PayPal integration

Hi,
We have had some confusion with setting up a subscription through PayPal but I think we have it sorted. Just one thing I need to confirm and one question…

Am I correct in setting up the subscription purchase using PAYPAL BUTTONS rather than PAYPAL PRO FORMS since I do not have a PayPal pro account?

And the question… How can I edit the registration questions that the user has to complete after the PayPal payment has been made?

My developer set the form up through PAYPAL PRO FORMS (I think) but didn’t realise I only have a free PayPal business account. Now when I use my button, there don’t seem to be as many fields in the form.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Leisl

Thanks for your great questions.

Am I correct in setting up the subscription purchase using PAYPAL BUTTONS rather than PAYPAL PRO FORMS since I do not have a PayPal pro account?

You can use s2Member’s Pro Forms with or without PayPal Pro. However, make sure that if you do use Pro Forms, that you switch the attribute values of accept, and accept_via_paypal. You will also want to contact PayPal and have them enable PayPal Enhanced Recurring Payments (ERP), which is totally free to upgrade to.

Having a PayPal Pro account would allow you to set up accepting credit cards directly from your site. However, with a regular PayPal account, you can still choose to accept credit cards from the PayPal checkout page with ERP.

My developer set the form up through PAYPAL PRO FORMS (I think) but didn’t realise I only have a free PayPal business account. Now when I use my button, there don’t seem to be as many fields in the form.

If you set up the above, you should not have this issue. However, if you find that you do, you may want to check your settings under Dashboard -› s2Member® -› General Options -› Registration/Profile Fields. Here you can create new profile/registration fields for both s2Member’s Pro Forms, and the registration form at /wp-login.php?action=register.

Thanks for the heads up on this thread :-)

Regarding PayPal ERP. If you integrate with Pro Forms (recommended), you will have no use for the ERP service. I’ve discussed this with Bruce, and I’m sorry for the confusion. ERP works with PayPal Standard Buttons only. If you are using s2Member Pro Forms, you’re integrating with PayPal Express Checkout and the optional PayPal ERP service is not needed or useful in this scenario.

ERP would be useful ONLY if you were planning to charge on a recurring basis, and only if you are NOT integrating Pro Forms, but instead using PayPal Standard Buttons.

To integrate s2Member Pro Forms (WITHOUT a PayPal Pro account), please see:
Pre Sale FAQs » To use s2Member® Pro Forms, will I have to use PayPal® Pro?

Thanks Bruce & Jason,

I DO need to do recurring monthly payments but at this stage, I don’t not want to commit to PayPro although I can see the enormous advantage in users not having to create a PayPal account. So, I am happy at the moment to force the user to create a PayPal account.

I am slightly confused still though because of 2 things:

1. In trying to find the answer to this myself, I read this thread http://www.s2member.com/forums/topic/reoccurring-payments-without-paypal-account/ where support said “We normally don’t recommend ERP because it results in problems for the site owner that they simply do not (or refuse not to) foresee. One of the main issues with ERP, is that there’s no way for a customer to cancel future charges, and there’s no way for s2Member to cancel future charges.” This conversation seems to end with the confirmation that subscriptions can be done with Paypal standard or express and didn’t mention ERP again. Maybe things have changed since then but it seems very concerning that there’s no way to cancel future charges. That would be a deal-breaker for me. Are you able to confirm that?

2. Given that I don’t want to upgrade my PayPal account at this stae (it’s a standard Business one) and that I don’t mind the fact that users need to create an account with Paypal AND with my site, should I be using Buttons or Prof Forms for the signup? I have tried both. Buttons appear to work fine (except that I couldn’t find how to change the registration questions). However when I use forms I encounter this error: “Error #10478. Invalid Data. Recurring payments profile description must be provided if the billing agreement type is recurring payments.” Being a PayPal error, I figure the issue is with my PayPal account set up. Is this basically calling for ERP?

Sorry to ramble on. Thanks,
Leisl

Thanks for your reply :-)

1. In trying to find the answer to this myself, I read this thread http://www.s2member.com/forums/topic/reoccurring-payments-without-paypal-account/ where support said “We normally don’t recommend ERP because it results in problems for the site owner that they simply do not (or refuse not to) foresee. One of the main issues with ERP, is that there’s no way for a customer to cancel future charges, and there’s no way for s2Member to cancel future charges.” This conversation seems to end with the confirmation that subscriptions can be done with Paypal standard or express and didn’t mention ERP again. Maybe things have changed since then but it seems very concerning that there’s no way to cancel future charges. That would be a deal-breaker for me. Are you able to confirm that?

Yes, I can confirm this. The ERP service is problematic in this respect (I don’t like recommending it). It’s not an s2Member® limitation, it’s a PayPal® limitation. If a customer pays you on a recurring basis via PayPal (and without a PayPal account, which is possible with the ERP service), the customer really has no billing account where they can log in and can cancel future recurring charges (e.g. they have no PayPal account). And… unfortunately, recurring subscriptions created under the ERP service also cannot be cancelled through the PayPal API, so this leaves a customer with one option. They must contact the site owner, and you must cancel future charges for them, by logging into your PayPal account and doing so.

2. Given that I don’t want to upgrade my PayPal account at this stae (it’s a standard Business one) and that I don’t mind the fact that users need to create an account with Paypal AND with my site, should I be using Buttons or Prof Forms for the signup? I have tried both. Buttons appear to work fine (except that I couldn’t find how to change the registration questions). However when I use forms I encounter this error: “Error #10478. Invalid Data. Recurring payments profile description must be provided if the billing agreement type is recurring payments.” Being a PayPal error, I figure the issue is with my PayPal account set up. Is this basically calling for ERP?

Either are fine to use. PayPal Standard Buttons are easiest to implement. Pro Forms will give you more control over things, and are a better way to go in our opinion. Even if you’re not going to upgrade your PayPal account right now, you might later on. If you integrate with Pro Forms now, it will be a snap to accept on-site credit card transactions once you upgrade your PayPal account in the future.

Please note. In order to use s2Member Pro Forms together with a Standard PayPal account, you will need to follow the instructions in this popular FAQ entry. Please see:
Pre Sale FAQs » To use s2Member® Pro Forms, will I have to use PayPal® Pro?

See also: Knowledge Base » PayPal® Pro (PayFlow Edition)

Hello, I’m having a similar problem with PayPal. I’m using the basic PayPal account, but have purchased enhanced recurring payments ($20/month). I have followed the instructions here:

PayPal® Pro is NOT Absolutely Required* s2Member is very flexible. It is now possible to integrate Pro Forms without a PayPal® Pro account, whereby the enhanced Form Shortcodes that s2Member provides can be integrated ONLY with PayPal® Express Checkout. In other words, if you get declined for PayPal® Pro service, you can still use s2Member Pro Forms. Ask PayPal® to activate Express Checkout for you. ( it’s free ). Once Express Checkout is enabled, you will have access to your PayPal® API Credentials. Log into your PayPal® account, and navigate to Profile -> API Access (or Request API Credentials). You’ll choose ( Request API Signature ). Now … here is the tricky part; whenever you generate a Pro Form Shortcode with s2Member, be sure to change accept=”paypal,visa,mastercard,amex,discover,maestro,solo” to just accept=”paypal”; thereby excluding the on-site credit card processing functionality; which is available only with PayPal® Pro.

The problem i’m having is that when I click the “buy” button, it leads me to PayPal, but requires that the buyer use their exisitng PayPal account or setup a new one. I’ve read that with “enhanced recurring payments” that the buyer would not require a PayPal account to start the recurring payments.

Thanks for your help!

Thanks for the follow-up :-)

@Zesty Blog Consulting

Upgrading a PayPal Standard account with ERP (Enhanced Recurring Billing), works only with Standard PayPal Buttons. It does not work with PayPal Express Checkout unfortunately. This is a PayPal limitation. If you would like to take full advantage of the ERP service, please use the s2Member® PayPal Button generator to create Standard PayPal Buttons. Using Pro Forms with PayPal Express Checkout is fine also, but PayPal does not implement ERP during Express Checkout for your customers.

See: Dashboard -› s2Member® -› PayPal® Buttons