Bug Pay Later not working properly. Messaging incorrect and pay later button missing

[thinkjarvisdesignandmarketing]

Describe the Bug

Pleasesee the link below to issue raised via wordpress.org

https://wordpress.org/support/topic/bug-pay-later-wording-problem-and-clarification-of-using-pay-later/

Contents of issue raised on wordpress.org:

Hi Our client is using the latest version of the Paypal Payments Gateway plugin.

I have 2 issues I would like some feedback on:

Issue 1 – BUG: The pay later message wording is misleading when used in practice
If you look at the preview text for pay later in the plugin it reads like this:

Pay in 4 interest-free payments of $xx.xx. Learn More

When actually used on the website it is showing this instead which doesnt really explain what it is:

As low as $xx.xx/mo. Learn more.

You can clearly see that the actual message is unclear and doesnt help us promote the pay later service on our website but the preview text in the plugin does.

Please can you advise on how we can edit or improve this wording?

Issue 2 – Bug – Where has the pay later gateway option gone?

We used to have a seperate gateway for pay later with Paypal. Is there any way to get this back? At face value it just says paypal. It doesnt say anything about finance options.

Is there a way we can make it more visible so visitors know how to access this service?

I am not seeing the pay later button at all. It doesnt matter if I am logged in or out of paypal. I cannot see the pay later button.
I can see in the settings the actual button only appears if you are eligable – But what is the criteria for this? Surely everyone should see the button??? Otherwise there is no way to do the credit check????

There should be a message saying "Sorry pay later / paypal finance options are not available on this transaction" or simillar. Otherwise the user has no idea why the advertised finance option isnt available.

To Reproduce

1. Visit the website here:
2. https://www.ligetyweibrecht.com/product/summer-ski-camp-session-3/
3. Add a product or this product to the cart
4. Go to the checkout
5. Watch in horror as the pay later button is simply missing for no good reason
6. Note I am based in the UK and have a valid paypal acount. The client is based in the US/Canada

Screenshots

Screenshot 1 - Unclear paypal pay later wording and gateway missing the pay later button

Screenshot 2 - Clear paypal pay later wording as show in settings of the plugin. This is much better for marketing than what the front end displays....why are they different? They should be the same.

Expected Behavior

Issue 1 - The pay later wording should be consistent with the back end information. It shouldnt be less descriptive in the front end.

Issue 2- The pay later button should be visible always otherwise there is no way to initiate a credit check
There is no criteria for checking if someone is eligable? Is this based on location? Is this why I cannot see the pay later button? Otherwise there is no criteria for working out whether or not someone should see the button for pay later.

Either add a message that says "sorry pay later is not available on this transaction" OR the button should always display.

Actual Behavior

Issue 1 - The pay later wording is poor and does not upsell or describe the finance offer.

Issue 2 - The pay later button is missing from the checkout with no obvious reason why and no messaging to explain why pay later isnt available.

Environment

Debug info from woocommerce:

System Status Report

### WordPress Environment ###

WordPress address (URL): [Redacted]
Site address (URL): [Redacted]
WC Version: 9.5.2
Legacy REST API Package Version: The Legacy REST API plugin is not installed on this site.
Action Scheduler Version: ✔ 3.8.2
Log Directory Writable: ✔
WP Version: 6.7.1
WP Multisite: –
WP Memory Limit: 256 MB
WP Debug Mode: –
WP Cron: –
Language: en_US
External object cache: –

### Server Environment ###

Server Info: nginx/1.25.2
PHP Version: 8.2.26
PHP Post Max Size: 301 MB
PHP Time Limit: 500
PHP Max Input Vars: 5000
cURL Version: 7.81.0
OpenSSL/3.0.2

SUHOSIN Installed: –
MySQL Version: 8.0.34-0ubuntu0.22.04.1
Max Upload Size: 256 MB
Default Timezone is UTC: ✔
fsockopen/cURL: ✔
SoapClient: ✔
DOMDocument: ✔
GZip: ✔
Multibyte String: ✔
Remote Post: ✔
Remote Get: ✔

### Database ###

[REDACTED]

### Post Type Counts ###

attachment: 234
avia_framework_post: 10
custom_css: 1
flamingo_contact: 155
flamingo_inbound: 1440
jetpack_migration: 2
mc4wp-form: 1
nav_menu_item: 22
page: 18
post: 4
product: 5
product_variation: 22
revision: 34
shop_order_placehold: 1145
wpcf7_contact_form: 2

### Security ###

Secure connection (HTTPS): ✔
Hide errors from visitors: ✔

### Active Plugins (22) ###

Honeypot for Contact Form 7: by WPExperts – 2.1.7
Contact Form 7: by Takayuki Miyoshi – 6.0.2
DreamHost Panel Login: by DreamHost
danielbachhuber – 1.0.0

GTM4WP - A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress: by Thomas Geiger – 1.20.3
EWWW Image Optimizer: by Exactly WWW – 8.0.0
Export customers list csv for WooCommerce, WordPress users csv, export Guest customer list: by PI Websolution – 2.1.62
Flamingo: by Takayuki Miyoshi – 2.5
FluentSMTP: by FluentSMTP & WPManageNinja Team – 2.2.83
GDPR Cookie Compliance - Premium Add-On: by Moove Agency – 3.5.8
GDPR Cookie Compliance: by Moove Agency – 4.15.6
MC4WP: Mailchimp for WordPress: by ibericode – 4.9.21
Nginx Helper: by rtCamp – 2.3.1
Regenerate Thumbnails Advanced: by ShortPixel – 2.5.0
Scalability Pro: by Dave Hilditch – 5.89
Simple Cloudflare Turnstile: by Elliot Sowersby
RelyWP – 1.28.0

WooCommerce Checkout Field Editor: by WooCommerce – 1.7.14 (update to version 1.7.19 is available)
WooCommerce Dynamic Pricing: by Element Stark – 3.2.8 (update to version 3.3.0 is available)
WooCommerce PayPal Payments: by WooCommerce – 2.9.6
WooCommerce: by Automattic – 9.5.2
Wordfence Security: by Wordfence – 8.0.2
Yoast SEO: by Team Yoast – 24.2
WP-Optimize - Clean, Compress, Cache: by TeamUpdraft
DavidAnderson – 3.8.0


### Inactive Plugins (2) ###

WooCommerce Bulk Discount: by Rene Puchinger – 3.0
WP Mail SMTP Pro: by WP Mail SMTP – 4.0.2

### Dropin Plugins () ###

advanced-cache.php: advanced-cache.php

### Settings ###

Legacy API Enabled: –
Force SSL: –
Currency: USD ($)
Currency Position: left
Thousand Separator: ,
Decimal Separator: .
Number of Decimals: 2
Taxonomies: Product Types: external (external)
grouped (grouped)
simple (simple)
variable (variable)

Taxonomies: Product Visibility: exclude-from-catalog (exclude-from-catalog)
exclude-from-search (exclude-from-search)
featured (featured)
outofstock (outofstock)
rated-1 (rated-1)
rated-2 (rated-2)
rated-3 (rated-3)
rated-4 (rated-4)
rated-5 (rated-5)

Connected to WooCommerce.com: ✔
Enforce Approved Product Download Directories: –
HPOS feature enabled: ✔
Order datastore: Automattic\WooCommerce\Internal\DataStores\Orders\OrdersTableDataStore
HPOS data sync enabled: –

### Logging ###

Enabled: ✔
Handler: Automattic\WooCommerce\Internal\Admin\Logging\LogHandlerFileV2
Retention period: 30 days
Level threshold: –
Log directory size: 12 KB

### WC Pages ###

Shop base: #242 - /shop/
Cart: #243 - /cart/ -  Contains the [woocommerce_cart] shortcode
Checkout: #244 - /checkout/ -  Contains the [woocommerce_checkout] shortcode
My account: #245 - /my-account/
Terms and conditions: ❌ Page not set

### Theme ###

Name: Enfold Child
Version: 1.0
Author URL: http://www.kriesi.at
Child Theme: ✔
Parent Theme Name: Enfold
Parent Theme Version: 6.0.8
Parent Theme Author URL: https://kriesi.at
Theme type: Classic theme
WooCommerce Support: ✔

### Templates ###

Overrides: –

### WooCommerce PayPal Payments ###

Onboarded: ✔
Shop country code: US
WooCommerce currency supported: ✔
Advanced Card Processing available in country: ✔
Pay Later messaging available in country: ✔
Webhook status: ✔
PayPal Vault enabled: –
ACDC Vault enabled: –
Logging enabled: –
Reference Transactions: ✔
Used PayPal Checkout plugin: –
Subscriptions Mode: Disabled
PayPal Shipping Callback: –
Apple Pay: –
Google Pay: –
Fastlane: –

### Admin ###

Enabled Features: activity-panels
analytics
product-block-editor
coupons
core-profiler
customize-store
customer-effort-score-tracks
import-products-task
experimental-fashion-sample-products
shipping-smart-defaults
shipping-setting-tour
homescreen
marketing
mobile-app-banner
onboarding
onboarding-tasks
pattern-toolkit-full-composability
product-custom-fields
remote-inbox-notifications
remote-free-extensions
payment-gateway-suggestions
printful
shipping-label-banner
subscriptions
store-alerts
transient-notices
woo-mobile-welcome
wc-pay-promotion
wc-pay-welcome-page
launch-your-store

Disabled Features: product-data-views
experimental-blocks
coming-soon-newsletter-template
minified-js
product-pre-publish-modal
settings
async-product-editor-category-field
product-editor-template-system
blueprint
reactify-classic-payments-settings
use-wp-horizon
add-to-cart-with-options-stepper-layout

Daily Cron: ✔ Next scheduled: 2025-01-13 01:18:15 -08:00
Options: ✔
Notes: 79
Onboarding: completed

### Action Scheduler ###

Complete: 2
Oldest: 2025-01-11 11:58:05 -0800
Newest: 2025-01-12 03:57:19 -0800

Failed: 22
Oldest: 2024-04-17 08:54:30 -0700
Newest: 2024-09-17 19:05:10 -0700

Pending: 2
Oldest: 2025-01-12 11:58:05 -0800
Newest: 2025-01-16 14:52:43 -0800


### Status report information ###

Generated at: 2025-01-12 04:45:37 -08:00

[SydeKrystian]

Hello @thinkjarvisdesignandmarketing

This specific issue has been discussed in the WP forum, as referenced here: https://wordpress.org/support/topic/bug-pay-later-wording-problem-and-clarification-of-using-pay-later/. Since it does not qualify as a development issue, we are closing this matter for now.

If you have further questions or need assistance, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Kind Regards,

Krystian

[thinkjarvisdesignandmarketing]

Hi Krystian, @SydeKrystian

As per support on Wordpress.org I am asking you to re-open this issue.

Issue 1
Having seen your response - This is a developer level issue.

I am asking you to work with paypal to improve the messaging for pay later. It needs to display some kind of useful validation message!

"Sorry - Pay later is not available in your region / on this transaction"
NOT
"As low as £XX.XX" - This is misleading and unclear.

Issue 2
We have a static IP here in the UK and the client is based out in Oregon USA. Both regions allow finance options - Please can we investigate why we arent seeing the pay later button?

Our client needs an actual answer to this - Specifically So I can explain why it isnt working.

[thinkjarvisdesignandmarketing]

@SydeKrystian
Has provided answers to this on my ticket here:
https://wordpress.org/support/topic/bug-pay-later-wording-problem-and-clarification-of-using-pay-later/

Thank you for the clarification. if I get time I will reach out to paypal directly about the misleading wording.

Please keep this issue closed.

Thanks again for the detailed answer on wordpress.org