Can I set up just a PayPal payment link on a small website or does the PayPal link have to go through some sort of shopping cart facility? Guidance appreciated. Thanks.
Under the Merchant Services tab in your Paypal Account, You can "Make a Payment Button". There you set the price, shipping, etc. and can also create a confirmation page after there's a successful payment. It's pretty simple (no shopping cart) but can be tricky your first time.
PayPal is easy and used by tons of shoppers. They are expensive though. I used them for years with a website and through eBay. Between the eBay fees and the PayPal fees I finally had to pretty much give up selling on eBay, I still sell a little here and there.
Paypal is really easy. Your question is already answered in the Paypal website itself. Just feel free and explore the paypal site for more discovery.
You can set up the a completely store using paypal shopping ready-made script or you can use your own shopping script with plugin that work with paypal website.
PayPal is actually pretty cheap if you are just selling via a website and not on eBay. If you set up a business account, the fees are more than reasonable. Scot