The PayPal Buy Now button automatically brings the buyer to PayPal with all of the information pre-filled out. Even if the buyer isn’t a PayPal member, they can pay you securely with any major credit (or debit) card such as Mastercard or Visa. Once a transaction is completed, you’ll get instant notification of the sale so that you can ship the item. The funds are instantly added to your account, but take note if they pay with an eCheck, it usually takes a couple days to clear.

Unlike various shopping cart software, these buttons don’t cost you anything other than the regular PayPal transaction fees. Making Buy Now buttons isn’t difficult if you only have a few items to sell, however, if you have bundles of items, it becomes wearisome. If this is the case, you might be better off using a more comprehensive shopping cart system.

Here are the steps to follow:

1. You must have a PayPal Business account. Once you’re signed into PayPal, go to the Merchant Services tab where you’ll see a row of tools including the Buy Now button, Add to Cart button, Send Invoice option, and Virtual Terminal option. Click on the link for the Buy Now button.

2. A simple form appears. Fill in the following fields: Item name or service, optional ID number, price, currency, buyer’s default country, and item’s weight (if applicable).

3. Choose the type of button encryption you need. If you need to add links, such as email links or links for downloads, you’ll need to choose the non-encrypted button. Otherwise, choose encrypted.

4. Enter shipping method options and sales tax options. Either of these can be based on the information that’s stored in your profile or a flat rate. Once you’ve filled in all of the fields, you can either create the button right now or add more options by clicking the Add More Options button.

5. OPTIONAL: The additional options include generic text boxes where you can describe the item, customize the look of the Payment page, specify a URL for successful payment, specify a cancellation URL, quantity and shipping preferences, an option to allow customers to enter a note to you during the transactions, and an optional email address for receiving payments.

6. Once all of the details are filled in, click Create Button Now. Next, you’ll see a screen with HTML code. Hit the Select All button to select all of the code. Now, use your “control” and “c” keys on your keyboard to copy the selected text. Go into the HTML portion of your website and paste the code in by hitting “control” and “v” simultaneously. Many WYSIWYG editors have HTML modules that you must first access before copying the code. Click the appropriate HTML module button for your website editor and then copy the code into it. Enter descriptive text above the button letting buyers know what’s for sale and a picture if available. Save the webpage and publish.