WordPress.com Forums » Tag: donate - Recent Posts

timethief on "How to put a "Buy Now" button in blog"

timethief — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 03:23:05 +0000

On free hosted WordPress.com blog we can use a contact form and/or a PayPal donation button for sale of only products or services created or provided by ourselves.
http://en.support.wordpress.com/paypal/
http://en.support.wordpress.com/contact-form/

No blogger initiated advertising is allowed on free hosted WordPress.com blogs and there is no upgrade you can purchase that changes that.

There is only one advertising program called WordAds at WordPress.com and it’s for blogs on their own domains. Aside from a blog being accepted into WordAds http://www.wordads.co/ no blogger initiated advertising, retailing or reselling the work or products created or services provided by anyone other than yourself is allowed on free hosted wordpress.com blogs.

E-commerce transactions via shopping carts and the like cannot be conducted on free blogs from and being free hosted by WordPress.com. Paid content and/or sponsored content is not allowed.
http://en.support.wordpress.com/advertising/
http://en.wordpress.com/types-of-blogs/
http://en.support.wordpress.com/affiliate-links/
http://en.support.wordpress.com/suspended-blogs/
http://en.wordpress.com/tos/

There is no upgrade you can purchase from WordPress.com that changes any of that. If you do require an ecommerce site, advertising, affiliate links, paid or sponsored content you can hire a web host and get a free software install from http://wordpress.org
Refer to > http://support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/
http://en.support.wordpress.com/moving-a-blog/

kouhel1 on "How to put a "Buy Now" button in blog"

kouhel1 — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 03:18:03 +0000

I have a WordPress.com site where I paid for the domain and have a .com and am now trying to put a buy now button for something I'm trying to sell. Though, it doesn't let me do it with the Paypal code. I am using the free version of WordPress. Do I need to pay and upgrade to insert a "buy now" button? As well, why can't I do any of the plug ins? It seems like a basic feature, but I don't have it in my sidebar of options

Thank you very much!

philipparees on "Is a 'Buy' button available or only 'Donate'?"

philipparees — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 14:12:19 +0000

Brilliant, thank you. I had not yet investigated the media section at all so PDF's first, your advice second. Very grateful for your help.

notawoodpecker on "Is a 'Buy' button available or only 'Donate'?"

notawoodpecker — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 13:52:20 +0000

An alternative would be free downloadable PDF's and I would like help with how to set that up?

You can upload PDFs to your Media library, then email a link to those who 'Donate" so they can download them.

philipparees on "Is a 'Buy' button available or only 'Donate'?"

philipparees — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 13:42:21 +0000

Thank you both. I did check originally, and provided that readers choose to donate after acquisition rather than payment being conditional it was OK. A self hosted site just for this one aspect seems OTT but it may have to be the way it develops (if i ever get a reader!) An alternative would be free downloadable PDF's and I would like help with how to set that up?

absurdoldbird on "Is a 'Buy' button available or only 'Donate'?"

absurdoldbird — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 13:31:35 +0000

@philipparees - etsy is for selling art and craft items that you've made.

As for selling your book, you can usually link to another site via which you're selling the book (ie, Amazon or Lulu.com), but you're not allowed to put a shopping basket on your webpage or blog here on WordPress.com

I noticed that you put a donate button on your contact page. In my opinion (and you'll need to check with Paypal on this) that's the wrong use of a donate button, and you could be penalised by Paypal for it.

It would probably be better for you to self-host your blog and then you can have a shopping cart and 'buy' button, etc.

auxclass on "Is a 'Buy' button available or only 'Donate'?"

auxclass — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 13:23:11 +0000

http://www.etsy.com/

philipparees on "Is a 'Buy' button available or only 'Donate'?"

philipparees — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 13:16:51 +0000

Sorry 'Etsy?' What is it? Have you a link? In answer to notawoodpecker I have written and self published both.

auxclass on "Is a 'Buy' button available or only 'Donate'?"

auxclass — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 13:06:53 +0000

Some people will link to Etsy or a similar site to sell things they have made

notawoodpecker on "Is a 'Buy' button available or only 'Donate'?"

notawoodpecker — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 13:04:02 +0000

I was only intending to sell my own books

If you have actually written/authored them, you should be OK as far as WP policy, but as noted in one of the other threads, there is a debate over whether using the Donate button to sell is within PayPal policy or not.

philipparees on "Is a 'Buy' button available or only 'Donate'?"

philipparees — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 12:52:33 +0000

Thank you. I have read your links. I was only intending to sell my own books, (paperbacks not ebooks) but 'donate' would probably be sufficient?

notawoodpecker on "Is a 'Buy' button available or only 'Donate'?"

notawoodpecker — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 12:24:54 +0000

Some previous threads on this:

http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/selling-items-directly-on-my-blog?replies=4

http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/selling-on-wordpresscom-blog?replies=3

There are others also.

notawoodpecker on "Is a 'Buy' button available or only 'Donate'?"

notawoodpecker — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 12:21:28 +0000

Donate only.

While you are allowed to sell things that YOU personally create, this is not the place for eCommerce and cannot be set up for such.

philipparees on "Is a 'Buy' button available or only 'Donate'?"

philipparees — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 12:16:16 +0000

I want to be able to sell my books. Is this not allowed on a WordPress.com site? Any suggestions or is a hosted separate site the only option?

shadowoperator on "Paypal donate button or link in blog?"

shadowoperator — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 20:32:26 +0000

I had the same problem. I finally put my PayPal button in a sticky post under my header on the front page, because when I tried to put it in a text widget on the sidebar, either the button showed both under the header and in the text widget, or the button showed under the header and the code showed in the widget at the same time. I'm a beginner, so my answer may not help you, but maybe you should make sure you're not replacing any of your main essential widgets in your theme with a text widget, and be sure you have enough actual menu space in the sidebar for the text widget. This is the only thing I can thing of, though that may not be the answer. As I said, I gave up, and just left the big, ugly, PayPal donation button where it was, in a sticky post under the header. Good luck! (Maybe you can think of a way around this stuff).

zooliberation on "Paypal donate button or link in blog?"

zooliberation — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 01:46:48 +0000

I can't afford to upgrade to customize every single detail, so I am thinking there might be no hope for me. Here is my dilemma:

I want to give my followers and readers the option to donate through paypal, however I don't know where to put the code for a button or link so that it will be on my blog page and not in a post. I would prefer it be on the sider bar. I figured I could put it in the "text" widget, but the button doesn't show up if I put the code there and the link is really big and really ugly. Is this even possible to do without upgrading?

timethief on "Where do I Paste Donate Button html code?"

timethief — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 15:10:25 +0000

@blogstothinkabout
No. There is only one advertising program called WordAds at WordPress.com and it’s for blogs on their own domains. This is the homepage for the WordAds program: http://www.wordads.co/ There you will find the application page as well as FAQs.

Aside from a blog being accepted into WordAds, no blogger initiated advertising, retailing or reselling the work or products created or services provided by anyone other than yourself is allowed on free hosted wordpress.com blogs. E-commerce transactions via shopping carts and the like cannot be conducted on free blogs from and being free hosted by wordpress.com
http://en.support.wordpress.com/advertising/
http://en.wordpress.com/types-of-blogs/
http://en.support.wordpress.com/affiliate-links/
http://en.support.wordpress.com/suspended-blogs/
http://en.wordpress.com/tos/

If you do require an ecommerce site, advertising and/or affiliate links you can hire a web host and get a free software install from http://wordpress.org Refer to > http://support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/

Please do not post off-topic into threads. If you can't locate one on topic and believe me whan I say this question has been asked and answered many times by using the search box, then post your own thread please. http://en.forums.wordpress.com/?new=1

blogstothinkabout on "Where do I Paste Donate Button html code?"

blogstothinkabout — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 15:06:29 +0000

I need to know if its possible for me to add a code snippet for a google adSense ad. Any help ?

blogstothinkabout.com

macmanx on "Where do I Paste Donate Button html code?"

macmanx — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 06:40:11 +0000

Sorry, the option didn't exist at the time the documentation was written, but thank you for letting us know.

raincoaster on "Where do I Paste Donate Button html code?"

raincoaster — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 03:36:46 +0000

The encrypted option also exists, and will result in a total fail on a WordPress.com blog.

clarityclusters on "Where do I Paste Donate Button html code?"

clarityclusters — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 00:57:55 +0000

The documentation needs to be fixed. I followed the instructions both on this site and on the PayPal site. When I began to look for the email button, it didn't exist. I looked all around the WordPress.com site for help. I looked all around the PayPal site for help.

Here's the answer. When you're creating your PayPal button, you cannot add a text field or anything else. The minute you make any additions to the basic button, you do not get an email option. According to PayPal, this is in their developer guides, but not in their public guides. It is also not in yours.

I was a senior technical writer in the software industry in the nineties. One of the rules is to assume that if an option exists, the users are going to use it. So the option exists in PayPal to use a drop-down list, a text field, and other options, all of which disable the email button option.

You need to tell people that in your documentation, and it should be easy to find.

1tess on "Where do I Paste Donate Button html code?"

1tess — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 13:00:42 +0000

Paste the code into a text widget on your sidebar.
http://en.support.wordpress.com/widgets/text-widget/

eintention on "Where do I Paste Donate Button html code?"

eintention — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 11:08:24 +0000

I have the Paypal account set up and have copied the html but don't know what window to Paste it on wordpress site. Any suggestions?

fwchapman on "shopping cart"

fwchapman — Sat, 12 May 2012 23:41:41 +0000

@ajmattic, thanks for clarifying that reselling products made by others is a violation of the WordPress.com Terms of Service.

Sixth Empire is on this official list of Quintin Co. dealers, which makes it clear that Sixth Empire is indeed a reseller of products manufactured by somebody else.

fwchapman on "shopping cart"

fwchapman — Sat, 12 May 2012 23:31:28 +0000

As an interesting aside, Sixth Empire is (re)selling products made by Quintin Co., which has a really nice WooCommerce store on a self-hosted WordPress.org website. Given that, setting up a makeshift store on WordPress.com doesn't really make sense to me.

ajmattic on "shopping cart"

ajmattic — Sat, 12 May 2012 05:39:00 +0000

As timethief pointed out WordPress.com is not a reseller platform.

Here are the types of blogs permitted and those that violate our advertising policy.
http://en.wordpress.com/types-of-blogs/

fwchapman on "can externally hosted shopping carts be used to sell on wordpress.com?"

fwchapman — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 20:56:26 +0000

*customize the button too heavily

fwchapman on "can externally hosted shopping carts be used to sell on wordpress.com?"

fwchapman — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 20:53:56 +0000

@enfleurageevents, I was experimenting with the PayPal buttons last night and discovered that you won't get an Email tab for the link if you customize the button to heavily (for example, by adding a drop-down menu with options). This comprehensive guide to working with PayPal buttons confirms that customization isn't available for email links, which you need to use PayPal buttons on WordPress.com.

What you can do is create a separate button for each option instead of combining a number of different options into a single button. That will work fine on WordPress.com.

All the best,

Fred Chapman
IT Consultant

timethief on "can externally hosted shopping carts be used to sell on wordpress.com?"

timethief — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 20:07:32 +0000

Please read number 6 and 11 in this guide > http://en.support.wordpress.com/paypal/

enfleurageevents on "can externally hosted shopping carts be used to sell on wordpress.com?"

enfleurageevents — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 19:30:53 +0000

Hello,

When my Pay Pal button code gets generated no Email window options appears for me to click on. Anyone have any idea how to get around that?