Installment payment

I looked around and i cannot find the answer. Is there a way to offer payment in installments (like 3 monthly payments of $39)? As is, i cannot find anything of that nature. If it is not available now, is it in the plans for the next major version?

Hi cassel,

PayPal Installment Plans are currently not possible with s2Member, however you might be able to create an installment plan button on PayPal and then integrate that PayPal-hosted button with s2Member (see Using PayPal created buttons).

Thanks for the answer. I’ll look into that. Can it be combined with a dripped content? I am thinking that if i offer something downloadable, someone might want to go for the 3 installment payment, pay for the first month, download everything, and then cancel the next two payments. Splitting the content in 3 segments would prevent that.

You might be able to do something with content dripping where you check if they’ve been a paid member for at least 3 months, in which case they must have completed all three payments. If you mix installment payments with other types of payments for users, you could do something like assign a ccap called “installment” to them and then in your conditional check if they have the “installment” ccap, which would mean they’re on an installment plan, and then check if they’ve been a paid member for more than 3 months.

That is an interesting workaround. Thanks. I’ll look into that.
Any idea if this is something that might be included in the next major version?

Looking into this format bring up a couple of possible issues:
– to get an installment payment, it would be like adding a monthly payment like a membership, right? if that is the case, how do i stop the payment without demoting this member and/or removing the ccaps?
– if i need to go with a membership payment, wont it conflict with any other recurring payment a member might already have?

– to get an installment payment, it would be like adding a monthly payment like a membership, right? if that is the case, how do i stop the payment without demoting this member and/or removing the ccaps?

As described in Using PayPal created buttons, the PayPal Item ID can contain information that is parsed by s2Member, including the fixed term. For example, 4:music,videos:1 D would specify Level 4, ccaps music and videos, and 1 Day of access. If you have an installment plan button, I assume they’re paying a fixed number of payments for a specific duration of access. You simply configure the Item ID appropriately.

– if i need to go with a membership payment, wont it conflict with any other recurring payment a member might already have?

I’m not sure what you’re asking. s2Member cannot have more than 1 recurring profile per s2Member user, so if you’re trying to create two recurring memberships for one user, that won’t work. However, the Installment Plan buttons do not provide recurring membership — installment plan indicates one-time charge, split up into multiple payments.

If you have an installment plan button, I assume they’re paying a fixed number of payments for a specific duration of access. You simply configure the Item ID appropriately.

I guess that is where it fails because i wanted to offer either one large price or broken in 3 installment payments, but the access is NOT limited to the duration of the payment as it is somehow a Buy now situation. Buy now for $120 or in 3 easy monthly payment of $40 (like those infommercials).

Thanks anyways.