Integration Guide

Recurring Payments – Subscribe Buttons
Creating Advanced Subscribe Buttons on the PayPal Website
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148 June 2012 PayPal Payments Standard Integration Guide
Tracking Inventory and Profit and Loss for Subscribe Buttons
If you save payment buttons in your PayPal account, PayPal can track inventory and can track
profit and loss for the items that your buttons sell. PayPal can track inventory and profit and
loss for items themselves or separately by product options.
Use the Step 2 section of the button creation tool to specify the information that lets PayPal
track inventory and profit and loss.
Tracking Inventory
If you track inventory, PayPal helps avoid oversold situations. PayPal sends an alert by email
when your inventory on hand falls to or below the alert level you specify. You can let oversold
payments go through, or you can warn buyers and prevent them from specifying more than
your quantity on hand.
Tracking Profit and Loss
If you track profit and loss, PayPal helps you understand the profitability of your items. Enter
the cost of your item, and PayPal provides profit and loss reports based on the volume of sales.
Make sure to include all you costs to sell the item, including costs to acquire it and handle it
until sold.
Adding Advanced Features to Subscribe Buttons with HTML Variables
Some advanced features of payment buttons can be specified only with HTML variables. If
you are familiar with HTML programming and the advanced HTML variables supported by
Website Payments Standard payment buttons, you can enter them in the button creation tool
before the button code is generated.
Use the Step 3 section of the button creation tool to enter advanced HTML variables that you
want to include in your payment button.
Generating Code for Subscribe Buttons and Email Payment Links
When you create Subscribe buttons with tools on the PayPal website, PayPal generates HTML
code for website payment buttons. Then, you copy and paste the HTML code onto the pages of
your website.
In addition to HTML code, PayPal generates URL code for email payment links. Use email
payment links to add Subscribe functionality to your email messages. If your web editing tool
or your service provider does not allow you to paste HTML code onto your webpages, you
may be able to paste the URL code for email payment links onto your webpages instead.
Protecting HTML Code for Subscribe Buttons
When you create Subscribe code with tools on the PayPal website, PayPal lets your protect the
HTML button code that it generates by encrypting part of it. Protecting the HTML code of
your payment buttons helps protect against malicious tampering and fraudulent payments.