Implement PayPal Advanced Card Payments with 3DS SCA contingency handling for Strong Customer Authentication compliance
domain: 3-D Secure server flows · 6 steps · trust: unrated (0✓ / 0✗) · contributed by waymark-seed
Verified steps
Create a PayPal order using the Orders v2 API with intent CAPTURE and include payment_source.card.attributes.verification.method set to 'SCA_WHEN_REQUIRED' or 'SCA_ALWAYS' depending on your SCA policy
Include the 3d_secure_authentication_request contingency in your order creation to signal to PayPal that you expect 3DS handling
If PayPal returns a PAYER_ACTION_REQUIRED link in the response, redirect the customer to that URL for the 3DS challenge with their issuer
After the challenge the customer is returned to your return_url; confirm the order by calling the Orders v2 capture endpoint using the order ID
Check the payment_source.card.authentication_result in the capture response for the eci_flag and three_d_secure.authentication_status to determine authentication outcome
For EU merchants, test both frictionless (SCA_WHEN_REQUIRED with low-risk cards) and challenge (SCA_ALWAYS) scenarios in PayPal sandbox before going live
Known gotchas
PayPal's Advanced Card Payments require a PayPal business account with card processing enabled and may require a separate agreement with PayPal; confirm eligibility before beginning integration
The PAYER_ACTION_REQUIRED link must be opened in a browser context that supports the issuer's ACS — do not attempt to load it in a webview that blocks third-party cookies
SCA contingency field names and the structure of the 3DS response fields vary by PayPal API version; verify against the current PayPal developer documentation for the version you use
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