hold buyers' money)