Pro & PayPal 20% Rule

Hi guys – this was originally posted in the community forums, but it is a pre-sales question and I haven’t had an answer back on the community forum so posting here and hoping to get some clarification.

This is in relation to modifying subscriptions and Paypal’s 20% rule. I understand by using PayPal Pro, this issue is avoided, however the client is just starting out and is not impressed by the 20 pounds per month fee. The documentation under the Subscription Modification tab within S2Member says that with S2Member Pro forms, this ridiculous rule does not apply. Does this mean that by purchasing S2Member Pro alone, this issue can be avoided, or can this only be avoided by using S2Member Pro AND Paypal Pro?

If the only requirement is to upgrade to S2Member Pro, this is palatable.

Alternatively, to get around this, can I create an upgrade button for the additional amount? I.e. Intermediate user is $9.95 per month, Advanced is $14.95 per month. Intermediate signs up for “upgrade” for an additional $5.00 per month. $9.95 per month is charged on it’s billing date, $5.00 per month is a separate billing fee charged on it’s own billing date. I’m using custom capabilities on my packages (i.e. Intermediate has “downloads” capability, Advanced has “downloads,videos” capabilities, the Advanced Upgrade would also be assigned “downloads,videos”). I know PayPal allows multiple profiles/subscriptions with same merchant and in theory this seems to work.

It’s not an ideal workaround and I know it will create headaches when cancelling subscription (e.g. if a member cancelled PayPal Intermediate profile, they would continue to be able to access full features at discounted rate so would need to be somewhat manually managed and monitored) – but will it work?

Thanks in advance!

Sorry to be pushy guys, I really do need an answer on the first part of this one as I need to get started on a job. Will S2Member Pro forms allow members to upgrade by more than 20% WITHOUT having to have PayPal Pro?

With regards to the second option the client has just advised she wants content dripping so this is not going to work anyway and it’s just too messy.

By the way. Any news on when you’ll introduce shortcodes for content dripping? I’m OK with the PHP but the client is not and she wants to be able to easily maintain moving forward.

Many thanks

Hi Nicole,

The answer to this question is “Yes, s2Member Pro forms will allow members to upgrade by more than 20% without you needing PayPal Pro”. This works because s2Member cancels the previous recurring billing profile and starts a new one, as Jason Caldwell explains here:

This feature is available with s2Member Pro Forms.
You can generate a Billing Modification Form, which allows a Member to upgrade/downgrade. In the routine that s2Member processes, the existing Recurring Profile is terminated, and a new one is created to take its place. Thereby avoiding this limitation all together. This also works with Express Checkout, so you don’t even NEED to have a PayPal Pro account for this to work.

See video: http://www.s2member.com/video-pro-intro/

The issue remains with PayPal Standard integration though.
Awaiting resolution from PayPal.

You can read more on this topic in the old forum here: http://www.primothemes.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=14249&p=29283

Also regarding your first post in this thread, it should be noted that s2Member does not currently support multiple recurring profiles within a single s2Member account.

If you want to change the recurring charge of an existing recurring profile, you’ll need to use s2Member’s Billing Modification process, which essentially cancels the existing recurring profile and then creates a new one with the updated recurring amount.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 11 months ago by  Raam Dev.
• This reply was modified 4 years, 11 months ago by  Raam Dev.
• This reply was modified 4 years, 11 months ago by  Raam Dev.

Wonderful, thanks Raam. You’ll have another paying customer :)