PayPal for Dummies

Ok. So I was a PayPal dummy once too. It’s no big deal. We all are.

But let me tell you. Adding the ability to pay for your services (this post is not for selling products) on PayPal could hardly be easier. I just did it this week for the first time. You can do it too! (This is for Wordpress and other users that know how to easily embed code into a blog post or widget).

Because you want money in your bank account and this makes it easy to get it there.

1. Make sure you have a PayPal account. This is E-A-S-Y. If you aren’t going to get a PayPal debit card (also easy), then connect your account with whatever bank account you will use to withdraw the funds.
2. Once registered and logged in, go to the tab: Merchant Services.
3. At this point, I probably don’t even need to walk you through more because the Buy Now buttons are the first thing you will see, but I will.
4. Choose your button type (Buy Now is most common but there are others you’ll be interested in: Donations, Gift Certificates, Subscriptions, Automatic Billing and Installment Plan.
5. Name your item and give it an ID (if you want). Customers do not see this. It is for your reference only.
6. And then customize the button if you need to. You can see that I used a custom button with the drop-down pricing here.
7. Add text field. I recommend this. You can put something witty or something that will clarify what is being purchased in this field. Customers WILL see this.
8. This lesson is for services so there should not be a shipping or tax amount.
9. I use my primary PayPal email address under Merchant Account ID’s.
10. I do not use Steps 2 or 3 on the PayPal setup but go directly to Create Button!
11. Copy this code and a) if it is going into a blog post like mine did, choose the HTML tab in your Add New Post section of Wordpress or b)if it going to show up on your home page, add a widget to your side bar (Under Appearance to the left in Wordpress) and paste it there.

Seriously. It is THAT easy. But if you need help, as a freebie, send me an email: kelly@kellylivesay.com or find me on Twitter: @kellylivesay and I’ll see if we can’t walk you through it!