Adding a Paypal Donation Button to your Website
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Note. this guide can also be used to set up a payment (Buy Button) on your Website.
A Paypal button on your website allows people to pay money to you on-line in a secure way. It can be put on Personal or Business Websites. It could be a "Donation" button or a "buy" button.
Before I write any further, I would like to point out that this is not Cyber Panhandling. Donation button should only be put on Websites to support a good cause. (Some Business websites run under a Charity and it would be appropriate for them to use it.)
3 Essential things you need to Start are:
- A paypal account. (visit paypal.com)
- An email account.
- A Website.
You can start off with a Personal account but when you want to add a Donation button, you will have to upgrade to a Premier Account. This is done at the Click of a button on the website. (few seconds). So, if you already have a Paypal account, just upgrade to Premier.
Ps. For those new to Paypal, your email account is your Paypal Account reference.
Adding a button to your website takes approximately 10 –15 minutes, however if you do not have a Paypal Account, it could take up to a week as Paypal need to verify your bank details.
Creating the Button
Log into your Paypal account and Click on the Merchant Services Tab.
Click on Website Payments Standard – this is under Merchant Tools, on the left side of the screen. It will open up to the Screen below:
Click on Create a Donate button, the screen below will appear: If you don't want a Donation Button, click on a "Buy Button"
- Fill out the details.
- For Organisation you can put your business name or the name of your Website. Remember to change the currency to that of your Country.
- Steps 2 and 3 are optional. (I never used them when I created mine)
- To see what it would look like on your website, look at the Buyers view.
- Click on Create Button.
The next screen will create a code for you.
- Click on Select Code (this will highlight all the code)
- Copy it (Right click on Mouse and select Copy or Press Ctrl and C)
- Paste it in the HTML code Editor on your website. (Right Click on Mouse and Select Paste or Press Ctrl and V)
- As soon as you have pasted it, your Webpage will show the Donate button, as it is in Buyers view. (above)
I would advice you to open up your Website and test the button to ensure it works.
When people donate to your website and click on the buyers view, it opens up to the screen below: (you should also see this when you test the button)
☆★ Update Jan 2012 ~ Many Asian readers have been sharing with me the problems they are having with the Donation button. This is because Paypal has restricted such areas from using the button. For more info, read the feedback in this link.
http://hubpages.com/question/148156/why-does-paypal-restrict-indian-users
Ps. If you are not satisfied with it e.g maybe if the currency is in GBP instead of USD, go back and create the button.
Receiving Payments
To check if any payments have come in:
- Paypal normally send you an email to notify you of any payments that have been made.
- Log into your Paypal account and you will see a record of all transactions.
- Transfer Payments to your Bank Account, when it suits you.
Feel free to ask any questions.
.
CommentsLoading...
Isn't that like cyber panhandling? Why would I want to ask for donations? I can see collecting for a cause but to just ask for money from people is a little funny to me.
Thanks Dohn. I notice you are a Professional Writer. You might want to consider maybe selling an ebook on your website but in this instance you will need the "add to cart" button or "buy now" button.
For Donations, maybe having a website that supports people to write books, publish books etc People need to get something out of it.
My Website is an ESOL one that supports people learning English as a second language. Lots of info, exercises and the advantage of me marking their grammar/writing/letters etc. I email it back to them with corrections and feedback at no Cost. Just thought I'd stick the Donation button on the Website.
Hope something comes to mind. Good Luck :)
Cheers Pete. It depends on the nature of Website. I have visited your website before and you definitely wouldn't require a Donation button.
There are people who maybe the work they do required some funding - in such situations this could be of benefit to them.
Glad you stopped by. I will edit the Hub so people do not get the wrong impression. Thanks.
This is just great.Though I have a paypal account, I was not knowing about the donation button.I think it is a very easy way to raise funds for many noble purpose if one has a noble intention.Thanks for sharing.
Cheers Andromida.
Its nice to see another person view it in a positive way.
Regards, E.
Lady-E - I love this hub. It is very detailed and educative. I have been contemplating having a site just for humanity but I am constrained by time. Presently, we organise village meetings and occasionally raise money for one project or the other. We are at present trying to raise money for borehole in my village. I think, if I have a site and a pay pal account I would have asked for donation. We need help and assistance in Nigeria especially in the rural villages where there is no good water, no good road, no electricity etc. Infact, there is total lack of basic amenities of life.
Paypal does not help issues either. For reasons I do not know , I was told they do not allow Nigerians to open an account with them.
Anyway, thanks for this hub. It is an eye opener.
This seems easy enough. But do people really donate to a website?
Thanks Philipo and Camping Dan.
Philipo,
its a pity Paypal doesn't accept Nigerians. My advice - When next you come to the UK, open a bank account here. Use the opportunity to quickly set up Paypal a/c and that should sort it. A lot of accounts are managed over the internet now, so when you travel back you can run it from there. Good Luck. :)
Camping Dan,
if its a cause close to people's hearts, they donate. E.g, I like the work Red Cross do and I donate to them monthly via D/Debit, but if you ask me to donate to RSPCA (charity for animals, but mostly dogs) I would see no reason to, as I have been bitten by a dog before and that put me of dogs for life.
So, people do donate. Cheers :)
Thanks for this hub Lady_E. I have a paypal account but not a premier one and I don't have my own website (except hubpages) so I didn't see the need to learn about donations. I'll keep this in mind when I put up my own website.
Thanks a lot, though I am not planning to travel to UK soon.
Informative Hub...
Thanks!!
you never stop being good, i mean providing good info
Hi, I just created my account last week and today I activated and upgraded to premiere.
Now I can't create create the donation button.
I tried to follow your step. But in the Website Payment Standard page, the Donation button is missing. The other three are there. Don't know what is wrong..
Hi Pica
I'm glad I pasted the photo's above - as you can see the donation button should be there. (I'm assuming you have also been verified with Paypal i.e Paypal send amount to your account and you go to the website and input the amount they sent you).
If you have been verified, then the problem is with the website and you should email them. I know it works as I have used it and have a Donation button on my website.
Best Wishes, Elena
Elena, bonjour from France.
Serendipidy... I was just thinking about how I might add a PayNow button to one of my web sites, and eureka. Thank you
Kevin
** Thanks Sutrapu.
** Merci Kevin.
If you do decide to, please note that paypal takes out 33p from every £1 that comes in - if you are using it to sell. i.e creating a Buy Button. Good luck.
Hello,
This is a good informative hub. Thank you for the information.
Thanks for your comments, Dstarmoney. Best wishes.
Thanks for your comments, Dstarmoney. Best wishes.
your information is wrong - paypal will freeze your account if you use a donate button when you are not a charity - they do not take kindly to people doing this at all - your information is good about how to do it but you are leading people to a legal problem. You can put the button on but try to retrieve the funds when you are not a charity - you can put other things on the button such as buy me a beer but definitely NOT a donate button - perhaps you should do a blog about how to make a button like this
My information is not wrong Humming.
I have 2 websites that accept Paypal payments. One of them is a website for Teenagers and I send out a lot of FREE resources to them. A paypal Donation button is on it for anyone who wants to donate towards it, as they are receiving FREE Books and CD's.
Even if you are arrranging a birthday/wedding. You can set up a website and put paypal on so friends/family can donate towards gifts.
A Hubber was having difficulty with her house and even put paypal on her page for people to donate.
There are lots of Language websites, that are FREE and giving people good learning. Some, you have to pay a monthly subscription, some are generous and just ask that you donate IF you want to. Does that make them a Charity? NO.
So, I don't know from what angle you are reading this. A Donation button is meant for Donations - perhaps you should read it from those perspectives.
Thanks for stopping.
Great info thanks Lady_E.
A very nice set of instructions. It never hurts to add a paypal donation button to your Web site, right?
Thanks for sharing this information!
** Cheers Swifly. Nice to see your smile again.
** Thanks for your comments Marty. It dosen't hurt, but should be used for a good cause. Cheers.
Hey Lady_E,
i check already but i do not have donate button, i got my account verified and still doesn't have it.
All button i saw is Buy Now,Subscribe and Add to cart.
My Account is premier! Is this only work for business or personal only!
Hi Shawn
Its definitely there, thats why I took a photo of the screen and placed it above.
Try it one more time. Ensure you are in Merchant Services.
Best Wishes.
this information very useful i am add donate to my site u can visit my site
Hi Lady_E, this is concised and informative about paypal payment gateway. Thanks.
Cheers Andrew. :)
Hi,
I am facing the same problem with a few commenters here. I dont see the donate option button in my paypal at all on a premiere account. All I see is buy, subscribe and add to cart. Please advise thank you .
Hi James
1. Log into your paypal account.
2. Click on the Merchant Services Tab.
3. Select Website Payment Standards.
4. You will see "Create Payment buttons for your website"
with a choice of 4 buttons as shown in the diagram in my Hub. (Buy / Subscribe / add to cart / donate).
Click on the appropriate button.
I have just logged on to my Paypal account to check the website hasn't changed layout and it hasn't.
G/Luck.
I got the the code and put a donation button on my band's website but when i click on it it takes me to paypal's homepage instead of a checkout page....HELP!!!
Jason, you have to paste the code in the HTML widget of your website.
(i.e the webpage that you want the Paypal button on).
G/luck - you're nearly there.
thanks for this
i was looking for it so long
Hummingbirds comment is correct. Without exempt tax status paypal will no longer allow donation buttons.
Thanks Lady_E! I've been through so many articles that didn't explain this properly!
What do you think about alternative methods? I think you should check out Matomy's option too - it allows your followers to fill out free offers and support your website without having to pay a thing! It's easy to integrate and provides full support. The company offers many different forms to add to your site (button, panel, link) so it can fit your idea the donation section.
Check out this example at:
Register at:
www.matomy.com/blog
Paypal is probably the most widely used payment in the planet right now. It would be cool to add this button to your website.
Cheers adorababy. It would be but please remember paypal deduct about 30p from every £1 you receive.
Best Wishes.
As paypal is one of the worldwide payment system,,, it is good to add a donation or buy buttton. i want 2 ask that i m about 2 start a brokerage firm and it is almost complete, i want to add a make payment button so that the users will easily make there paymetn online. please help me out that how will a use that in my website
Vinod - it's similar to the above instructions.
Instead of selecting "Donate". Select the "Buy" Button. It will generate a html code which you have to copy and paste in the html area of your website. That's it.
The buy button will be created and when people click on it, they can pay using credit or debit cards.
P/s note Paypal deduct about 30p from every £1.
Good Luck
I have designed a better version of Paypal form,which not only provides users to select one time subscription or
monthly payment,but also allows users to enter custom payment.Check it in action @ my blog:
Great work Sunil - I checked out the website but it wasn't clear on my screen. Will visit again.
Best Wishes.
Thanks for this Lady_E. I looked at this post yesterday and today I have a donate button in the footer of my website. It's a writing site and I'm just a college student so I am not sure how the donations will work out but it's worth a shot.
My site is www.chainwrite.com
It's new but I look forward to improvements! Thanks!
Good luck with the Website Zachary. Its nice but would be a good idea if it had a photo on the homepage.
The Donations will go to your paypal a/c and its up to you to transfer it to your bank account which takes 2 to 3 days. Best Wishes.
Thanks, good advice. I will have to look around for a picture that will fit well. Once again I am always open to suggestions and appreciate them so thanks!
hi Lady_E em unable to create donation button.. though em a premier user but i can't find donation box.. y is it so can u please help me out..
i did step by step procedure even then em unable to find donation button pls help me out...
eagerly waiting for u r reply
* Thanks Zachary.
* Hi Tanveer, please follow the instructions I wrote for "James" above. Good Luck.
can you please help me. i have created paypal donation button on my website but when i click i doesn't work.i have premier paypal account but my donation button isn't working on my website. why is it so?
No idea Samra - follow the instructions again. (Copy the code generated by paypal and paste it to the Html code of your website.) Its very simple and straight forward. Also, ensure you have a registered Pay Pal Account.
i also cant found donate button,only three button except donate.
how do i found donate button
Ensure you upgrade to Premier Ben and follow instructions above.
I agree your screen-shot has 4 buttons,
but mine has only 3, the donation button is not there, I triple-checked.
Mine is a verified account.
Dunno what the problem is, guess I'll have to contact the support guys.
I think the donate button is not there for people from certain nations. I had this button earlier I remember(I didn't have my website then.. :( )
As far as I can remb, This button has disappeared even since Indian paypal acc holders were required to enter their PAN nos, failing which, they couldn't withdraw funds.
Damn. Our government is making is tougher to use paypal. Last-to-last week they stopped wiring for Indian banks, luckily they restarted it again last week.
Come on, these are Paypal accounts, not swiss accounts.
Let us poor freelancers earn in peace...
:)
By the way thanks Sunil Bhaskar,
Your blog-post helped out.
Hi C Dan
So it seems that its a problem for your Area which is a pity. I notice its even hard for Indians/Africans to get Google Adsense.
Lol. I agree they are not Swiss Accounts. I'm also glad Sunil's post helped you too.
Good Luck and Shuku ria. :)
Update: Yeah, it is confirmed, here is their reply to my query -
Dear Chidanand Hiremath,
Thank you for contacting PayPal.
I understand that you would like to add a donate button to your account. However, the said feature is not yet available for Indian PayPal account holders.
At PayPal, we are always considering developing new features
and we appreciate your interest.
I'll be glad to hear from you if you need clarification and we will do our best to give you immediate answers. Thank you for choosing PayPal for your online payment needs. We appreciate your business.
Sincerely,
Cheryl
PayPal, an eBay Company
______________________________________
But guess what?
I added 1...Check this page -
http://tech.c-dan.com/cweaks.aspx
;)
Any 1 with the same problem, mail me at c@c-dan.com
I will send you the code & the instructions.
Shuku ria lady_E...
(Hindi in Mumbai is almost hinglish, so It's been a long since I used or heard shukria...:) )
Take care...
Thanks C-dan for the update;
From the letter, I get the impression they don't want to insert it because its available to those in UK and US. I wonder what's holding them back, after all they get 30p for every £1 donated.
Anyway, thanks for all the info. A pleasure to hear from you. :)
Helpful hub for folks that want to help other people which is always a good thing in my view. God Bless You.
It's good for non profit organizations to have a donate button. There are always some people who want to help these sites running.
** Thanks so much Stars439. :)
** That's true Raj - The paypal donation button is very useful for Charities. Regards.
there no donation button in my paypal premium account
Sweecon, read comments above. There is someone who had a similar question. Also, let me know which Country you are from. Regards.
Hai man, how do i hide my email address on the donation section. I'm using the the premier account.
I wish to put into the head something like my site name instead of my email address.
With thanks in advance.
Adrian you can't hide your email address. Paypal made a small note to that effect on the Merchant Tab.
(It's a small print you can find when creating your Donation Button)
Good luck.
Hi , im having the same problem as everyone does, I dont have a donate button in my merchant services tab. maybe its the region thing. Im from singapore. can anyone help me check this?
It is a region thing Ahmad. Some people are mis using it. Even this week, I checked and I still have a Donation Button on the Premier Account. Ty
I have church website and I want to add Donate button with Pay Pal account and I am from Pakistan, is my region is allowed to have account.
Best Regards....
** Thanks masterarts
** Gulzar - I'm sure Paypal is open to all countries. Why don't you just sign up for now and see how the process goes. It's free to sign up.
I searched whole my paypal account but i can't find the create donate button for my website. i also switched my account to premium. though it don't shows the donate button option anywhere in paypal website. does they have removed it for indians?
Amit
A lot of Indians have complained about this. It seems the Donation button has been disabled to Indian Users.
The Button is definitely on Paypal because I have it on my website, below.
http://www.inspiringtalk.com/contact-details-and-d
You might want to email Paypal directly. They should make it open to all Customers.
Good Luck.
Very informative hub lady E, though i do not run a website on my own but one day i might and things like that can be handy to know.
That's good to know, Sweetie.
Take Care. :)
I have a paypal donate button for a good cause in Brazil and want the paypal instructions to appear in English but I can't change the language is there any way of doing this
Hi Jan
You can change the language setting to English.
Best Wishes.
i love u
Hi, good post but i have the problem about donation butto, i can't see the button
Cytox
That means you must be in Asia / India where paypal have disabled the Donation button. Read comments above.
I hope Paypal will change their mind very soon and allow Indians to have access to the Donation button.
Cytox
That means you must be in Asia / India where paypal have disabled the Donation button. Read comments above.
I hope Paypal will change their mind very soon and allow Indians to have access to the Donation button.
I have a personal account and i cannot find a donation button on there but there is lot of other buttion.
MAy business account needed for donate button
Nirmal
You just need to upgrade to Premier and that takes one second. You click on the upgrade button on Paypal and it automatically ugrades you, then use your Donation button.
Best Wishes
I dont even have the option of the donate button i have 3 but not 4 buttons ......buissnes with tax verified
Hithere - read comments above. Paypal seem to have removed the Donation button from people who live in India or Asia.
I hope they will make changes in 2012. It should be open to everyone.
Take care.
Hi Lady_E...great info, thanks for taking the time to help! I have a question...i have an NGO in Peru (sonrisasenperu.org) and i have a donate button but which to have a subscritpion button AS WELL as the donate button. Is this possible??
Thanks!!
Scott
Scott
Subscription is for monthly payments. Money will come out of their accounts every month - automaticfally.
Donation - is for giving different amounts at different types.
You have to choose what suits you.
Regards.
Thanks for all your advice. I am having a problem though. I copy and paste the button info and the button appears but when I test the button it says the page can't be found or has the wrong address. Help please!
Hello. This article is I think two years old. But still, I find it very imformative! I started to put a donation button on my wordpress blog site http://www.jouielovesyou.wordpress.com/ and I wish I would get something from it. Articles like this help me to build my blog sites so I'm very thankful you write an article like this one.
@Pag
the Code is a html code and should be copied into the html section of your website.
I hope your website has a html section or it won't work.
Cheers.
@Jouie
Your website looks lovely. Beautiful theme.
I don't think you can put Paypal on a Wordpress website unless it has a section for html codes.
G/Luck.
thanks
dint work for me as mine hasnt got a create a donate button
@Freezbay The Donation button has been disabled in Asian Countries. For more info, read some of the comments above for other people who are affected. Thanks.
Lady_E Thank u for the information. Yah! It must be true, cause Paypal donations were disabled in India some months back. To get it back, Paypal had to get permissions from RBI(Reserve Bank of India). Since then, there have been a lot of changes on paypal for us. for eg:- we have to provide a pan number and so on. Well, thank u again!
Lady_E Thank u for the information this information is very useful for Us. But i m from india and what about paypal donate for india. How its works plz advice me.. i want for animal helpline to make online donation
Hi Sandip
Nice of you to stop by. If you read above you will notice the Donation Button has been disabled in India. The last comment I read noted Paypal have to take permission from Reserve Bank of India. I hope they change things soon. Good Luck.
Shuku riya.
dohn121 Level 3 Commenter 2 years ago
This is really cool, Lady_E. This basically allows every website to consequently become an online store! Maybe even a charity organization for those of us that could use a little bread or pay back their student loans? The only question I have now is what do I want to sell? Thank you for this!