Five PayPal Tools for Web Shops Tampa FL

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Originally published at Internet.com

One of the most important components of any online store is payment processing. There are several methods available to merchants, but one of the most popular by far is PayPal. PayPal lets consumers pay for their purchases using PayPal with a credit card, bank transfer or with funds from their own PayPal account balance. Editor's Picks » Setting Up Shop: A Checklist for New E-tailers

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When checking out, the customer is directed to a page designed to match your own site that's located on PayPal's secure servers. After choosing a payment method (i.e. credit card or PayPal cash payment), and checking out, the customer is returned to your site and the payment, once cleared, is deposited to your own PayPal account. PayPal also supports international payments.

In terms of pricing, PayPal does not charge a monthly subscription fee but instead charges a per transaction fee. For those setting up shop using PayPal, or who want to take advantage of the many features the service has to offer, here are five free tools that help you get PayPal services integrated into your storefront.

PayPal Merchant Services: Free Individual Purchase Buttons
One of the first steps to integrating PayPal is to visit the merchants section on the PayPal Web site. Here you can generate the HTML code needed to create buttons that you can add to your product pages for the following: Buy Now, Add to Cart, Donate, Subscribe, and Buy Gift Certificate. If you are selling a single item, for example, you would use the PayPal "Buy Now" button.
Push My Buttons: PayPal's Buy Buttons.
(Click for larger image.)

Once logged into PayPal, you simply go into the Merchant Services section of the site and then choose the Buy Now buttons page. On this page, you provide your product information including the price, currency, shipping methods and applicable tax options. Here you also choose a Buy Now button style or provide your own image. Next, you simply click the "create button" link and the form generates the HTML code you need to copy and paste onto your own Web page, blog or e-mail. To create a different type of PayPal button you follow the same simple steps in the PayPal Merchant Services section on the site.

PayPal Merrchant Services: Free Shopping Cart Buttons
Using the free PayPal shopping cart, you can sell multiple items on your site with customized buttons and messages. Rather than placing a button link on individual product pages, the PayPal cart is designed to let your customers browse all your merchandise and view a consolidated list of all their items before purchasing. You can use this to sell multiple items on your site with customized buttons and messages.


Buttoned Up: PayPal's Cart.
(Click for larger image.) The creation form is similar to PayPal's button creation form. You can go in to edit additional options and add shipping preferences, customer notes and any special instructions. Once you click the link to create the code, on the next page you will see two sections of code to copy. One is for the "Add to cart" function and the other is for the "View Cart" function. Once you create the Add and View buttons, you can alter the name, price, shipping, and other options by editing the HTML code , or, you can repeat the process to create additional payment buttons.

PayPal Widgets: Free Storefronts
The PayPal Storefront Widget lets you create an online graphically-pleasing Web Storefront. You can upload products, set descriptions, prices and shipping parameters and then display the widget on your own Web site, blog or other personal Web space. After logging into your PayPal account, you start customizing your widget with a theme, title, logo, and information such as store and shipping policies. Then, you choose which products to display, and select selling options, for instance, you can have merchandise removed once it is sold.
Spread the Word: PayPal's Widget.
(Click for larger image.)

After adding your products and customizing the widget to your satisfaction, you then publish it for auto-insertion into TypePad or you can get the HTML code to copy and paste onto your own Web space. For buyers browsing your PayPal storefront, the widget offers an index page that shows thumbnail images of all of the items for sale, individual product pages that show buyers a larger image view, the item price and the option to buy.

PayPal Flash Button Creator: Free Trial or $29.99 to Buy
The PayPal Flash Button Creator V2.1 from Beaver Valley Software Company is free for 30 days. This tool lets you create SWF (ShockWave Flash)files for any PayPal buttons including Buy Now, Donation, Cart, View Cart or Subscription. These can be embedded on HTML, ASP.NET, or Flash Web sites. Not only does this make adding PayPal