Variable Paypal Payments without using the Donate option

I have previously included in some of my blog posts the ability for readers to contribute towards costs of running the site.  I did this using the Paypal multiple payment button, where readers could choose a pre specified amount between £1 to £100 (Yes in the early days I was hoping for some rather large donations!).  This method wasn’t my first choice.  What I really wanted was for the reader to choose an amount themselves instead of being limited to the available options I had set up.

Paypal do provide a “donate” feature, so users can set up a button which supports variable payment amounts of the donators choosing.  This would have been ideal, however, Paypal state that this should only be used by charities, or, non profit making bodies.  This didn’t apply to me so I did not wish to use it, plus, I had read horror stories on internet forums about people who did, and, subsequently had their accounts frozen by Paypal for misuse of the button.

The good news is that I think I have found a solution to my problem that uses the “Buy now” paypal option instead of the “Donate” button.  When a generous reader clicks on the Paypal icon, they are taken to the Paypal payment screen, where the payment amount is displayed as zero.  They will then change this to a figure of their choice, and, continue to make payment as normal.  If a reader forgets to change the amount from zero, they are prompted by the system to amend it.

Well it all sounds very good in practice.  All I need now is for the generous reader of this page to make a contribution so I can see if it works!  Fingers crossed!