PayPal Button As Text Link

Did you try this? https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=XXX

You need to replace XXX of course.

The HTML-Code would look like this: Your Text

For example one with working button id: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=7865

Paypal has a builder for doing this. Login to your paypal account. Click on 'Merchant Services'. Choose the button type you want (payment, subscription, etc). Run through the rest of the options. It will generate the button as a form but there is a tab at the top to have it generated as a link. The tab is titled "Email".