PayPal Orders API payment to a third party payee - api

Question

I want to facilitate sending money to a merchant's PayPal account. I've made an additional Business Account in the PayPal Sandbox. I've made an order call with this account as a payee. But when I get the order (after approval from the payer) then the payee is still my actor account. Do I need some special configuration in the sandbox? And in production does the intended payee need to give me special permissions?
Array
(
[intent] => AUTHORIZE
[application_context] => Array
(
[return_url] => http://example.com/cart/PP_Payment.php?success=true
[cancel_url] => http://example.com/cart/PP_Payment.php?success=false
[brand_name] => Company X
)
[payee] => Array
(
[email_address] => sb-u4hosest4#business.example.com
)
[inovoice_id] => 1-GD2U-70E7-4Y
[items] => Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[quantity] => 1
[name] => Rabenhorst Klostergarten BIO Mini
[unit_amount] => Array
(
[currency_code] => EUR
[value] => 1.04
)
[sku] => 97899
)
[1] => Array
(
[quantity] => 1
[name] => Lupinen Filet
[unit_amount] => Array
(
[currency_code] => EUR
[value] => 3.87
)
[sku] => 66911
)
[2] => Array
(
[quantity] => 1
[name] => Kühltasche/-akku
[unit_amount] => Array
(
[currency_code] => EUR
[value] => 6
)
[sku] => P002
)
)
[purchase_units] => Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[amount] => Array
(
[currency_code] => EUR
[value] => 15.86
[breakdown] => Array
(
[item_total] => Array
(
[currency_code] => EUR
[value] => 10.91
)
[shipping] => Array
(
[currency_code] => EUR
[value] => 4.95
)
)
)
)
)
)
Result: ##########
Array
(
[id] => 5KPxxxx
[links] => Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[href] => https://api.sandbox.paypal.com/v2/checkout/orders/5KPxxxx
[rel] => self
[method] => GET
)
[1] => Array
(
[href] => https://www.sandbox.paypal.com/checkoutnow?token=5KPxxxx
[rel] => approve
[method] => GET
)
[2] => Array
(
[href] => https://api.sandbox.paypal.com/v2/checkout/orders/5KPxxxx
[rel] => update
[method] => PATCH
)
[3] => Array
(
[href] => https://api.sandbox.paypal.com/v2/checkout/orders/5KPxxxx/authorize
[rel] => authorize
[method] => POST
)
)
[status] => CREATED
)
but when I get the order then the payee is me and not the selected third party
Array
(
[id] => 5KPxxxx
[intent] => AUTHORIZE
[purchase_units] => Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[reference_id] => default
[amount] => Array
(
[currency_code] => EUR
[value] => 15.86
[breakdown] => Array
(
[item_total] => Array
(
[currency_code] => EUR
[value] => 10.91
)
[shipping] => Array
(
[currency_code] => EUR
[value] => 4.95
)
)
)
[payee] => Array
(
[email_address] => mike#www.org
[merchant_id] => FXXX
[display_data] => Array
(
[brand_name] => Company X
)
)
[shipping] => Array
(
[name] => Array
(
[full_name] => test buyer
)
[address] => Array
(
[address_line_1] => ESpachstr. 1
[admin_area_2] => Freiburg
[admin_area_1] => Empty
[postal_code] => 79111
[country_code] => DE
)
)
)
)
[payer] => Array
(
[name] => Array
(
[given_name] => test
[surname] => buyer
)
[email_address] => mt-buyer#w3xxx.org
[payer_id] => 4xxx
[address] => Array
(
[country_code] => DE
)
)
[create_time] => 2020-03-22T09:32:48Z
[links] => Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[href] => https://api.sandbox.paypal.com/v2/checkout/orders/5KPxxxx
[rel] => self
[method] => GET
)
[1] => Array
(
[href] => https://api.sandbox.paypal.com/v2/checkout/orders/5KPxxxx/authorize
[rel] => authorize
[method] => POST
)
)
[status] => APPROVED
)

Answer 1

[payee] => Array
(
[email_address] => sb-u4hosest4#business.example.com
)
This payee is being ignored because it is not in the purchase_units object.
See the example in the documentation.
While you can for sure do intent:CAPTURE, another consideration is that intent:AUTHORIZE (and later capture) might not be supported without permissions.