Integration Guide

Recurring Payments – Automatic Billing Buttons
Creating Advanced Automatic Billing Buttons on the PayPal Website
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206 June 2012 PayPal Payments Standard Integration Guide
Step 2 – Tracking Inventory for Your Automatic Billing Button
Use the Step 2 section of the button creation tool to track inventory and profit and loss for the
items that your button sells.
By default, the Step 2 section saves details about your button in your PayPal account. If you
do not save your button in your account, PayPal cannot track inventory or profit and loss for
your item.
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.
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.
For more information, see Tracking Inventory and Profit and Loss for Automatic Billing
Buttons.
1. Do one of the following:
– Clear the Add you button to My saved buttons checkbox to not save the important
details of your button in your PayPal account.
If you do not save your button, PayPal cannot track inventory or profit and loss for your
item.
The HTML code that PayPal generates and that you paste onto your webpage contains
all payment details and information that identifies your PayPal account. You may need
to take extra precautions to secure your buttons against fraudulent payments.
For more information, see Securing Your PayPal Payments Standard Buttons.
– Select the Add your button to My saved buttons checkbox to save the payment details
of your button in your PayPal account.
The HTML code that PayPal generates and that you paste onto your webpage contains
no payment or identifying information.
“Add your button to My saved buttons” is the default for this feature.
For more information, see Saving Automatic Billing Buttons in Your PayPal Account.
2. Select the Track inventory checkbox to enter information that PayPal uses to track
inventory for your item. Then, do one of the following:
– By Item – Select this radio button if you want to track inventory regardless of product
options that buyers select.
Enter the quantity that you currently have in stock and an alert level. PayPal sends you
an alert by email when your inventory on hand falls to or below the alert level.