Operator desk · bank
Send the money to your bank
There is no in-app wallet. $2 and $5 open checkout on this site. Money lands on the business account attached in the PayPal dashboard, then pays out to the bank on file there. We never see the routing number. Do not paste keys in chat.
ReadyCheckout credentials on this host
Pay $2 / Pay $5 will charge a real card.
ReadyThe old card processor stays off
Stripe stays off on purpose. Its fee would eat the 90/10 split on a $2 scene.
ReadyNew scenes can be made
After a captured pay, one scene can be made. The house key stays on the host. Guests never send one.
ReadyPractice banner
Practice mode is off. A real card is what adds a scene.
1. Business account + bank
Use the PayPal business account that should be merchant of record. Attach the checking account you want filled in that dashboard. Payouts follow their schedule. That hop is PayPal → your bank. Not us.
2. Names on the host — never in a message
In Vercel → the-meter → Settings → Environment Variables, set these for Production (and Preview if you want checkout there too). Then redeploy. Do not paste the values here.
- PAYPAL_CLIENT_ID
- PAYPAL_CLIENT_SECRET
- PAYPAL_ENV — optional. Use live (the default on this site). sandbox only for a test account
- NEXT_PUBLIC_SITE_URL — https://www.theremotesurfer.com so checkout can return
- FAL_KEY — Production + Preview. Never NEXT_PUBLIC_. Guests never see it
3. Return URLs
Checkout comes back to www. Capture runs on that return. A webhook is not required. If you add one later in the PayPal dashboard, the URL would be:
https://www.theremotesurfer.com/api/paypal/return
What actually moves
Guest pays $2 or $5. Checkout captures it. Most of that money pays to make the picture. A tenth stays with the house. Not a prize pool. Not gambling. Not a bet.