Web Server Manual | Frames
Format
PayPal Setup FAQs
Introduction
The summary below is a combination of information that is available on the PayPal website, personal experience, and user comments.
PayPal Overview
PayPal is a convenient and secure way to transfer money using the Internet. It is widely used by private and commercial entities to pay for goods or services purchased online. When making payments, the funds will either come out of the person's bank account or be charged to his/her credit card. As such, PayPal is a viable alternative to having to open a merchant account, a credit card processing terminal, printer. It is a quick and easy way to offer your customers the convenience and security of paying by credit card.
Since PayPal was and continues to be one of the most popular ways of paying for online auctions, it is not surprising that they offer many features targeted specifically at this market.
Accounts Types
There are three types of accounts, namely Personal, Premier, and Business
With all accounts, the following are free:
Premier and Business accounts additionally offer the following benefits:
Business accounts are equivalent to Premier accounts with the added option of operating under a business name as opposed to a personal one.
Important: Personal accounts are limited to receiving $100 in credit card payments per month.
Sign up for a
(Note: if you receive an error message at the PayPal web site, click your "refresh / reload" button to clear it.)
How It Works
In a typical PayPal transaction, two parties agree to conduct a transaction online. Then , either the seller requests payment from the buyer or the buyer initiates payment by himself. Communications and actual transfer of money is done via PayPal. It is up to the seller to decide when and how to send the purchased goods or services.
For example, A. Buyer has decided to purchase one "Cool Widget" from B. Seller. They have agreed on a price and the fact that B. Seller would ship the product after having received the payment. B.
Seller regularly uses PayPal to accept payments for his products. A. Buyer, however, has never before used PayPal. B. Seller logs into his PayPal account by supplying his email address and password. He then uses the "Request Money" feature to ask A. Buyer for the payment. The PayPal system then sends an email to A. Buyer, notifying him that he has been asked to make the payment to B. Seller.
A. Buyer clicks on a link in the email as it taken to the PayPal web site. Since he does not yet have a PayPal account, he has to fill out the application form. As part of the application process, A. Buyer will be asked to supply a credit card number, which will be used for identity verification; as well as, a source of funds for the account.
Upon successfully signing up for PayPal, A. Buyer can sign in and send the requested payment to B. Buyer. The amount gets charged to A. Buyer's credit card and moments later, B. Buyer sees the actual balance appear in his account. The transaction is now complete.
Commercial Application (Web-accept & Shopping Cart)
Web-accept allow your customers to click a single button, such as the one below, and pay for one or more of the same item or service:
The information that is encoded in the URL of the button can include any or all of the following:
Here is the HTML for the above button:
<!-- Begin PayPal Logo -->
<form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post">
<input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_xclick">
<input type="hidden" name="business" value="payme@your_domain.com">
<input type="hidden" name="undefined_quantity" value="1">
<input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="One Widget">
<input type="hidden" name="item_number" value="ID01">
<input type="hidden" name="amount" value="12.00">
<input type="hidden" name="shipping" value="5.00">
<input type="hidden" name="shipping2" value="2.50">
<input type="hidden" name="handling" value="4.00">
<input type="hidden" name="image_url" value="http://tvsecure.net/manual/images/paypal_logo.gif">
<input type="hidden" name="return" value="http://your_domain.com/successful_transaction.html">
<input type="hidden" name="cancel_return" value="http://your_domain.com/canceled_transaction.html">
<input type="image" src="http://images.paypal.com/images/x-click-but01.gif" border="0" name="submit" alt="Make payments with PayPal - it's fast, free and secure!">
</form>
<!-- End PayPal Logo -->
After logging into PayPal, you can go here to use their online wizard to construct your own Web-accept button similar to the one above.
Shopping cart allows your customers to select several items for purchase and subsequently pay for all of them in one transaction. The information encoded in each of the "Add To Cart" buttons is the same as for the Web-accept buttons. The only difference is that your customers can continue shopping immediately after clicking the "Add To Cart" button.
Here is an example of a shopping cart button. The first will add an item to the shopping cart. The second one will let you view the contents of your cart:
How it works: after clicking the "Add To Cart" button, a separate window displaying the content of your shopping cart opens up. This page is being served from PayPal.com. The site will also use cookies to keep track of a particular user and hence of the content of the shopping cart.
After logging into PayPal, you can go here to use their online wizard to constract your own Web-accept button similar to the one above.
Additional Resources
