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The Dwolla Blog

by Jordan

The new buy button :)

We know it’s been a long time coming, but the customizable drop in “buy” button is finally here. You can easily build Dwolla buttons (for free) that let people pay you any amount, and that you can place on any website.

For example, I love coffee. If you’d like to buy me some coffee, you can do that by clicking the button below:

Buy me a coffee

And if you’d like to buy Ben a new T-shirt! You can do that by clicking the button below:

Buy Me A Really Nice T-Shirt

You can imagine the variations here. If you’re raising money for charity, dropping payment buttons onto eCommerce stores, or just collecting tips on your blog, it’s cake.

To build your own button, just watch this video on how to do it:

If you have a Dwolla account just hit this page and start building buttons.

Once created, you’ll get two little snippets of code to drop into your page.

  • 1 is the button. You just paste this in wherever you want it to show up.
  • 1 is some javascript. You just drop it into your footer before the tag.

Done deal :)

If you’re a bit of a hacker and want the code we used to do this. Just check out Michael’s blog in the dev section.

  • Brendon McCarthy

    Sweet…will it be coming in the other flavors aka styles soon? The orange just doesn’t match every page :)

  • Shawn K

    Awesome Job ! I would love to see the ability to add recurring payments via a button like this.

    • http://www.easyanderson.com/ Easy

       Ditto!

    • Pastor Doug

      Ditto. We need a recurring payments button

    • http://sime0n.net sime0n

      +1

  • URwingman

    I assume customers will have to create Dwolla accounts when they press the button, but will they be able to continue with their transaction after? Or will they have to wait a few days for deposits to be made in their bank accounts?

    • http://twitter.com/bpmilne Ben Milne

      Yup! You got it. To make a payment with Dwolla you need have a Dwolla account.

  • http://www.easyanderson.com/ Easy

    Hi Guys! You know I am one of your biggest fans so here is a suggestion. Somewhere in the button you should put Dwolla in there. Even a baby Dwolla. :)

    Just something I would Highly suggest to any of my customers trying to build a brand.
    Cheers,
    Easy

    • CaityJones

      :) thanks, Easy

  • http://twitter.com/leeburnamLA a Ken Doll

    Having the Dwolla Logo on the Button would make it much easier, especially if my customers have multiple options to check out with. Like Easy said. Regardless, I am glad it has happened. It will introduce a bunch of people in my world, who have never heard of Dollow, by at least having it as a payment option with a lil description of how it works.  Cheers

    • http://about.me/meganhunt Megan Hunt

      try changing it to say “Pay now with Dwolla!”

  • http://beanvideo.com beanvideo

    This is cool. I’m pitching Dwolla to my church and this will help immensely!

  • http://www.facebook.com/teo.graca Teo Graca

    It looks like we can pass in product NAME and PRICE (amount). I assume these will replace the default values set up in the form – is that right? Also, it would be nice to pass in the redirect URL like PayPal has been allowing for over 6 years now (old best practice you guys could easily adopt, right?).

    I didn’t see any option for subscriptions… is that next? When can we expect that… yes, EXPECT! “We make it easy” to me means we don’t have to use the API for simple functionality that has been around for 6 years elsewhere… Love you guys, and hope you can take a little tough love here! lol

    PS – love the new buy now button.. thanks so much! Huge step forward in my opinion… get these two other features together (pass in redirect URL and subscription button), and you will be at year 2006 PAR!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ben-Moore/1553216636 Ben Moore

    Ben Moore
    Ben, The Dwolla button is nice. Do you have a version with a “TIP entry” for restaurants, bars…etc? 
    Credit card processing companies??….. Move Out D Wolla!!!!

    • http://twitter.com/bpmilne Ben Milne

      Ben – You could probably turn this into a tip me button but I’d assume you’d want something in the mobile app?

  • http://www.SherBailey.com Sherri Bailey

    Love it!

  • http://twitter.com/ticketstars Ticket Stars

    How come I’m getting an error that says Application+has+not+been+verified+by+Dwolla   ?

    • http://twitter.com/bpmilne Ben Milne

      Make sure you click “activate” button and don’t copy / paste the code before saving it. Possibly the button wasn’t activates and as a result the key was not created.

      • http://twitter.com/ticketstars Ticket Stars

        Thanks. Yes, I did that still says “pending verification”  I wonder how long that takes.

        • http://twitter.com/bpmilne Ben Milne

          Hey guys – I don’t see anything pending under your name at all. can you send me a note with your account ID or account name? http://dwol.la/bpmilne

      • http://twitter.com/ticketstars Ticket Stars

        still waiting ….sent a support ticket I mean how long does this typically take to get approved?

  • mhkrebs

    Love the new feature.  It would be nice to be able to test it, though, to see what it will look like to other people once clicked.  I.e. If I try it myself, I get the error “Destination user cannot be the same as the current user”.  Although not the same thing, I did find the video http://youtu.be/Tal9Cyaid0c that shows it in the general sense.  Maybe that should be mentioned in this blog post as well?

    • http://twitter.com/bpmilne Ben Milne

      mhkrebs – If you click the coffee link above I’d be happy to send the $4.62 back to you. Probably wouldn’t hurt to put a $0.01 check me out button on the  actual button page though :)

      • mhkrebs

        Didn’t think to actually try one of those buttons. :)  Although I don’t know what the parameters were.  Are these correct (i.e. name and description aren’t backwards)?

          Button Text: “Buy Me A Coffee”
          Product Name: “Coffee For Ben”
          Product Description: “Soy Latte”
          Amount in $: 4.62
          Shipping Cost in $: 0
          Tax in $: 0

        It would still be nice to be able to test out the whole flow on my own web site, but this is sufficient enough for me.  Thanks for the new feature!

        Also, is there a way to not show the “Discount” line on the checkout page?

  • Redwingblackbird

    Is there a way to set one of these up on my Etsy?

  • CelestialTeaRoom

    I love it! Now just need to use it! lol

  • Dattig

    Audio no longer working on this video—might be a youtube issue—doesn’t have it there either.   Question: If they hit the button, but don’t have a Dwolla account, can they pay using plastic without an account like they have the option to do with PayPal?

    • CaityJones

      The video is just a screen share, and never had audio. Dwolla doesn’t process credit cards, so as of right now they do not have that option available once they click on that Dwolla button.

  • Jamie Pettus

    I’d like to see a way to offer numerous possible charges or to fill it in manually….maybe a widget with a drop down list. I do therapy and have a sliding scale, so I don’t want to have to create 20+ different buttons. It would also work to have a button that links to my HUB page.

  • Rusty
  • Lizzie

    I have a question if you make buttons for your shop does the customer need to make an account with dwolla to pay me

    • http://twitter.com/CaityLJones Caitlin Jones

      As of now, customers do need a Dwolla account in order to pay via Dwolla.

  • Steve Place

    So this is great, and works when I use your default a href HTML. If I convert it to , it no longer works. Is this set in the JS (which I went through and didn’t see anything specific to it), or somewhere else that it has to be an a href instead of a button. This is fitting into an existing form that requires validation to run. If I just use the link version, it hops be over to pay. Maybe I’m missing something on my end with an href link acting as a submit button…

  • Joe

    This is ‘almost’ exactly what I have been looking for.   Now the trick is I’m not sure how to use this for a durable goods sale.   So now I have a super easy way to collect the D$,  Now I know what they said they wanted to buy but how do I know where to ship the item?   Email, etc?
     

    • CaityJones

      Still working on this flow. For now, I know some merchants require their customers to fill out address/email forms before checkout.

  • irisharmy

    so when people click your “buy now” button on a site, they go to Dwolla and login to pay…if they don’t have an account, they are prompted to create one, but does that mean they have to wait 3 days or so before they can do anything because they will have to wait to verify their bank account?

  • http://twitter.com/nostromosil Park Tae-Hwan

    Hi, are there any plans for DWOLLA to have a virtual terminal. I run a high end events concierge company, where most if not all my transactions are web based. A Virtual Terminal, not unlike the one Pay Simple or Intuit has would be ideal. Thanks for the PAY BUTTONS and Logos though! I hope people will start using it on my site as an alternative to paypal.

    • CaityJones

      Hi Lance, lots of plans on improving the checkout process! Working hard on getting some new tools rolled out to make things easier and to give more options to both our online and instore merchants.

  • Sloinfopress

    I need a button that will prompt someone to fill in the amount they’re invoiced for, is that not possible?

  • atxguard

    ok. my question is, can I create one of these and allow people to pay any amount they wish? Whenever I try to create one, I am required to put in a dollar amount.

    Also, I am having trouble using HTML to have the link open in a new window/tab. Can you provide some information about that? Thanks!

  • gavinengel

    I really, really want to use Dwolla for Ecommerce. But the lack of instant payments for people without cash added to their Dwolla accounts makes it tough. Would you consider allowing all accounts to be Dwolla Instant for $100 credit, even without requiring the monthly fee?

    • CaityJones

      We’re working on solutions to resolve this pain point – we do have some news that we’ll be sharing later this year that I think you’ll like!

  • Samantha

    Ok so when i click on my button it says ” Please sign in with your Dwolla Account or continue as a guest” but there is no way to continue as a guest. So I suggest this statement be removed because it makes it seem like the page is broken. And seeing as the customer can’t checkout with a credit/debit card instantly, this has become useless to me and my client. *Sigh* back to PayPal we go until you can “upgrade” these options.

    • CaityJones

      Samantha – you are correct about the guest part, that should be removed.

      In order to keep our transaction costs as low as they are (or free if $10 and under) we do not accept credit and debit cards. This way you can receive a cash electronic payment without having to pay 2.5-3.5% on the transaction.

  • http://twitter.com/RayBeckerman RayBeckerman

    Can I get an html version, without javascript?

  • http://twitter.com/RayBeckerman RayBeckerman

    Created button, but can’t use it on my website because yahoo! site solution software doesn’t accept java, and can’t use it on my blogger.com blog because when it’s clicked, instead of going to dwolla, it goes to my redirect page

  • guamblogger

    i am trying to make a donate button. but it insists i “supply an amount for the button.” i want my blog followers to choose their own donation amount. how can i do this?

    • CaityJones

      Have you had a chance to look at these buttons that have already been made? http://help.dwolla.com/custome… You can drop in the ‘Donate with Dwolla’ button image and easily link it to a HUB page. Anyone wanting to donate with Dwolla will have to have a Dwolla account, unless you integrate the Guest Checkout option:http://blog.dwolla.com/guest-c…. However, this does require technical work.

      • guamblogger

        ah. i see. so it is not as easy as the paypal donate button. from a marketing perspective, all the extra steps discourage people from making donations. i will keep looking for an alternative to the egregious customer service of paypal…good luck with dwolla. i will keep checking in to see how you guys are developing! thank anyway for your prompt responses!

        • CaityJones

          I’m sorry that we could not satisfy your needs, I hope that we do so in the near future!

  • Stephen Malagodi

    The Dwolla buttons on my WordPress site no longer work. No javascript allowed. Got any fixes?

  • sgbullion.

    Not much point for my business here, if they have to wait 3 day’s to verify their account and they cant use credit cards then they can’t make a purchase the same day they are on my site unless there are other options. Now since most of my items cost 50.00 or more this doesn’t work too well.

    • CaityJones

      Thanks for the feedback. We’ll keep improving the product – and hopefully one day you will be able to find value in our service.

  • CaityJones

    That was the case when this blog post was written, however on Nov. 30, 2012 we released Guest Checkout: http://blog.dwolla.com/guest-checkout/. There will be some development work for this option, however it is a free tool that we offer and we give you the documentation here: https://developers.dwolla.com/dev/pages/gateway/guest.

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