How to Use Your PayPal Account to Accept Donations

We’ve all seen them, those nifty little PayPal donation buttons on the websites of struggling writers, artists and various others hoping to make a little extra income for the services they provide others for free online. Fortunately, it’s not as difficult as you might think to set one up, and PayPal makes it especially easy.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• PayPal account

1. Sign into your PayPal account, or sign up for one if you don’t have a PayPal account already.
2. Select the "Merchant Resources" button from the menu running across the top of the page.
3. In the middle of the page you will see a section entitled "Create Buttons"; select the "Donate" button.
4. You will now see a form. The only field you really need to fill in is the "Donation Name/Service," and here you can just put your name or the name of your business. Leave the "Donation ID Number" field blank unless you know for sure what it is.
5. Leave the amount section blank.
6. Leave the denomination in "US Dollars."
7. Leave the buyer’s country as the "US."
8. Choose a button style from the ones offered by PayPal. They have several snazzy ones. You also have the option of creating your own button, and there is a link for instructions on how to do that in the "Button Style" section if you would prefer to have your own button.
9. In the next section, you have to decide if you want your button encrypted or not. Most people decide to go with the automatic selection, which is to go ahead and encrypt the button.
10. Select "Create Button."
11. Copy and paste the HTML code provided to you on your website or blog. You will then have a donation button that is attached to your PayPal account, and people will be able to donate money to you through PayPal.

Tips & Warnings

• Only change the money denomination to something other than U.S. dollars if you know for a fact that the majority of those sending you donations will send some other denomination. You can find this out by discovering where in the world your website traffic comes from. If the majority is from the United States, then don’t change the denomination.
• Don’t change the buyer’s country unless you are absolutely certain that the majority of your buyers are from somewhere other than the United States.
• Some who have encrypted their buttons have had problems with buyers' transactions not going through, so be aware if you hear from someone trying to donate and they weren’t able to. This may be why.
• While you can specify the amount of money you will accept for a donation, this can be a turnoff for those making a donation, and they may change their minds and not donate, especially if they wanted to donate a lesser amount. It is best to leave the amount field blank and allow your buyers to choose the amount they want to donate.