Thank you for sharing the details.
PayPal does not support AED (United Arab Emirates Dirham) as a currency for receiving payments. That’s why you are seeing the error: currency_NOT_SUPPORTED currency code is not supported
PayPal will not automatically convert AED to USD for transactions. You must use a currency that PayPal supports (like USD, EUR, GBP, etc.) for your store or checkout.
To accept payments in AED, you have a few options:
- Use a supported currency at checkout
- Set your WooCommerce store currency to USD (or another PayPal-supported currency).
- If you want to display prices in AED, you can use a currency switcher plugin to show AED to customers while processing payments in a supported currency.
- Currency conversion plugin
- If you want to show AED prices but charge in USD for PayPal, you can use a WooCommerce currency converter plugin to automatically convert the currency at checkout.
I hope this helps.
Hi @shahzeenfarooq
Thanks a lot for the detailed response.
I tried some currency converter plugins but could not really make it work with paypal , can you recommend any plugin that would automatically convert AED to USD in checkout ?
Hi @mohammedmalleck,
I understand you’re looking for a way to display AED prices while ensuring PayPal processes payments in a supported currency like USD, and it makes sense that the earlier plugins did not behave as expected with PayPal.
You’re on the right track using a currency switcher, however not all of them handle checkout conversion properly with PayPal. A reliable option you can try is the official WooCommerce extension:
https://woocommerce.com/products/currency-switcher-for-woocommerce/
This extension allows you to:
- Display prices in multiple currencies such as AED for your customers
- Automatically convert prices at checkout to a supported currency like USD
- Ensure compatibility with payment gateways like PayPal
After installing, you can configure it so that:
- Customers see AED on the frontend
- The checkout currency switches to USD for PayPal payments
Feel free to let us know how it goes.
Hi @lovingbro
Thanks for the quick response.
Just a small note here – I already do have a currency switcher plugin and if I am right the best way is to have a single plugin for currency switcher and converter.
Woocommerce extension is official so ig it is more reliable than any other ones out there.
Hi there!
You’re absolutely right that it’s generally best to keep things simple and use a single, reliable solution for both switching and converting currencies, especially when payment gateways like PayPal are involved.
Since you’re already using YayCurrency, the next steps I’d suggest are:
- Check YayCurrency’s documentation or support to confirm how it handles PayPal at checkout (some switchers only change display prices but do not convert the order/checkout currency).
- Make sure that, at checkout, the order currency actually switches to a PayPal‑supported currency (such as USD) instead of staying as AED, otherwise the CURRENCY_NOT_SUPPORTED error will continue.
- If YayCurrency cannot reliably convert the checkout/order currency for PayPal, then moving to the official WooCommerce Currency Switcher extension is a good idea, as it’s designed to work closely with WooCommerce core and major gateways like PayPal.
Before using that plugin, I would suggest contacting the plugin’s support team here:
https://woocommerce.com/my-account/contact-support/?select=currency-switcher-for-woocommerce#contact-us
They can confirm whether the plugin is fully compatible with PayPal and whether it will work correctly for your specific use case.
