4

Account Optional

With PayPal Account Optional turned on, your customers who are new to PayPal can make 

credit card payments without signing up for a PayPal account. This setting is available in the 

Profile of Premier and Business accounts.

PayPal Account Optional is turned on by default for all U.S. Premier and Business accounts. 

Your customers who already have PayPal accounts will go through the same Website 

Payments experience to which they're accustomed, which is shown in the  How It Works  

section of the Creating Buy Now and Donations Buttons section of this manual. 

Your new customers (or existing customers who are new to PayPal) will go through a 

checkout that doesn't require PayPal signup, but they will have that option available after 

completing the payment. Whether customers sign up for a PayPal account or not, you can set 

your Buy Now, Donations, and Shopping Cart Buttons to return them to your website, and you 

will still receive the same notification emails as in the current checkout flow.

Turning PayPal Account Optional On or Off

1. Log in to your PayPal account at 

https://www.paypal.com

.

2. Click the Profile subtab.

3. Click the Website Payment Preferences link in the Selling Preferences column.

4. Scroll down to the PayPal Account Optional section of the page.

5. Select On to turn PayPal Account optional on, or Off to turn it off and continue using the 

existing Website Payments flow for all of your customers.

6. Click Save to save your preference.

The setting you choose for PayPal Account Optional affects all of your existing and new Buy 

Now, Donations, and Shopping Cart buttons for customers who are new to PayPal. Your 

customers who already have PayPal accounts will see no change in their checkout 

experience they will log in as usual at the time of payment and complete the transaction from 

within the PayPal account.

Website Payments Standard Checkout Integration Guide

August, 2005

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