---
description: Learn what the PayPal APPROVED order status means, why it occurs, and how merchants must capture or authorize funds to complete the checkout transaction.
title: PayPal APPROVED Status: Order Approved Explained
image: https://cdn.smartretry.com/_next/static/media/og-image.0z0q4_5kazzzo.jpeg
---

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PayPal · Order & Authorization Status

# PayPal Order & Authorization Status APPROVED: Order Approved

The customer has approved the order via the PayPal flow. Merchant must now capture the payment to move funds.

## What it means

The APPROVED status in PayPal Orders v2 is a successful intermediate state indicating that a buyer has completed the checkout flow and authorized the payment intent. It is not an error or decline. However, because it is only an approval, funds have not yet been moved; the merchant must explicitly capture or authorize the order to finalize the transaction.

## Classification & retryability

technicalRetryable: no

## Common causes

* The buyer successfully logged into PayPal or provided their payment method and consented to the transaction.
* The order status transitioned from CREATED or PENDING\_APPROVAL after the buyer successfully completed the PayPal checkout flow.

## How to resolve it

Because APPROVED is a successful status, no error resolution is required. To complete the transaction, the merchant's integration must execute a subsequent API call to capture or authorize the funds. Until this capture step occurs, the order remains approved but unpaid.

### For merchants

Configure your system to listen for the CHECKOUT.ORDER.APPROVED webhook event. Upon receiving this signal, promptly initiate a capture or authorization API call (such as /v2/checkout/orders/capture) to move the funds. If the subsequent capture attempt fails, route that specific failure to your decline recovery or retry logic.

### For customers

No action is required from the customer. They have successfully approved the payment on their end and are waiting for the merchant to finalize the order.

## Sources

* [PayPal Developer – Authorize a payment and capture funds later](https://developer.paypal.com/platforms/checkout/standard/customize/auth-capture)
* [PayPal Docs – Webhook events, Orders v2 (\`CHECKOUT.ORDER.APPROVED\`)](https://docs.paypal.ai/reference/webhook-events/orders-v2)
* [PayPal Docs – Capture payment for order (Orders v2)](https://docs.paypal.ai/reference/api/rest/orders/capture-payment-for-order)

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