Integration Guide

Website Payments Standard Integration Guide September 2008 113
Recurring Payments – Subscribe Buttons
Getting Started With Subscribe Buttons
3
Read the following topics to learn more about creating Subscribe buttons before you create
your PayPal account.
z “Limitations of Subscribe Buttons Created Without a PayPal Account” on page 113
z “Creating a Basic Subscribe Button Without a PayPal Account” on page 113
Limitations of Subscribe Buttons Created Without a PayPal Account
Consider the following limitations of Subscribe buttons that you create and add to your
website before you sign up for your PayPal Premiere or Business account.
z The buttons that you place on your website will not work.
z PayPal limits the features that you can specify with the button creation tool, such as:
– Saving your buttons in your PayPal account
– Tracking inventory
N OTE: You cannot create payment buttons without a PayPal account if Javascript is disabled
in your browser.
Creating a Basic Subscribe Button Without a PayPal Account
The following instructions create a basic Subscribe button that sets up subscriptions with a
monthly billing cycle that recurs until subscriptions are cancelled.
To learn how to create buttons for other kinds of subscriptions, see “Using the Button Creation
Tool for Advanced Subscribe Buttons” on page 142.
To create a basic Subscribe button without a PayPal account:
1. Visit the PayPal website at
https://www.paypal.com.
2. Click the Business tab.
3. Under the Need to accept credit cards? heading, click the On your website link.
The Choose a payment solution page opens.
4. Under the Website Payments Standard heading, click the Learn more link.
The PayPal Website Payments Standard: Overview page opens.
5. Under the Collect recurring or subscription fees heading, click the Create payment
button link.
The Create PayPal payment button page opens.
6. In the Accept payments for dropdown menu, select “Subscriptions and recurring billing”.
7. Enter the payment details of your subscription.
– Subscription name – Enter a name for the subscription. For example, enter “Alice’s
Monthly Digest”.
– Recurring amount to be billed – Enter the amount you want to bill subscribers for each
monthly billing cycle.