---
title: 'Operate Shopware Payments: Your Control Center | Shopware Community Hub'
description: >-
  Operate Shopware Payments in administration per order and use the PayPal
  Merchant Dashboard for activity, payouts, exports, and dispute visibility.
canonical_url: 'https://hub.shopware.com/learn/course/operate-shopware-payments-control-center'
---

# Operate Shopware Payments: Your Control Center

<LearningObjectives>

- **Explain** when to use **Shopware administration** per-order views versus **PayPal Merchant Dashboard** bird's-eye areas.
- **Perform** core daily workflows—**capture**, **full and partial refund**, **cancel**, and **void**—from order views in **administration**.
- **Interpret** **payout batches**, **reserves**, and the **payout net formula** when finance questions arise after go-live.
- **Prepare** the minimum data set before contacting **Shopware Support** for payment issues.

</LearningObjectives>

# Course 3: Operate Shopware Payments — Your Control Center

**Strum & Co.** went live. Orders are coming in. And within the first week, the questions start:

*"A customer says they were charged but the order shows unpaid — where do I look?"*
*"The payout landed but it does not match what I expected — how do I reconcile it?"*
*"There is a dispute open — what do I do and how long do I have?"*

These are not edge cases. They are the operational reality of running payments after go-live — and the teams that handle them well are the ones who know exactly which system to open, what to look for, and what to do next.

This course builds that habit. Two systems, one clear split: **Shopware administration** is where you act on each order; the **PayPal Merchant Dashboard** is where you see the money move.

---

## What You Will Learn

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

- Navigate the two-surface split — knowing which system answers which question without second-guessing
- Handle daily payment tasks — **capture**, **refund**, **cancel**, and **void** — per order in **Shopware administration** without opening a second portal
- Read a **payout batch**, understand why it never matches gross revenue, and explain the gap to finance with confidence
- Identify when a **reserve** or **hold** is normal versus when it signals a real problem
- Know what to prepare before contacting **Shopware Support** so incidents get resolved in one exchange, not three

---

## How This Course Is Organized

Four units cover the operational split in the order you will use it day to day — from understanding the two surfaces, to acting on orders, to reading payouts, to getting help when something goes wrong.

| # | Unit | What It Covers |
|---|------|----------------|
| 1 | **Transactions and Dashboards** | What **Shopware Administration** shows versus what the **PayPal Merchant Dashboard** shows — and which surface to open for each type of question |
| 2 | **Core Daily Workflows** | Per-order actions — capture, refund, cancel, void — and when money actually moves at each step |
| 3 | **Payouts, Batches, and Reserves** | How payout batches work, the payout net formula, and why reserves and holds are normal — not a defect |
| 4 | **Support and Escalation** | What to gather before contacting **Shopware Support**, how escalation to **PayPal** works, and the two-check habit that resolves most incidents without a ticket |

**Strum & Co.** appears throughout — from their finance lead's first reconciliation confusion, to their owner's authorized-but-charged support ticket, to their peak-week operational habits after six months live.

---

## The Two-Surface Split — Set This Expectation Early

Some platforms surface aggregate payment stats directly inside the shop admin. **Shopware Payments** takes a different approach: **Shopware administration** handles order-level operations, and the **PayPal Merchant Dashboard** handles financial and account-level detail.

This is a deliberate division of ownership — not a missing feature. **Shopware** owns the commerce layer; **PayPal** owns the money movement layer. Unit 1 explains exactly what each surface shows and does not show, so your team stops looking in the wrong place.

---

## Before You Start

This course builds directly on Courses 1 and 2. If you are joining here, two quick references will orient you:

- The **glossary in Course 2, Unit 1** covers all terminology used in this course
- The **lifecycle overview in Course 2, Unit 2** explains authorization → capture → settlement → payout before this course goes deeper on the operational side

---

**Ready? Start with Unit 1 — Transactions and Dashboards →**

## Units
- [Transactions and Dashboards](/learn/unit/transactions-and-dashboards): Order-level data in Shopware administration versus bird’s-eye views in the PayPal Merchant Dashboard, plus account links and sandbox access.
- [Core Daily Payment Workflows](/learn/unit/core-daily-payment-workflows): Capture, refund, cancel, and void in administration; choose auth-and-capture or authorize-only; plan around authorization windows and customer expectations.
- [Payout Basics](/learn/unit/payout-basics): Understand payout batches, apply the payout net formula, and explain reserves, holds, and payout history in the PayPal Merchant Dashboard.
- [Support Basics for Payment Issues](/learn/unit/support-basics-payment-issues): Contact Shopware Support first for payment issues, gather the minimum administration and Dashboard data, and use sandbox testing with change control.