Guest checkout not available with Paypal Express checkout

Question

I am trying to set up Paypal Express checkout on my website and I am having trouble getting Paypal to accept payments without the buyer creating an account. When clicking the option to pay by debit or credit card it will not submit payment unless the user creates an account.

First of all is this feature available in Japan? I have contacted technical support at Paypal but have yet to receive confirmation.

I am testing with a sandbox account, it is a business pro account, I have set the Paypal Account Optional to be On. All account verification steps have been completed APART from the identity verification (the link doesn't work for some reason). Account is set in Japan and the buyer address is Japan also.

I have tried clearing the cookies in my browser before testing and also tried on multiple browsers.

I have attached screenshots of the landing page reached and the pay by credit card page that requires account details. I have also attached the request details below as I believe my request is set up correctly.

Is there any help anyone can give me? Am I missing anything? Is there anything else I should check?

[url] => https://api-3t.sandbox.paypal.com/nvp
[SetExpressCheckout] => Array
    (
        [PAYMENTACTION] => Sale
        [AMT] => 3413.00
        [CURRENCYCODE] => JPY
        [RETURNURL] => https://apivitadev-643304293.ap-northeast-1.elb.amazonaws.com/paypal/express/return/
        [CANCELURL] => https://hidden/paypal/express/cancel/
        [INVNUM] => 200000358
        [SOLUTIONTYPE] => Sole
        [GIROPAYCANCELURL] => https://hidden/paypal/express/cancel/
        [GIROPAYSUCCESSURL] => https://hidden/checkout/onepage/success/
        [BANKTXNPENDINGURL] => https://hidden/checkout/onepage/success/
        [LOCALECODE] => en_US
        [ITEMAMT] => 2660.00
        [TAXAMT] => 253.00
        [SHIPPINGAMT] => 500.00
        [L_NUMBER0] => 10-22-00-108
        [L_NAME0] => Cleansing Creamy Face & Eye Foam Cleanser
        [L_QTY0] => 1
        [L_AMT0] => 2800.00
        [L_NUMBER1] => 
        [L_NAME1] => Discount
        [L_QTY1] => 1
        [L_AMT1] => -140.00
        [BUSINESS] => 
        [NOTETEXT] => 
        [FIRSTNAME] => dave
        [LASTNAME] => grant
        [MIDDLENAME] => 
        [SALUTATION] => 
        [SUFFIX] => 
        [COUNTRYCODE] => JP
        [STATE] => æ±äº¬éƒ½
        [CITY] => 目黒区
        [STREET] => 目黒
        [ZIP] => 153-0063
        [PHONENUM] => asSAFSAF
        [SHIPTOCOUNTRYCODE] => JP
        [SHIPTOSTATE] => æ±äº¬éƒ½
        [SHIPTOCITY] => 目黒区
        [SHIPTOSTREET] => 目黒
        [SHIPTOZIP] => 153-0063
        [SHIPTOPHONENUM] => asSAFSAF
        [SHIPTOSTREET2] => sadSDAFS
        [STREET2] => sadSDAFS
        [SHIPTONAME] => dave grant
        [ADDROVERRIDE] => 1
        [LANDINGPAGE] => Billing
        [USERSELECTEDFUNDINGSOURCE] => CreditCard
        [METHOD] => SetExpressCheckout
        [VERSION] => 95.0
        [USER] => ****
        [PWD] => ****
        [SIGNATURE] => ****
        [BUTTONSOURCE] => Magento_Cart_Community
    )

[response] => Array
    (
        [TOKEN] => EC-57K60966AN691131P
        [TIMESTAMP] => 2017-04-11T08:29:52Z
        [CORRELATIONID] => af500bdeda4a3
        [ACK] => Success
        [VERSION] => 95.0
        [BUILD] => 32305669
    )

[__pid] => 5800

User forced to create account

Landing page

Answer 1

As I understand it, you have an issue with PayPal Guest Checkout. the Please let me know if this is not correct.

I have checked on the issue and I found out that the buyer is trying to pay with credit card. The reason why the buyer receives that error is because of it a guest checkout. Guest Checkout is not a 100% that is offered to your with your current account. Guess Checkout provide the buyer to pay with credit card but it is not a 100% success due to few factors that will reject the transaction such as: 1. If the buyer uses a credit card that already attached to a PayPal account. 2. If the buyer uses an email that is already attached to a PayPal account. 3. If the buyer already attempts multiple time on the same credit card and they received a decline or incorrect information was entered. Then, the credit card will be blocked or put under risk from our end.

These are the reason of the error that your buyer is seeing. To resolve this, they would need to have/create a PayPal account or use a different credit card to make the purchase. Some other merchant they might have a Pro account which only available for US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. You may refer to the link here. https://developer.paypal.com/docs/classic/products/payflow-gateway/?mark=payflow%20country

They have to use a direct credit card integration. There is a restriction on the buyer and merchant side. For some countries, you need to create a PayPal account in order to proceed with the payment. I hope this explain on the issue.

Thank you.