Paypal
[April 2006] Does your community group sell a few books or resource kits? Would you like to receive donations? You don't need a whole e-commerce setup on your website for small scale, casual sales. Many people around the world use Paypal to send and receive payments.
Sign up.
First you sign up for a Paypal account. There is no sign-up fee or annual cost. PayPal take a small percentage on each transaction.
Currency.
Unfortunately PayPal doesn't deal in New Zealand dollars. You'll need to choose from US Dollars, Australian Dollars, Canadian Dollars, Euros, pounds Sterling or Yen. This can be a bit of a problem, give our fluctuating exchange rate and the expectation that we would pay NZ dollars in New Zealand for NZ goods and services. The exchange rate doesn't matter so much if you're simply requesting donations.
Add a payment button to your website.
Once you've registered log in to your account and visit the Merchant Tools section. Create a payment button, then copy the code PayPal provide and add it to your website or use it in emails. The code contains your 'business name', which allows PayPal to credit payments to the correct accounts.
If you wish, you can create customised code for each product or group of products. This is useful where various items you sell have distinct prices, such as books.
Send PayPal invoices.
PayPal have a special form to allow you to send invoices by email. You fill in detail lines, optionally add a shipping cost and the recipient's email address. They receive an email with instructions on how to make payment. You receive an email to confirm the invoice was sent.
If the person receiving the invoice is a PayPal user they log in, click a button and the transaction is complete. If they are not a PayPal user they enter credit card details into a secure form.
PayPal charge their credit card or PayPal account and forward the funds to your PayPal account less a transaction fee.
Transaction fees.
At the Standard Rate the recipient of funds pays 3.4% on each transaction plus 30 cents US. At the current exchange rate of approx 61 cents to the US dollar you would receive approximately (in NZ$):
- $9.30 for a $10 item
- $23.65 for a $25 item
- $38.15 for a $40 item
Phishing.
PayPal is a popular target for phishers: fraudsters who try to trick you into giving away your username and password. They often send emails purporting to come from PayPal (they look extremely realistic) asking you to log in to confirm your details. If you click the link they provide you're taken to a website that looks exactly like PayPal but is really just a sham that captures your details.
PayPal will never send you that kind of email. Always type in the address for PayPal yourself. Never visit it from a link you've clicked.
Explore.
PayPal gives individuals, businesses and community groups the opportunity to request and receive small payments without the hassle of setting up an e-commerce system. If your group would like to accept payment via your website it's worth spending a little time exploring this option in more detail.
Examples.
A quick Google search showed that these New Zealand community organisations (and others) accept donations and payments via PayPal: