Pro Forms with PayPal Std. for Subscriptions

Hi,

I am using PayPal Pro Form w/ PayPal Standard service.

It works well for specific page/post purchases. But when I use it for subscriptions, using the shortcode below
[s2Member-Pro-PayPal-Form level="1" ccaps="" desc="$45 USD / Quarterly ( recurring charge, for ongoing access )" ps="paypalXXX" lc="" cc="USD" dg="0" ns="1" custom="www.XXXX.com" ta="0" tp="0" tt="D" ra="45" rp="3" rt="M" rr="1" rrt="" rra="2" accept="paypal,visa,mastercard,amex,discover,maestro,solo" accept_via_paypal="paypal,visa,mastercard,amex,discover,maestro,solo" coupon="" accept_coupons="0" default_country_code="" captcha="0" /]

it gives me only two choices on the confirmation page on Paypal, namely (a) Have a PayPal Account, (b) Create a PayPal account. It doesn’t give me the option to just pay with Credit Card without having to use or create a PayPal account. I verified with PayPal that I have the proper services (express & recurring), and even tried it by creating the button on their website, and it worked as intended, giving me the two choices I wanted, (a) Have a PayPal account, (b) Don’t have a PayPal account, allowing me to purchase with Credit Card seamlessly without creating or using a PayPal account.

Please help.

Thanks,

Manish

Hello,

Have you tried changing the following two attributes to just paypal?

accept=”paypal” and accept_via_paypal=”paypal”

Hi Raam:

Changing to
accept=”paypal”
disables all other forms of payment, so that does not work.

Changing to
accept_via_paypal=”paypal”
assumes that you have PayPal Pro, so PayPal gives an error back,
Error #11586. DPRP is disabled. DPRP is disabled for this merchant.

Please advice. I am trying to go live, and would really prefer to use Pro Forms with my PayPal Standard service (with ERP).

I understood from some of the discussions on the forum, and the advice given, that it is possible; certainly, I was able to use Pro-Form w/ PayPal Std for Specific Post/Page, using
[s2Member-Pro-PayPal-Form sp="1" ids="5906,5314,5631" exp="2190" desc="Guru Picks In Precious Metals" ps="paypalGFP" lc="" cc="USD" dg="0" ns="1" custom="www.gurufundpicks.com" ra="0.01" accept="paypal,visa,mastercard,amex,discover,maestro,solo" accept_via_paypal="paypal,visa,mastercard,amex,discover,maestro,solo" coupon="" accept_coupons="0" default_country_code="" captcha="0" /]

so, it would seem that this should be possible too.

Thanks,

Manish

Thanks,

Manish

Manish, the pro-forms don’t integrate with PayPal Standard. The PayPal button you see is for Express Checkout.

Either one will require the user to have a PayPal account to start subscription, though, unless you have the PayPal upgrade for it (e.g. ERP, DPRP).

And the other payment options in the pro-form are useless if you don’t have PayPal Pro.

So, in order to get paid on site or PayPal, you’ll need PayPal Pro, and to sell subscriptions without requiring a PayPal account, you’ll need to upgrade them.

Video » By PayPal®, Service Introductions (Highly Recommended)

I hope that helps.

Cristian
I do have erp and I understood that you can use that for subscriptions using paypal std. I am not trying to process transactions on site. I know that cannot be dome with paypal std. I just need to use proforms to give soon info to visitors before they go to paypal. I understood that you do that. Pease confirm, either way.
Thanks.

I meant ….using paypal pro in second line.

Changing to
accept=”paypal”
disables all other forms of payment, so that does not work.

Yes, that is correct. If you don’t have PayPal Pro, then your customers must go to PayPal’s website to complete payment. The other payment options can only be used if you have PayPal Pro.

As Cristian mentioned, you must have a PayPal Express account to use s2Member Pro-Forms. A PayPal Standard account won’t work. You can call PayPal and they will upgrade your account to PayPal Express for free.

Hi Cristian and Raam:

First, thanks for your responses.

I will try to be more clear, below:
1. I have PayPal Standard
2. I have PayPal Express (enabled by default, now, per PayPal w/ Std.)
3. I have enabled Enhanced Recurring Payments (ERP)
4. I am using PayPal Pro-Forms, not to conduct transactions on-site, but to have a page in-between the Subscribe button and the PayPal payment page (on their website) to give customers some more information
5. The whole set-up, as is, works with ‘Buy Now’ Specific Page/Post transactions.
6. I used PayPal Pro-Forms to generate the short-code, in the examples above, tried various combinations, but it hasn’t worked so far — meaning — PayPal gives me two options after the Pro-Form page (i.e., Button>>> Pro-Form Page>>> PayPal site) — so on the PayPal site, I have two options, use a PayPal a/c or create one
7. I want it to instead function, so that just like it does for Specific Page/Post right now, even with subscriptions that it does not ask you to do the two options above, but instead also gives you a third option, where you can check-out without creating or using a PayPal a/c, but with your credit or debit card.
8. PayPal, in my numerous conversations, said that it should work, and that I should work with s2Member.
9. Please help either by telling me what modification I need to the code above to make it work, or suggesting an alternative.

I hope that is more clear.

Thanks,

Manish

Just another point to add to above.

When I use PayPal Button created on their site, it works exactly as intended, giving you the option to check out without creating or using a PayPal account. Given that the checkout experience I am trying to have is still on the PayPal site, I am having difficulty understanding why PayPal Pro-forms would not work (especially, since they do work with ‘Buy Now’ transactions).

Ganaxi, would you mind trying the pro-form on my site?
http://scrapbookcampus.com/basic-scrap-course-checkout/

Don’t complete the transaction but see if you get the same option when it sends you to the Paypal page.
I had issues also with the Express Checkout at one point that was or was not enabled (took me days to figure out it was). I generated that pro-form from s2M. If that works, it means that it s2M is probably working correctly in generating a form, and maybe the problem can be somewhere else?

Hi, Cassel:

Thanks for the response.

Yes, I tried your website, and it works, but from what I understand the $79 charge is not a recurrent, but a “Buy Now” transaction. That works for me as well. The problem I am having is with Membership (recurring transactions) subscriptions. Basically, I am trying to PayPal Standard w/ Express & Enhanced Recurring Payments work with PayPal ProForms, so that transactions still happen on PayPal site, but that I have a Proform in-between for communication with the user before driving them to PayPal to pay.

If you have the same needs, and setup, would you mind trying to see if that option works on your website (without PayPal forcing you to use or create an account, as explained in the prior messages).

Thanks,

Ganaxi

Can you try this one?
http://scrapbookcampus.com/element-creation-deluxe-checkout/

This is a recurring membership one. If i find one of my setups as what you need, then we can look at the similarities and differences.

Hi Cassel:

Thanks again for your response.

Yes, I tried the second link, above, and assuming it is a recurring membership one (it doesn’t explicitly say so), it does exactly what mine does — take you to a PayPal checkout page, where your only options are:
1. Have a PayPal account
2. Create a PayPal account

I am trying to get the functionality whereby you can checkout, you get the two options:
1. Have a PayPal account
2. Don’t Have a PayPal account >>>> this is what I want, the ability to check-out without using any PayPal info, just with your credit card.

Apparently, you are getting the same result as me,
1. that with “Buy Now” as in your first link, above, you get the “Don’t Have a PayPal Account” option
2. But with “Recurring/Subsciption” option, you don’t get that option.

I checked with PayPal, they said that recurring payments, once you have ERP and Express on your account (which I do) should work — without having to use or become a PayPal member. And I tried one of their site-generated buttons, and it gives me the right two options.

But when I use pro-forms, I don’t get the option “Don’t have a PayPal Account” no matter what variables I change in the shortcode.

My interpretation, based on a going through forums, has been that this should work, and I personally don’t see why not, unless somehow s2 does not enable that in their Pro-Form functionality.

Let me know if you have any ideas, and hopefully Cristian or Raam may also be offer a solution to this, or at least firm guidance that this definitely cannot work, based on Pro-Form limitations (not PayPal limitations).

Thanks, and let me know if you come up with anything more on this. If I solve this thing, I will definitely post it here.

Regards,

Ganaxi

Thank Ganaxis. I remember struggling with that a long time ago (like maybe last year). Maybe i just gave up and since i know that 99.9% of my customers are Paypal users, that it would not be a problem. However, if Raam or Cristian come over with a solution, i sure will implement it for the 0.1% of my customers.

Thanks for your patience, and let’s wish each other luck.

Hi Raam and Cristian:

Thanks for your earlier responses. For your convenience, I have laid out step-by-step the situation, for clarity. Could you please go through that, and respond to my query, based on that.

Thanks,

Ganaxi

Thanks for the heads up on this thread…

Apparently, you are getting the same result as me,
1. that with “Buy Now” as in your first link, above, you get the “Don’t Have a PayPal Account” option
2. But with “Recurring/Subsciption” option, you don’t get that option.

Regarding the “Don’t Have a PayPal Account” option.
Here are the ways in which this can be enabled by you.

1. Any PayPal Standard “Button” integrated by s2Member that facilitates a “Buy Now” purchase (i.e. no recurring fees), will have this option enabled automatically on the PayPal side, so long as you allow this in your PayPal account profile configuration, as seen under: PayPal Account -> Profile -> Website Payment Preferences.

2. PayPal Standard accounts with the added PayPal ERP service. Any PayPal Standard “Button” integrated by s2Member that facilitates a “Buy Now” purchase (OR EVEN RECURRING FEES), will have this option enabled automatically on the PayPal side, so long as you allow this in your PayPal account profile configuration, as seen under: PayPal Account -> Profile -> Website Payment Preferences.

FYI: The only way to accept credit cards through the PayPal.com UI (for recurring fees) where the customer does NOT have nor want to signup for a PayPal account of their own; is with a PayPal Standard account operating with the added ERP service, and integrated through PayPal Standard “Buttons” (ERP is for PayPal Standard “Buttons” only). This is a PayPal limitation, not an s2Member limitation.

Or, you can integrate s2Member Pro Forms, which provides direct on-site credit card processing, and also provides Express Checkout via PayPal, for those customers who actually prefer to pay you with PayPal.

3. With PayPal Pro Forms via PayPal Express Checkout integrated by s2Member Pro. Any Pro Form that facilitates a “Buy Now” purchase (i.e. no recurring fees), will have this option enabled automatically on the PayPal Express Checkout side, so long as you allow this in your PayPal account profile configuration, as seen under: PayPal Account -> Profile -> Website Payment Preferences.

FYI: PayPal Pro Forms via PayPal Express Checkout integrated by s2Member Pro does NOT (under any circumstance, even if you have ERP enabled on your PayPal account), provide the ability for customers to pay you recurring fees without having or be willing to signup for a PayPal account.

FYI: Regarding s2Member Pro Forms and this limitation. It’s not often that we receive complaints about the Express Checkout limitation. Simply because Pro Forms already facilitate direct on-site credit card processing. On a Pro Form, if a customer chooses PayPal instead of a direct payment via credit card, it’s normally because they “want” to pay you via PayPal (e.g. they’ve already had the option to choose a credit card).

Hi, Jason:

Thanks for clarifying,

“PayPal Pro Forms via PayPal Express Checkout integrated by s2Member Pro does NOT (under any circumstance, even if you have ERP enabled on your PayPal account), provide the ability for customers to pay you recurring fees without having or be willing to signup for a PayPal account.”

and

“The only way to accept credit cards through the PayPal.com UI (for recurring fees) where the customer does NOT have nor want to signup for a PayPal account of their own; is with a PayPal Standard account operating with the added ERP service, and integrated through PayPal Standard “Buttons” (ERP is for PayPal Standard “Buttons” only). This is a PayPal limitation, not an s2Member limitation.”

Regards,

Ganaxi