How to allow users to enter the donation amount in the payment form?

This is a common question from people who raise funds for a school, a temple or a charity, where each donor wants to give a different amount. Google Forms lets you add a question for the amount, but it cannot ask the donor to pay what they typed. So you send a payment link separately and match the donations by hand. With Neartail, you can allow users to enter a donation amount and collect payments in your Google Form. Each donor types what they want to give and pays that amount when they submit the form. Even better, the form will have your own branding instead of Google's, so donors know who they are giving to.

Let's start. Create your form and follow the steps below.

Setup payments

  • On the page that opens, click "Enter your form name". Type your form's name, click Generate and wait about a minute.
  • Check the outline it suggests and click Proceed.
  • Once you create the form, you will land on the form's "Edit" tab.
The tabs Edit, Preview, Share and Orders, with Edit marked
  • If it asks "Do you want to collect payment on form submit?", click Yes.
The Payment form dialog asking if you want to collect payment on form submit, with Yes marked
If you imported a Google Form, it makes a copy of your form and it will not ask. If it says "Your form is private or protected", click Next and give access or publish your form in Google Forms and paste that link. Select your currency and click Continue. When it says "Your order form is ready", click Preview your form, then Edit form. Scroll down to Payments disabled at the end of the form and click Enable. Click Enable again in the panel that opens. Your total may be called Amount Due instead of Order Amount.
Payments disabled at the end of the form, with Enable marked
PayPal is not listed in every currency. If you do not see it under Manual payments, close the Payments settings page and click on the gear icon in the After payment row, the last row above the Submit button. Select your currency in Currency and click Save. The form will reload. If it asks "Do you want to collect payment on form submit?" again, click Yes. Otherwise click Edit in the Payments row. Change the currency before you turn on a payment option, because an option you turned on stays on in the new currency.
The Button tab of the panel, with USD selected in Currency, and Currency and Save marked
  • Payments settings page will be displayed. Click on the toggle button next to PayPal under Manual payments, enter your paypal.me username and click Save.
The Payments panel with PayPal turned on under Manual payments, the paypal.me username filled in and Save marked

Configure payment amount

You can setup your form to collect a fixed amount, dynamically calculate the amount based on the answer or add custom formula to calculate the amount. In this example, we will setup the form to allow users to enter the donation amount and add it to the amount they pay.
  • If the form has products you do not need, click on the product and click on the delete icon at the bottom of its card. If you keep a product with no title or a price of 0, change it in the card.
  • Click on the Order Amount field, so the new field goes after it.
  • Click on the Add price field icon. Select Donation and click Next. Select User entered amount, click Next and click Create. Click Save in the panel that opens.
The Add price field panel titled Donation, with User entered amount selected and Next marked
  • A donation is only charged with a Net Amount field. Click on the Add price field icon again. Select Net Amount and click Next. Select Standard calculation using NETTOTAL() and click Next. Click Create and click Save in the panel that opens.
The Add price field panel with Net Amount selected and Net Amount and Next marked
  • Click on "Preview" tab
The tabs Edit, Preview, Share and Orders, with Preview marked
Users will type the amount they want to give in the Donation field before they submit the form. Net Amount adds it to the Order Amount and this is the amount they will pay. The order's card on the Kanban board shows the Order Amount, not the Net Amount. To check each payment, read How to see who has paid in Google Forms?

Summary

If each donor wants to give a different amount, a Google Form cannot ask them to pay what they typed. With Neartail, you add a Donation field where users enter the amount and a Net Amount that adds it to what they pay. Create your form and complete the steps above. If you have any questions, write to support.

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