Using PayPal for easy online selling - Part 2 of 3
In Part 1 of this series, PayPal was discussed as a popular way to sell items online, and the steps required to open and activate a PayPal account were detailed. Here in Part 2, we will cover adding a PayPal “Buy Now” button to your web site to sell an item.
Log in to your PayPal account at https://www.paypal.com/ with your Email Address and Password. Next, click the blue ‘Merchant Services’ tab near the top of the page. After the page has refreshed, go down to the ‘PayPal Website Payments Standard’ section and click the “Buy Now Buttons” link under the ‘Key Features’ list. This handy tool allows you to easily create individual buttons for each item you would like to sell on your site.
Under the section titled ‘Enter the details of the item you wish to sell’ enter an Item Name; for this example we will enter the name “Widget.”
If you have an Item ID or Item Number, enter that next; for purposes of our example, we will enter Item Number “007″. If you do not have an Item ID or Number, leave the field blank.
Next, enter the Price of the Item you wish to sell; for our example Widget item we will enter a price of “$4.99″.
By default, the Currency is set to U.S. Dollars and the Buyer’s Country is set to the “United States.” Of course, you may change the Currency and Country if you wish… PayPal automatically handles any necessary currency conversion for you.
Next, under the section titled ‘Choose a button to copy to your website’ you can keep the default “Buy Now” button shown by clicking the small round button next to it, or you can click the “Choose a different button” link to see several other button styles, then select the small round button next to your desired style and then click the ‘Continue’ button. PayPal provides an option for you to use your own custom button image if you prefer, but many styles are already provided to choose from, which will likely suit your needs.
Under the ‘Security Settings’ section, you can choose whether or not to encrypt your payment button. We suggest you choose ‘Yes’ so that your item’s details cannot be altered by another party.
If you need to add Sales Tax or Shipping Costs for your item, you can click the ‘Add More Options’ button and follow the instructions provided on the form. Otherwise, just click the ‘Create Button Now’ button.
The PayPal site will then provide custom HTML code for your ‘Buy Now’ button. Click inside the box with the code, and select all of the code within the box (use Control-A on Windows computers or Command-A on Macs), then copy that code (Control-C on Windows, or Command-C on Macs).
Open a new browser window (keep the PayPal window open in case you need to go back to it and copy again) and log in to your WebSpawner webpage account at http://www.webspawner.com/login.html . Select your desired page and click the ‘Modify’ button; or to place your button on a new webpage click the ‘Create’ button instead. Scroll down to the ‘Body Text’ step and click in the box, then paste the copied code (Control-V on Windows, or Command-V on Mac). Also add a description of the item you are selling to the Body Text box, and use the Image Upload step to add an image of your item if you wish. Be sure to complete the process by clicking ‘Continue’ at the bottom of the form, and then click ‘I Like It’ at the page preview to save and publish your changes. Your site will then contain a “Buy Now” button.
Note that PayPay provides a “Help” link at the top-right corner of the screen, which you may use anytime to view frequently-asked questions and answers or to obtain assistance from PayPal representatives if you have a question.
If you wish to sell multiple different items with different Names and Prices, you can repeat this process to create additional PayPal “Buy Now” buttons for each of your items.
Visitors of your site who click a “Buy Now” button will be automatically taken to a secure PayPal page, where your Item Name, Number, and Price are displayed, and the buyer will be able to purchase your item securely online using his or her own PayPal account or major credit card. PayPal will send both you and the buyer an email message confirming the transferred payment, purchased item details and the buyer’s shipping address, and you can safely ship the item to the buyer with the knowledge that PayPal has moved the funds for the purchase into your account.
Next, in Part 3 of the series, we will discuss using PayPal’s Shopping Cart feature to allow buyers to select multiple items from your site and pay for them all with a single PayPal checkout.