PayPal Introduces Offsite Ads to Help Brands Reach Shoppers Beyond Checkout

In an effort to expand its suite of merchant-focused tools, PayPal has unveiled a new advertising solution called Offsite Ads, designed to help businesses promote their products across the web—even outside the PayPal ecosystem. This new offering allows merchants to leverage PayPal’s rich shopper data to deliver targeted ads on third-party platforms, helping brands reconnect with customers and attract new ones.

With Offsite Ads, PayPal takes a big step into the growing space of performance-driven advertising, offering its merchants a tool that blends transaction data, consumer behavior insights, and advanced targeting.

What Is Offsite Ads?

Offsite Ads is a digital advertising program that enables PayPal merchants to run ad campaigns across external websites and platforms, including major search engines and social media networks. Instead of limiting promotional efforts to PayPal’s own environment, this feature extends advertising reach to where potential customers are spending their time online.

The goal is to help businesses:

• Re-engage users who’ve previously interacted with their brand

• Discover new shoppers based on relevant purchase intent

• Boost product visibility across a wider digital landscape

• Convert leads into sales using real-time behavioral signals

Powered by PayPal’s First-Party Data

What sets Offsite Ads apart is PayPal’s ability to tap into its vast network of consumer transaction data. With over 400 million users and decades of secure payment history, PayPal can identify and group audiences based on:

• Past purchases

• Product category interest

• Shopping frequency and spending patterns

• Device and regional usage

This allows merchants to target ads more precisely, ensuring that marketing budgets are spent on users most likely to convert.

Performance-Based Model: Pay Only for Results

One of the standout features of Offsite Ads is its cost-per-acquisition (CPA) pricing model. Rather than paying for clicks or impressions that may not lead to sales, merchants only pay when an ad results in a confirmed purchase.

This aligns PayPal’s offering with other performance marketing platforms and offers small and mid-sized businesses a low-risk way to try digital advertising without upfront investment or complex bidding systems.

Simplified Setup for Merchants

PayPal has designed Offsite Ads to be user-friendly and low-maintenance, especially for smaller businesses that may lack dedicated marketing teams. Features include:

• Easy onboarding through the merchant dashboard

• Automated audience segmentation and targeting

• Real-time performance reporting

• Campaign management support and optimization tips

This simplicity ensures that brands can focus on running their business while PayPal handles the ad delivery and optimization.

Strategic Advantage for SMBs and D2C Brands

For independent brands and growing D2C (direct-to-consumer) businesses, access to effective ad platforms is often limited by budget, expertise, or scale. PayPal’s Offsite Ads levels the playing field by:

• Using proven purchase data to inform campaigns

• Eliminating guesswork in targeting

• Providing conversion-based billing

• Offering access to major traffic platforms without expensive agency fees

It empowers merchants to compete alongside larger advertisers, using insights they couldn’t otherwise access.

Expanding Beyond Payments

The launch of Offsite Ads is part of PayPal’s broader strategy to evolve from a pure-play payment provider into a full-fledged commerce platform. Alongside its checkout services, BNPL (Buy Now, Pay Later) offerings, and loyalty tools, this new advertising product positions PayPal as a one-stop shop for online business growth.

This marks a significant step toward closing the loop between transaction and acquisition—offering merchants visibility, engagement, and sales within a unified ecosystem.

Integration with Existing PayPal Tools

Offsite Ads is built to work seamlessly with other PayPal services, such as:

• PayPal Checkout

• PayPal Rewards and Offers

• Shopify and WooCommerce integrations

• Email marketing tools and CRM plugins

Merchants already using these tools can easily incorporate Offsite Ads into their workflow, with performance insights feeding back into their existing dashboards.

Beta Launch and Future Expansion

Currently, Offsite Ads is being rolled out in select regions, with a focus on the U.S. and select global markets. Early test campaigns have shown promising results, particularly in:

• Fashion and apparel

• Electronics and accessories

• Health and beauty products

• Subscription services

PayPal has announced plans to expand ad inventory partnerships, enhance campaign automation, and introduce retargeting for cart abandonment in upcoming updates.

Final Thoughts: A Smarter Way to Advertise Online

With Offsite Ads, PayPal enters the digital advertising space with a solution built on trust, data, and performance. For merchants, this means a powerful tool to boost visibility and sales—without the complexity or cost often associated with online advertising.