PayPal REST API Create Invoice with Template - rest

Question

Has anybody ever successfully created a PayPal invoice with a specific chosen template?
I can't seem to get it to work.
Have tried specifying the template_id in the call, and have also tried setting the desired template as the default. In both cases, the API response contains the chosen template ID, but when the invoice is sent, it does not use the chosen template (can tell because there's no logo).
This the the API call:
curl -v -X POST https://api.paypal.com/v1/invoicing/invoices/ \
-H "Content-Type:application/json" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer <Access-Token>" \
-d '{
"template_id": "TEMP-66B140465N059453G",
"items": [
{
"name": "Part E",
"quantity": 2,
"unit_price": {
"currency": "USD",
"value": "10.15"
}
}
],
"shipping_info": {
"first_name": "John",
"last_name": "Doe",
"business_name": "Not applicable",
"phone": {
"country_code": "001",
"national_number": "5039871234"
},
"address": {
"line1": "1234 Broad St.",
"city": "Portland",
"state": "OR",
"postal_code": "97216",
"country_code": "US"
}
},
"shipping_cost": {
"amount": {
"currency": "USD",
"value": "15.01"
}
},
"allow_tip": false
}'
This is the response:
"id":<Invoice ID>,
"number":"0004",
"template_id":"TEMP-66B140465N059453G",
"status":"DRAFT",
"merchant_info":{},
"shipping_info":{"first_name":"John","last_name":"Doe","business_name":"Not applicable","phone":{"country_code":"001","national_number":"5039871234"},"address":{"line1":"1234 Broad St.","city":"Portland","state":"OR","postal_code":"97216","country_code":"US"}},
"items":[{"name":"Part E","quantity":2.0,"unit_price":{"currency":"USD","value":"10.15"}}],
"invoice_date":"2017-05-30 PDT",
"shipping_cost":{"amount":{"currency":"USD","value":"15.01"}},
"tax_calculated_after_discount":false,
"tax_inclusive":false,
"total_amount":{"currency":"USD","value":"35.31"},
"metadata":{"created_date":"2017-05-30 13:35:39 PDT"},
"allow_tip":false
If anybody has any ideas, would be happy to hear them.
Thanks.

Answer 1

We are correcting the instructions for how you use a Template ID. Sorry for the confusion.
When you are doing a basic integration to create and send an invoice, you don't need to use Template at all.
Template is useful if you are creating a full invoicing app where you want the end user (invoicer) to be able to create templates and access them when creating invoices. See the PayPal.com website for how templates are used.
Regards,
Kristen

Answer 2

I ended up getting in touch with someone at PayPal. They said that the merchant_info has to be passed in the request in order for the template to work.
That basically defeated the purpose of using the templates for us, so I never bothered testing that.
In the end, I just decided to not use a template.

Answer 3

if you are just looking to add your logo to your API created invoice, put this line at the end of your JSON before POSTing your draft:
},
"note": "Thank you for your business!",
"terms": "no refunds after 30 days",
"logo_url": "https://link_to_your_log.PNG"
}