Recurring Payments

[alexanansi]

Hi there

Firstly sorry that I need to post this, I'm sure the information is available but I can't stand Paypal's website so I hope you don't mind me asking here!

I am running a local campaign / membership group and this plugin may make life much easier for us. I would like to find out if I can do recurring payments without purchasing Paypal Pro.

From what I can gather Paypal Pro is much easier, but as I will only need to set up one recurring payment type (for mutliple people to subscribe to) I guess I will only need to set it up once. Bearing this in mind, do you recommend Paypal Pro? How hard is it to set up a recurring payment without Paypal Pro?

Again, if this is explained in another forum post that I missed, or on the website, I apologise!

Thanks
Alex

[BobTabor]

Hi, I'm just a user setting up a site myself, but what I think I'm hearing you describe is exactly what the plugin does best. I am working on a PayPal Pro implementation, HOWEVER the documentation is very explicit that it is completely optional. What you are describing is "PayPal Express", which means your potential users will see an orange PayPal branded "Subscribe Now" button. When they click on it, they will be taken temporarily to PayPal to use their PayPal account OR a credit card. Once payment is complete, your user will now be returned to your site and they will be able to log into a protected area ("members only").

The only thing s2Member's PayPal Pro implementation does is that it keeps your users on your site during the entire payment process ... so they never really know that PayPal is behind it all.

Hope that helps!
Bob Tabor

[alexanansi]

Hi Bob

Thanks for that information. Sounds like Paypal Express will be fine for us.

The second paragraph is interesting though, because what I want a plugin for is just to allow people to be members of our group, and to allow them to setup a yearly recurring payment to be a member. This just means that they get newsletters sent in the post, and they get to vote in our annual AGM. There isn't any online site for members to access.

Will s2Member plugin be any use to me in this case?

Thanks
Alex

[BobTabor]

There isn't any online site for members to access.

Will s2Member plugin be any use to me in this case?

Remember, I'm just a user myself, and I WANT a recurring payment + membership only site ... by the sound of things, however, I'm not user this is what you need. It sounds to me all you need to do is get a "Recurring payments button" or "subscription button" from PayPal and slap it on your site. Anywhere. It's just HTML.

NOW, what I'm a little foggy on is this ... "recurring payments" ... I had to get Website Payments Pro (application, approval, fees, etc.) THEN request "Recurring Payments" (another application, another approval, more fees, etc.) PayPal is a mess sometimes ... that process may have just been BECAUSE we were using Pro. I don't know what your options are for "PayPal Express" ... Sorry ... perhaps someone with more PayPal savvy could chime in.

Best wishes!

[rossagrant]

Bob is exactly right! To use paypal recurring payments you do NOT have to have paypal payments pro. Recurring payments can be set up in any standard account and as long as you are not using paypal pro then no application or fees is necessary.

This plugin however, allows for so much more than just payments and is really designed to manage subscriptions to a membership site and restrict/ give access to content for members of various subscription levels.

If you don't need this and all of your work is effectively offline then you could just make a paypal button from your account over at paypal and slap the HTML code given into your website payment page.

You certainly could still use S2member, it would give you the ability for people to sign into your Wordpress site with their unique username and give them access to a members area where you could maybe put up an electronic newsletter, AGM dates etc as well as compiling your mailing list so that you can email your members easily.

The choice is yours!

[Cristián Lávaque]

Wow, thanks guys (Bob, Ross) for your help! Very appreciated. It's great to have you around.

Alex, you can do with just PayPal Standard, but subscriptions will always require the user to have his PayPal account. To not require that, you'll need to add PayPal's Enhanced Recurring Payments. viewtopic.php?f=36&t=2634

If you don't plan to have a website, then you don't need s2Member... You could just use a PayPal button in your emails, I guess. You could have a website for email archives, though, in which case s2Member would be helpful to manage who sees what.

[alexanansi]

Thanks!

Cristián - thanks, the link the Paypal comparisons is great. It's not at all clear on Paypal's site. $19.99 per month is a lot for our group, we don't really have that kind of money is there any alternative to Paypal that allows recurring payments for a cheaper price? I see Google Checkout has this in beta but I don't know if you have to pay for this facility...

I think s2Member could be useful in the future. We have a website and have group newsletters up there, so in future we could restrict that content, and that might mean a few more people join the group.

Thanks
Alex

[Cristián Lávaque]

Hmm...

Well, instead of recurring, you could ask your subscribers for a one-time payment for several months and remind them when they need to renew. Then you could use PayPal Standard without requiring that they have a PayPal account.

And you can still have the monthly subscription for those that do have a PayPal account.

[alexanansi]

Hi

Thanks for all your help. I am able to ask for recurring payments on our website with a standard business account at Paypal, which is great... I'll maybe consider the plugin as a way to resrict online newsletters to just our members later on.

Thanks!

[Cristián Lávaque]

Cool.