is hard until it is easy. Once
it's easy, it is very easy.
It seems that PayPal allows you
to provide free shipping, or any
shipping rate you might choose,
on a per item basis. The problem
is getting this to actually work.
The coding part is fairly easy
if you know HTML. You just tell
PayPal, via hidden form fields,
that an order of one or more items
will be free. Here's the web page
that gives you the code to add to
your HTML on a per item basis:
Overriding Profile-Based
Shipping and Sales Tax
Here's another web page that tells
you how to override shipping on
a per-item basis:
Making PayPal Work With Your Website
Here are the steps I took:
- Log into PayPal
- Look for the Merchant Services
tab at the top of the page. It is dark
blue - Click on Mechant Services
- There are several headings in black
type - Find the black type heading that
says Shipping & Tax - Look for Shipping calculator
under Shipping & Tax - Identify a shipping method for
which you would like to enable
free shipping on a per-item basis - Find the checkmark box on the
left side of the shipping method - Checkmark the box for the shipping
method that you wish to override
on a per-item basis - Find the edit button on
the lower right side of the shipping
method - Look for the black-type heading
that says Currency and Shipping
Region: - Under the Currency and Shipping
Region: heading look for the words
Use the shipping fee in the
transaction instead of my
calculator's settings - Note the radio button to the
right of the above words - Click the radio button from
No to Yes - Find Save Changes
at the very bottom of the
shipping method dialog - Click Save Changes
- Repeat the above steps for
all shipping methods for which
you want to enable a free shipping
override on a per-item basis
Note that I've written the above
directions for free shipping. Of
course, free shipping is shipping
with zero dollars and zero cents.
You can set the shipping to anything
you wish on a per-item basis.
You can use the override to go in
the other direction too. You can
also make the shipping more expensive
than usual rather than less expensive
or free.
This would make sense if you sell an
item that is very expensive to ship.
For example, you may not want to
offer free shipping on your
weight-lifting equipment.
Ed Abbott
