Overriding Profile-Based Shipping and Sales Tax

Even if you are using your Profile-based shipping and tax settings, you may want to set a special shipping or tax rate for some of your items (e.g. if the item is especially heavy and costs more to ship, if it is a service which does not require shipping charges, or if it is a product that does not require tax).

The instructions below will tell you how to adjust the code of your Add to Cart button to override the shipping or tax settings in your Profile.

Note: Manipulating your Add to Cart button takes some familiarity with HTML. If you are not comfortable editing your HTML code by hand, please create new buttons via the PayPal Shopping Cart Button Factory.

The current HTML code for your Add to Cart button should look similar to this:

<form target="paypal" action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post">
<input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_cart">
<input type="hidden" name="business" value="">
<input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="Baseball Cap"
<input type="hidden" name="item_number" value="12,345">
<input type="hidden" name="currency_code" value="USD">
<input type="hidden" name="amount" value="15.00
">
<input type="image" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/btn/x-click-but22.gif" border="0" name="submit" alt="Make payments with PayPal - it's fast, free and secure!">
<input type="hidden" name="add" value="1">
</form>

The instructions below will show you what lines need to be added to your Add to Cart button code.

Show me how to override my Shipping Settings

Show me how to override my Tax Settings

Adding a Shipping Override


You will need to add two lines for your shipping override. The first line is the cost to ship the first item. The second line is the cost to ship each additional item.

  1. Copy and paste the following code into your Add to Cart code between the <form> tags:
<input type="hidden" name="shipping" value="0.00">
<input type="hidden" name="shipping2" value="2.00">

  1. Replace the "shipping" value number in the first line above with the price to ship the first item. (By making the value 0.00, you could run a free shipping promotion on an item.)

  2. Replace the "shipping2" value number in the first line above with the price to ship each additional item.

  3. The final code for your Add to Cart button (with the two new lines added) should look something like this:
<form target="paypal" action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post">
<input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_cart">
<input type="hidden" name="business" value="">
<input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="Baseball Cap"
<input type="hidden" name="item_number" value="12,345">
<input type="hidden" name="currency_code" value="USD">
<input type="hidden" name="amount" value="15.00">
<input type="hidden" name="shipping" value="0.00">
<input type="hidden" name="shipping2" value="2.00">
<input type="image" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/btn/x-click-but22.gif" border="0" name="submit" alt="Make payments with PayPal - it's fast, free and secure!">
<input type="hidden" name="add" value="1">
</form>

Notes: When you override your Profile Shipping Preferences for an item in your PayPal Shopping Cart, the override will only apply to the shipping for that item. All other items will be charged shipping according to your Profile Shipping Preferences.

Also, you will need to check the box in your Profile to "allow transaction-based shipping values to override the profile shipping settings" for your override to work.

Adding a Tax Override


You will only need to add one line for your tax override.

  1. Copy and paste the following code into your Add to Cart code between the <form> tags:
<input type="hidden" name="tax" value="0.00">

  1. Replace the "tax" value number above with the tax you would like to charge for this item. (By making the value 0.00, you could run a tax-free promotion on an item.)

  2. The final code for your Add to Cart button (with the two new lines added) should look something like this:
<form target="paypal" action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post">
<input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_cart">
<input type="hidden" name="business" value="">
<input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="Baseball Cap"
<input type="hidden" name="item_number" value="12,345">
<input type="hidden" name="currency_code" value="USD">
<input type="hidden" name="amount" value="15.00">
<input type="hidden" name="tax" value="0.00">
<input type="image" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/btn/x-click-but22.gif" border="0" name="submit" alt="Make payments with PayPal - it's fast, free and secure!">
<input type="hidden" name="add" value="1">
</form>

Note: When you override your Profile Tax Preferences for an item in your PayPal Shopping Cart, the override will only apply to the tax assessed for that item. All other items will be charged tax according to your Profile Shipping Preferences.