I'm a bit confused about PayPal Payflow Recurring Billing
I read in the documentation that I can convert an existing transaction into a recurring payment profile.
This means that I can send my user to the ExpressCheckout page where she makes a "zero dollar" one time transaction, and then, PayPal sends me back the transaction ID (PNREF) which I can use as ORIGID value when I'm creating the new profile?
And if its correct, it means that I don't have to handle credit card and other sensitive information, because basically the user types her details on the PayPal hosted checkout page?
Yes, you can use a completed transaction to create a recurring billing profile, but it cannot be an auth transaction (zero dollars or otherwise). Quote from the documentation:
IMPORTANT: You can use only a Sale or Delayed Capture transaction as a
template for a profile.
https://www.paypalobjects.com/webstatic/en_US/developer/docs/pdf/pp_payflowpro_recurringbilling_guide.pdf
Related
For a new project I want to get rid of paypal subscriptions as users tend to subscribe multiple times and then dispute all payments.
Instead I want to use reference transactions to bill the clients when necessary.
Now with the regular checkout or subscriptions users didn't have to have a Paypal account to purchase. They could just enter credit card details and start the subscriptions.
With reference transactions I can only see a paypal login page where a user gives permission for the reference transaction.
Is there a way to enable reference transactions for users without a Paypal account that just have a credit card? Or is there something similar that could achieve this?
In order to use Reference Transactions PayPal Accounts are required and not allowed for Guest Checkout option (no work around).
The alternative to this would be to upgrade using Payflow APIs where a PNREF is used in this scenario on future payments. Or BrainTree's future payments using vault. These options are direct Credit Card processing only.
Recap - PayPal accounts needed for PayPal Reference Transactions
Payments Pro has a reference transaction system. Typically you run an authorization for $1 and then void it. Then you can run a reference transaction on the previous transaction ID.
Payments Pro is a subscription service.
We are setting up our marketplace transactions with PayPal and thus want to use chained payments for simple processing and to prevent being a funds aggregator.
As we want to capture buyers payment method once (upfront) and allow them to buy services from sellers later without entering their payment details every time, PayPal has 2 options: 1) pre-approvals, or 2) billing agreements.
However since buyers should also be able to pay with credit card, we can only use option 2) billing agreements.
Is our understanding correct that billing agreements are not compatible with chained payments?
Also, if they are not compatible, how can we go about it to allow for:
- Users to pay with credit card
- Not have them enter the credit card details every time at the time of purchase
- Use chained payments (prevent funds aggregation which would happen if we receive funds first and payout in a second operation)?
Thanks!
Preapproved Payments is part of the Adaptive Payments platform. Depending on what you're doing with the transaction when the time comes to submit a payment with a preapproval profile you may use a simple payment, parallel payment, or chained payment.
What you're after, billing agreements, is part of the Express Checkout API or Payments Pro. The actual term for what you'll be working with is Reference Transactions.
If you process a credit card directly over Payments Pro (either sale or auth) then you can simply use that transaction ID you get back with the DoReferenceTransaction API at any point in the future to process another transaction automatically.
If you process the original sale or authorization with Express Checkout, that's where you need to include billing agreement parameters in your SetExpressCheckout request to create that billing agreement, but then you'd still use the DoReferenceTransaction API to process future payments.
I am trying to make recurring payment work with PAYPAL ADVANCED
My script works in case of SALE transactions but there are issues when i try to create recurring profile.
ISSUES
When i am posting my request with CREATESECURETOKEN set to Y. It returns Invalid transaction type: Invalid Transaction Type for secure token creation request
Here is the string. Note i have changed user and pass here
PARTNER[6]=PayPal&VENDOR[10]=#####&USER[11]=#####&PWD[9]=#####&CREATESECURETOKEN[1]=Y&TRXTYPE[1]=R&RECURRING[1]=Y&TENDER[1]=C&ACTION[1]=A&PROFILENAME[6]=Gautam&ACCT[16]=4012888888881881&EXPDATE[4]=1214&AMT[5]=10.00&START[8]=06132013&PAYPERIOD[4]=MONT&TERM[1]=0&OPTIONALTRX[1]=S&OPTIONALTRXAMT[4]=2.00&EMAIL[20]=#####&SECURETOKENID[26]=MySecTokenID-51b93e0830f70&RETURNURL[51]=http://localhost:8080/php/test/payflow/advanced.php&CANCELURL[51]=http://localhost:8080/php/test/payflow/advanced.php&ERRORURL[51]=http://localhost:8080/php/test/payflow/advanced.php&BILLTOFIRSTNAME[4]=John&BILLTOLASTNAME[3]=Doe&BILLTOSTREET[12]=123 Main St.&BILLTOCITY[8]=San Jose&BILLTOSTATE[2]=CA&BILLTOZIP[5]=95101&BILLTOCOUNTRY[2]=US&SHIPTOFIRSTNAME[4]=Jane&SHIPTOLASTNAME[5]=Smith&SHIPTOSTREET[13]=1234 Park Ave&SHIPTOCITY[8]=San Jose&SHIPTOSTATE[2]=CA&SHIPTOZIP[5]=95101&SHIPTOCOUNTRY[2]=US
if i set CREATESECURETOKEN to N i receive Invalid merchant information: 10002-You do not have permissions to make this API call
I searched for documentation on recurring payment with paypal advanced but every where i found details about payflow pro. With no information about recurring payment with paypal advanced its not easy to make things work.
Any idea about what is wrong with my post data?.
I posted my query on paypal.com/mts a week back but have no reply.
NOTE: I have subscribed to paypal advanced and paypal recurring payment.
With paypal advanced the transactions are completed on the client website itself and user is never taken to paypal site. Yes it uses iframe for the purpose.
It works for SALE type transaction but not in case of recurring payment.
Payments Pro and Advanced don't support the Recurring Payment API calls. You would be using the Recurring Billing API calls through Payflow. The new Advanced and Pro accounts use Payflow Pro or Link.
Are you setting a billing type in the Secure Token call?
What is the ticket number you submitted? I'd to look up the account to see if the account is setup to use Recurring Billing and was created correctly.
Also, Advanced accounts shouldn't be using the Recurring Billing API calls. It is possible to create Recurring Billing profiles with an Advanced account but they have to be done through the PayPal Manager site.
I am using the 'reference transactions' of the Paypal express checkout api to set up a recurring billing scenario for our customers. I have chosen this method since the amount billed per month will vary and there is no initial payment when entering into the billing agreement.
My question is, can I use the paypal IPN to detect when the user cancels this? I know that if the customer enters into this agreement they have the power to log into their own Paypal account and cancel the agreement. What variables should I be listening for through the IPN?
Whilst I see mention of recurring payments and recurring payment profiles in the IPN documentation these are not actually the same as setting up a recurring billing scenario via reference transactions (recurring payments and reference transactions are in two different parts of the general paypal api documentation).
Enable IPN in your PayPal account , then PayPal will notify you via IPN about the Billing agreement cancel from the customer.
If you include IPN with SetExpressCheckout, it will not work with Reference Transaction. You need to Enable IPN on PayPal site.
Is it possible to Create a Recurring Payment Profile using DoReferenceTransaction or is there any other way to set up recurring payment when I've got "billing agree" from customer and REFERENCEID - an id of customer's previous transaction.
Thanks
You can set
RECURRING
field of DoReferenceTransaction API call, but first you need a billing agreement with buyer.
I recommend doing recurring payment with CreateRecurringPaymentsProfile call.
API is here.
I've got billing agreement with buyer ("billing agreement ID") - according to reference transaction api .
I also can do transactions with DoReferenceTransaction like:
$nvpstr="&L_AMT0=".$itemamt."&L_QTY0=1&AMT=".(string)$amt."&ITEMAMT=".(string)$itemamt."&CALLBACKTIMEOUT=4&REFERENCEID=B-6J7244599E964634T&ReturnUrl=".$returnURL."&CANCELURL=".$cancelURL ."&CURRENCYCODE=".$currencyCodeType."&PAYMENTACTION=".$paymentType;
$resArray=hash_call("DoReferenceTransaction",$nvpstr);
However I still don't know how to set up recurring payment using reference transaction cause in API link you gave me, there is a note that Credit Card ACCT number is required - but I don't want to store client's card numbers in my database (I am using express checkout).