EasyPayPal WordPress Plugin

EasyPayPal is a WordPress plugin that allows you to make money from your WordPress site by collecting a payment from your users. When a new user creates a login on your site, they will be taken to PayPal to process their payment. When they return to your site, the next payment date will be updated based on a period that you define. After the next payment date, the user will attempt to login and they will be taken to PayPal to process their next payment.

‘Charge for Content’ using Pay Buttons

With EasyPayPal you can create a ‘Buy Now’ button in any post using [paybutton][/paybutton] tags.  Hide text and links from your users until they purchase the content that is hidden within the [paybutton] tags.

Usage:
[paybutton]{Item Name*}|{Item Number*}|{Amount*}|{Currency Code}|{Subscription Days}|{Hidden Text}[/paybutton]*Required

Simple Pay Now (No Login Required)

Sometimes, you just want to insert a quick Pay Now button in your post. This option could be used to pay for an external service or product. To create a Simple Pay Now button, use the same [paybutton] code, but include the words ‘login=no’ in the {Hidden Text} area.

Example:
[paybutton]Technical Support|1000|150.00|||login=no[/paybutton]


‘Charge to Publish’ using a Custom Payment page

This feature allows you to charge a fee before a user publishes a post from your site.  This works very well for WordPress-driven job boards.  Create a page with the title of ‘[Payment Options]‘.  Whenever a user attempts to access the post editor, WordPress will check the number of post credits available to the user.  If they have run out of post credits, they will be taken to your custom payment page.  Use [paybutton] tags on your page to allow users to purchase post credits.  In this case, the item number becomes the number of post credits that a user will purchase.

Example:
[paybutton]1 Job Post|1|30|||[/paybutton]
[paybutton]5 Job Posts|5|50|||[/paybutton]

Custom Subscription Page

Create a page with the title of ‘[pay]‘.  The contents of this page will be displayed to your users whenever their subscription expires.  Insert multiple [paybutton] tags on this page to create different subscription options.

For example, you can create Monthly and Annual options easily on your custom page.

$2 per month
[paybutton]Monthly|1001|2||30|[/paybutton]$50 per year
[paybutton]Annually|1002|50||365|[/paybutton]

Hiding pages in your theme

Some themes display all of your pages in a menu or a sidebar. If you don’t want to display all of your pages, including [pay] pages, look for the wp_list_pages() function in your theme files (usually the header or sidebar file). You can select specific pages for this function by using the include parameter. The code below will display only the pages with the page ids in the include list:

wp_list_pages('include=4,8,15,16,23,42&depth=1&title_li=');

Subscriber-only Content

EasyPayPal allows you to hide content from non-subscribers. Simply enclose your subscriber content within [pay][/pay] tags. The content will only be visible to users who have logged into your site. This functionality allows you to provide a preview of a post to non-subscribers, prompting them to register to view the rest of the post.

Trial Period

If you’d like to offer your subscribers a chance to try your service before paying, you can specify a trial period. After the trial period ends, the next time the user attempts to login, they will be directed to PayPal.

Returning to WP from PayPal

By default, a user will return to the WP dashboard after purchasing a subscription or making a payment that would allow them to publish content. If a user clicks on a Pay Now button in a post or page, they will be returned to that post or page.

If you don’t want your user to return to the dashboard following a subscription payment, you may modify the plugin by setting $epp_redirect=true. In the plugin, remove the comment code as shown in the example below:

//Uncomment the following line to have the user redirected to the home page after making a payment.
$epp_redirect = true;


Compatibility
EasyPayPal has been tested with WordPress 2.0.4 and should be compatible with any version at or above 2.0.

Installation

1. Download the easypaypal ZIP file. (see the end of this article for download location)
2. Extract the /easypaypal folder and copy the entire folder into your WordPress plugins directory (wp-content/plugins).  Delete any previous versions of EasyPayPal.
3. Make sure you have a PayPal account.
4. In PayPal, ensure that Auto Return is disabled.See the following link for help: Disable Auto Return
5. Login to WordPress Admin.
6. Go to the Plugins page and click Activate for EasyPayPal.
7. Go to the Options tab and then click on the EasyPayPal Configuration tab to setup your PayPal options.

Problems?

If you find any problems, please let me know by contacting support@voiceoftech.com.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I just put the [paybutton][/paybutton] in post and when user clicks ‘Buy Now’, instead of going to a login/register page it goes to PayPal and allows them to make a payment for the content on that page?
The user must login/register before clicking on a Pay Button. If the user was sent off to PayPal without logging into WordPress, we wouldn’t be able to identify them and couldn’t unlock the content for them.

If I use the same item name and number for a few different posts, when a user pays for that one post with that name and number will they be able to view all post with same item name and number?
No. Content is purchased by Post ID and Item Number. The Item Name is just a description for you and the user. If you have multiple [paybutton] tags in a post, you’ll want to use different item numbers, however, you could use the same item number in different posts.

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Download

Current Version — 3.5
Download EasyPayPal from this site.

All discussion and questions have been moved to the CodePlex site.

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Modifications
05/15/2007 Redirect after post option.
Function = EasyPayPal_Expired($user_ID)
Change Menu to >> Options
‘login=no’ option added — Simple Pay Now button — no tracking.1/7/2008 – Moved all code and discussion to Codex.

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SUPPORT IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE FOR THIS PLUGIN — IT IS BEING OFFERED ‘AS IS’

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Legal

Disclaimer of Warranty; Limitation of Liability. 1. YOU EXPRESSLY AGREE THAT YOUR USE OF THIS SOFTWARE IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. SHANNON WHITLEY DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE SOFTWARE WILL BE SECURE OR ERROR-FREE; NOR DOES HE MAKE ANY WARRANTY AS TO THE RESULTS THAT MAY BE OBTAINED FROM USE OF THE SOFTWARE INCLUDING ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, QUALITY, ADEQUACY, TIMELINESS OR AUTHENTICITY. NOR DOES HE MAKE ANY WARRANTY AS TO THE ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, QUALITY, ADEQUACY TIMELINESS OR AUTHENTICITY OF ANY CONTENT, INFORMATION, SERVICE, PRODUCTS, MERCHANDISE OR OTHER MATERIAL PURCHASED IN RELATION TO THIS SOFTWARE. 2. THE SOFTWARE AND CONTENT IS PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. 3. THIS DISCLAIMER OF LIABILITY APPLIES TO ANY DAMAGES OR INJURY CAUSED BY ANY FAILURE OF PERFORMANCE, ERROR, OMISSION, INTERRUPTION, DELETION, DEFECT, DELAY IN OPERATION OR TRANSMISSION, COMPUTER VIRUS, COMMUNICATION LINE FAILURE, THEFT OR DESTRUCTION OR UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO, ALTERATION OF, OR USE OF RECORD, WHETHER FOR BREACH OF CONTRACT, TORTIOUS BEHAVIOR, NEGLIGENCE, OR UNDER ANY OTHER CAUSE OF ACTION REGARDLESS OF WHETHER SHANNON WHITLEY HAD NOTICE OF THE CAUSE OR SUCH CAUSE WAS FORESEEABLE. 4. IN NO EVENT WILL SHANNON WHITLEY, OR ANY PERSON OR ENTITY INVOLVED IN CREATING, PRODUCING OR DISTRIBUTING THE SOFTWARE, BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING (WITHOUT LIMITATION) DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, LOSS OF PROFIT OR REVENUE OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SOFTWARE. 5. THESE DISCLAIMERS AND LIMITATIONS SHALL APPLY EVEN IN THE EVENT OF A FUNDAMENTAL OR MATERIAL BREACH OR A BREACH OF THE FUNDAMENTAL OR MATERIAL TERMS OF THESE TERMS OF SERVICE. 6. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties or the limitation or exclusion of liability for incidental or consequential damages. Accordingly, some of the above limitations may not apply to you.