paypal
I'm running a concert and I want to be able to have people buy will-call tickets via PayPal. I am familiar with creating a 'buy it now' button, and have created some effectively in the past.
However, I'd like to be able to just create a non-form based URL
that will direct people to a payment page, so I can post it on sites where
I can't create an HTML form (forums, social network sites, etc.)
Can this be done, and if so, how?
Paypal does provide API access to manage this through the Recurring Payments API. The doco has a description of the workflow required, but of particular interest to you would be GetRecurringPaymentsProfileDetails.
You could check the profile status or the date of last payment received to see if a payment has been made and act accordingly.
I think your best course of action is to call them. Here's what their web page says -- note the phone number in the upper right for calling from outside the U.S.:
Best Answer
One option is to host a page elsewhere where you can render the form required for a Buy It Now button (or any other of the PayPal payment methods). I don't know of a way to do it from a single URL.