Using PayPal on Your Website

From NWABP FOCUS:

Getting Paid Using PayPal

        Most of our members have websites.  Many sell their products online by linking to other venders, because few can afford the monthly fees enlisted by banks to service those sporadic credit card sales. 

I recently discovered an alternative to sending these potential buyers elsewhere. For those of us who would like the ease of using credit cards on our site PayPal now offers credit card and electronic check transfer to any business

I first heard of and signed up as an individual for using PayPal on eBay about three years ago.  The sign up was and still is free to individuals and very self explanatory.  I have sold several nonbook items on eBay using PayPal as my preferred and guaranteed payment.

One of the items which recently sold was paid by check to PayPal.  The check bounced.  I had already mailed the merchandise.  PayPal covered the check! 

PayPal’s homepage purports, “With more than 45 million accounts in 45 countries, PayPal offers a fast, affordable, and convenient online payment service for businesses of all sizes.”

 After such great service as an individual I decided to follow up on PayPal’s Merchant Tools link located at http://www.paypal.com. 

Merchant Tools, which are available for free until someone actually makes a purchase, include a shopping cart, buttons, invoicing, automatic payment by check or credit card, and recurring payments.  Shipping fees and postage can also be handled directly from a PayPal link.  (I have used this feature when our post office is closed and I wanted to mail books on the weekend!)  I have also transferred money using my PayPal account to another individual just by using email.  She, too, had an account with PayPal.

The merchant may also import the transaction history into money management software or develop a sales report directly at PayPal. 

PayPal will also let the merchant handle sales with multiple currencies should sales span the globe.

With all of these features I decided to upgrade my individual status to business.  I found the upgrade free, quick and easy.  If I, who am very web-site-building-html-ignorant-gripped-by-fear-when-using-ftp-files, could place the shopping cart and add to buttons and referral at the close of the sale, then ANYONE can do it. 

And I did!  It took less than a minute to add a referral link to PayPal on my website http:///www.goodbooksink.com/about.html.

To add a button to sell the llama book took a bit longer.  PayPal directs you through three pages of insertion or multiple choice inquiries.  The vendor can add more than one item to the shopping cart by repeating the process which begins by titling and assigning a number to the item.  I used my title and ISBN.  Next determine the price; because I live in Washington if I sell on my website to a Washington buyer I needed to add sales tax.  Simply clicking on additional options and being forwarded to another page I inserted the state and tax information which was automatically added to the checkout page.

Clicking continue I was sent to a page which assisted in shipping information, a request for additional options such as creating a pull down text, which I used for autograph choices.  The optional instructions following are for direct communication from your buyer.  In my case if they wanted an autographed book as a gift to a particular person they buyer could provide the information here.

PayPal then gave me a preview of the information, which once I accepted provided me with detailed html text to copy and transfer as a button to place next to my item as well as html text to let them go to checkout or view cart.

I opened my webpage ftp file, found the llama page, placed the button next to the retail price, saved and closed.  Transferred the data from my ftp file to the web in less than five minutes!

PayPal will also let you customize your checkout page to look like the rest of your website or you can use their default page.

Once the customer has purchased or not purchased the item he will be directed to a page thanking him for the purchase and information regarding the PayPal purchase or a thank you for looking page – both of which you have created previously using the completed menus on the set up pages.

After the first item is completed the rest are relatively easy.  I simply changed the item name, ISBN and price and inserted them on the appropriate pages.

In a few hours (I had many pre-teen interruptions) I had a website complete with shopping cart, credit card and electronic check transfer.

With PayPal, there are no setup charges, gateway fees, cancellation fees, or monthly charges. You can apply for the low merchant rate of 2.2% + $.30 per transaction.

PayPal offers proven fraud protection and risk management with industry-leading fraud detection tools and techniques. If you qualify for PayPal's Seller Protection Policy, PayPal will absorb the chargeback at no cost to you.

PayPal could open our websites to a network of proven online buyers — more than 45 million member accounts worldwide. 1 in 3 online shoppers in the U.S. has a PayPal account, and more than 58,000 users around the world sign up for a PayPal account every day.

A PayPal account is free for an individual.  To acquire an account simply go to www.paypal.com (or use my referral link – hint, hint) and follow the sign up link in the upper right hand corner.  

PayPal’s service has certainly expanded my options and in time, I hope, my direct sales.