Can’t get the paypal donation button to work
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I have been messing with this widget all day, and I have tried everything I can think of. I have read two previous forum discussions (closed) on this, and not found any others that give me my answer (except that yes, it’s within TOS to just put up a donation button, as long as I’m not selling anything and don’t have ads up, etc.).
I am NOT blogging to make money; but for personal reasons, at this time, I need to do the donation button.
I am using the text widget, and either it shows up blank where the code is, or the code shows up as text.
Can anyone tell me what code to use to just get a plain button that says “Donate” on it?
The other option I’m considering is to just put a link in the text widget to a page that would have the donation button on it, along with a very short spiel as to why I’m putting up the button.
This is sort of a separate issue, but I just want to check, as far as TOS goes, in terms of commercialism: I have been planning on doing reviews of dog toys for aggressive chewers (which can be a challenge to find), and I thought it would be fun to contact the companies that sell these toys I’m planning on reviewing anyway and ask if they will give away one to readers who respond. Is that OK? I would not be asking the companies for any payment or anything — I’d do the reviews anyway, regardless.
Thank you!
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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1. Paypal donation button instructions here > http://en.support.wordpress.com/paypal/
2. In a nutshell free blogs from and being free hosted by wordpress.COM cannot be used to drive traffic to third-party sites by means of advertising and/or affiliate programs. E-commerce cannot be conducted on wordpress.COM blogs. No retailing or reselling the work created by anyone other than yourself is allowed.
Affiliate marketing blogs
The only exceptions with regard to affiliate links are found here:Affiliate marketing blogs: Blogs with the primary purpose of driving traffic to affiliate programs and get-rich-quick schemes (“Make six figures from home!!”, “20 easy steps to top profits!!”, etc). This includes multi-level marketing (MLM) blogs and pyramid schemes. To be clear, people writing their own original book, movie or game reviews and linking them to Amazon, or people linking to their own products on Etsy do NOT fall into this category. http://en.wordpress.com/types-of-blogs/
Advertising is not allowed on free hosted WordPress.com blogs. The only exceptions are for high traffic blogs that qualify for and are accepted into the Ad Control program, and very high traffic blogs that qualify and are accepted into the paid VIP hosting program.
http://wordpress.com/types-of-blogs/
http://vip.wordpress.com/If you require advertising and/or affilate links on your blog, and/or if you intend to do paid product reviews then you can hire a web host and get a free software install from http://wordpress.org In that case, please see the information at the link below to learn about the differences between free hosted WordPress.com blogs and WordPress.org software installs for self hosting. http://support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/
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You can’t use the encrypted form of any Paypal button; it won’t work here. People make that mistake all the time.
As for the contests, you should contact staff via your dashboard and ask them for a ruling on that.
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By the way, I don’t have a merchant account. I have a personal account. I have read MORE forums on this topic, and it always seems to say to use the merchant account and to click on “not encrypted” for security measures, but that doesn’t show up when I try, so I’m wondering if it’s because I don’t have a merchant acct??
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Yes, I believe you’ll need a merchant account in order to enable donations into your account. Peresonal accounts are for paying for things, not accepting money in.
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OK, using this fourth page I found on this topic — https://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/link-widget-inserting-a-donate-button?replies=28#post-44267 — I managed to get the button to show up, and then eventually I managed to get it clickable.
However, when I click on it, my computer just says “loading” and thinks about it for a long time, and then I get a blank screen at paypal. Or sometime it just takes a really, really long time to open the paypal page.
Is this how it is supposed to work? Did I do something wrong, or is it just my computer/connection?
Do you get the feeling I’m talking to myself? I do. (Hello! [Hello!] Echo [Echo].)
I’m sorry. I’m a little loopy from working on this all day. Code. Makes. Head. Ache. Sooooo not a techie. sigh.
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It takes a while for the page to load. That’s not an issue.
Also, be more patient. The AVERAGE response time in an internet forum is 13 hours.
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I’m sorry. I was refreshing early, and then I guess I forgot to refresh, and I didn’t see any of this replies. Apologies!
Hi Timethief. I remember you from when I asked a question a long time ago about a problem with photos. smile. You posted something lovely in my comments.
Umm, I did read the TOS, and it still isn’t entirely clear to me, but it sounds like you’re saying that giveaways are not OK, even if I don’t get paid for them, yeah?
But in terms of this: “To be clear, people writing their own original book, movie or game reviews and linking them to Amazon, or people linking to their own products on Etsy do NOT fall into this category. http://en.wordpress.com/types-of-blogs/” I have another website (not a blog, not on WP), where I have a tiny business selling cartoon postcards that I’ve drawn. Does the above mean that I *could* link to that? I thought I couldn’t, because that would constitute selling.
I don’t know if this is all going to change — I want to make sure I understand what I’m doing, I was talking to a friend today who has a blog on WP (that she pays for) and she said she could give me a domain name, and it would still be using WP software, but it wouldn’t have “wordpress” in the URL, and I could then “monetize.” Is this what you mean with this:
“If you require advertising and/or affilate links on your blog, and/or if you intend to do paid product reviews then you can hire a web host and get a free software install from http://wordpress.org”?
I’m sorry if I’m irritating you.I reallyhave been trying to read and understand. The language is confusing for me, a lot of the time.
THank you. (Waiting PATIENTLY for response :-).)
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I have another website (not a blog, not on WP), where I have a tiny business selling cartoon postcards that I’ve drawn. Does the above mean that I *could* link to that? I thought I couldn’t, because that would constitute selling.
Yes, you can link your your site where you sell what you make to your blog.
I don’t know if this is all going to change — I want to make sure I understand what I’m doing, I was talking to a friend today who has a blog on WP (that she pays for) and she said she could give me a domain name, and it would still be using WP software, but it wouldn’t have “wordpress” in the URL, and I could then “monetize.” Is this what you mean with this:
“If you require advertising and/or affilate links on your blog, and/or if you intend to do paid product reviews then you can hire a web host and get a free software install from http://wordpress.org”?Yes. You can monetize a wordpress.ORG install. You cannot monetize a free hosted wordpress.COM blog.
I have been planning on doing reviews of dog toys for aggressive chewers (which can be a challenge to find), and I thought it would be fun to contact the companies that sell these toys I’m planning on reviewing anyway and ask if they will give away one to readers who respond.
… Umm, I did read the TOS, and it still isn’t entirely clear to me, but it sounds like you’re saying that giveaways are not OK, even if I don’t get paid for them, yeah?
I don’t know how Staff view you getting products from companies reviewing them and doing give-aways. Maybe they will see that as a form of advertising for a third party dite or not. I’m only a Volunteer do I don’t want to hazard making guesses. Please contact Staff and ask them, okay? :)
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OK, thank you very much! I appreciate it. I have already bought the toys, so I wouldn’t be asking for any for me. But, now hopefully I will have my own domain name, so that would make all this moot, I believe.
Anyway, I very much appreciate your time, and if I have other questions, I’ll contact the support staff.
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Having your own domain name does not relieve you of any of the Terms of Service as long as your site is hosted on WordPress.COM. (i.e. you use domain mapping to your blog)
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