HTML Variables for Shopping Carts
HTML variables for shopping carts can be used with Add to Cart buttons, as well as with third party shopping carts or custom carts that initiate payment processing with the Cart Upload command.
Table 5. HTMLVariables for Shopping Carts
Name | Required or Optional | Description | Character Length |
add | See description | Add an item to the PayPal Shopping Cart. This variable must be set as follows: The alternative is the display="1" variable, which displays the contents of the PayPal Shopping Cart to the buyer. If both add and display are specified, display takes precedence. | 1 |
amount | Required | Price of the item or the total price of all items in the shopping cart. | |
business | Required | Your PayPal ID or an email address associated with your PayPal account. Email addresses must be confirmed. | |
discount_amount_cart | Optional | Single discount amount to be charged cart-wide. It must be less than the selling price of all items combined in the cart. This variable overrides any individual item discount_amount_x Applies only to the Cart Upload command. | |
discount_amount_x | Optional | The discount amount associated with item x. It must be less than the selling price of the associated item. This amount is added with any other item discounts in the cart. Applies only to the Cart Upload command. | |
discount_rate_cart | Optional | Single discount rate (percentage) to be charged cart-wide. It must be set to a value less than 100. The variable overrides any individual item discount_rate_x Applies only to the Cart Upload command. | |
discount_rate_x | Optional | The discount rate associated with item x. It must be set to a value less than 100. The variable takes into account all quantities of item x. Applies only to the Cart Upload command. | |
display | See description. | Display the contents of the PayPal Shopping Cart to the buyer. This variable must be set as follows: The alternative is the add="1" variable, which adds an item to the PayPal Shopping Cart. If both add and display are specified, display takes precedence. | 1 |
handling_ cart | Optional | Single handling fee to be charged cart-wide. If handling_cart is used in multiple Add to Cart buttons, the handling_cart value of the first item is used. | |
item_name | Required | Name of the item or a name for the entire Shopping Cart | |
paymentaction | Optional | Indicates whether the transaction is payment on a final sale or an authorization for a final sale, to be captured later. Allowable values:
The default value is sale. Set the value to authorization to place a hold on the PayPal account for the authorized amount. Set the value to order to authorize the transaction without placing a hold on the PayPal account. Important: If you set paymentaction to order, you must use the Authorization & Capture API to authorize and capture the transaction payments. The merchant tools on the PayPal websitel let you capture payments only for authorizations, not for orders. | |
shopping_url | Optional | The URL of the page on the merchant website that buyers return to when they click the Continue Shopping button on the PayPal Shopping Cart page. For more information, see Sample HTML Code for Add to Cart Buttons that Continue Shopping on the Current Merchant Webpage. | |
upload | See description | Upload the contents of a third party shopping cart or a custom shopping cart. This variable must be set as follows: The alternatives are the add="1" variable and the display="1" variable, which are used with the PayPal Shopping Cart. | 1 |
HTML Variables for Subscribe Buttons
HTML variables for Subscribe buttons set the terms of subscriptions and their recurring payments.
Table 6. HTML Variables for Subscribe Buttons
Name | Required or Optional | Description | Character Length |
business | Required | Your PayPal ID or an email address associated with your PayPal account. Email addresses must be confirmed. | |
item_name | Optional | Description of item being sold (maximum 127 characters). If you are collecting aggregate payments, this can include a summary of all items purchased, tracking numbers, or generic terms such as "subscription." If omitted, customer will see a field in which they have the option of entering an Item Name | |
currency_code | Optional | The currency of prices for trial periods and the subscription. The default is USD. For allowable values, see Currency Codes. | 3 |
a1 | Optional | Trial period 1 price. For a free trial period, specify 0. | |
p1 | See description. | Trial period 1 duration. Required if you specify a1. Specify an integer value in the allowable range for the units of duration that you specify with t1. | 2 |
t1 | See description. | Trial period 1 units of duration. Required if you specify a1. Allowable values:
| 1 |
a2 | Optional | Trial period 2 price. Can be specified only if you also specify a1. | |
p2 | See description. | Trial period 2 duration. Required if you specify a2. Specify an integer value in the allowable range for the units of duration that you specify with t2. | 2 |
t2 | See description. | Trial period 2 units of duration. Allowable values:
| 1 |
a3 | Required | Regular subscription price. | |
p3 | Required | Subscription duration. Specify an integer value in the allowable range for the units of duration that you specify with t3. | 2 |
t3 | Required | Regular subscription units of duration. Allowable values:
| 1 |
src | Optional | Recurring payments. Subscription payments recur unless subscribers cancel their subscriptions before the end of the current billing cycle or you limit the number of times that payments recur with the value that you specify for srt. Allowable values:
The default is 0. | 1 |
srt | Optional | Recurring times. Number of times that subscription payments recur. Specify an integer above 1. Valid only if you specify src="1". | 1 |
sra | Optional | Reattempt on failure. If a recurring payment fails, PayPal attempts to collect the payment two more times before canceling the subscription. Allowable values:
The default is 1. For more information, see Reattempting Failed Recurring Payments With Subscribe Buttons. | 1 |
no_note | Required | Do not prompt payers to include a note with their payments. Allowable values for Subscribe buttons:
For Subscribe buttons, always include no_note and set it to 1. | 1 |
custom | Optional | User-defined field which will be passed through the system and returned in your merchant payment notification email. This field will not be shown to your subscribers. | 255 |
invoice | Optional | User-defined field which must be unique with each subscription. The invoice number will be shown to subscribers with the other details of their transactions | 127 |
modify | Optional | Modification behavior. Allowable values:
The default value is 0. For more information, see Working With Modify Subscription Buttons. | 1 |
usr_manage | Optional | Set to 1 to have PayPal generate usernames and initial passwords for subscribers. For more information, see Generating Usernames and Passwords With Subscribe Buttons. | 1 |
