paypal reoccuring payments?

[shlokka]

hi everyone
im trying to integrate reoccuring payments in a website using paypal...setting up the initial payment is easy enough, but i cant find anything anywere that shows me how paypal will tell my site when a reoccuring payment is made??

the site is offering membership, users need to pay a yearly fee
the payments will automatically be taken each year from paypal
the site needs to confirm the user has paid each year

but i cannot find any documentation or anything on how paypal will confirm the payment with my site?

any help appreciated, thanks

[LastMitch]

@shlokka

im trying to integrate reoccuring payments in a website using paypal...setting up the initial payment is easy enough, but i cant find anything anywere that shows me how paypal will tell my site when a reoccuring payment is made??

That has nothing to do with PayPal. It has something to do with your checkout sheet. You need to create a function or a check box (membership, fee) to let your customer check it so it would add it to the checkout sheet and once the sheet is submited it will be in the database and it also send it to PayPal.

[shlokka]

thats not the problem...i can do that quite easily... but after year 1 paypal will automatically take the next payment without the user needing to manually do it....

i need to find out how paypal will then tell my site ..ie how can i make it send the correct variables back to my site to confirm?

[LastMitch]

@shlokka

but after year 1 paypal will automatically take the next payment without the user needing to manually do it....

I thought you read about ipn guide already but it seem you didn't understand how it works so here it is:

https://www.x.com/sites/default/files/ipnguide.pdf

i need to find out how paypal will then tell my site ..ie how can i make it send the correct variables back to my site to confirm?

Here is a list of membership softwares:

https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/sell/small-biz-3p-membership-outside

or this:

http://codecanyon.net/item/membership-manager-pro/91421

or

like I mention from my previous post you can create one.

[shlokka]

hi, im not sure if im explaining myself correctly so ill try again..

in the html form for the user to create the subscription, there is a return url... once the user has paid, paypal takes them back to my site, and my site checks the variables that have been passed from paypal....if the values match the details on my site, its confirmed.
after a year the users pp account will automatically take payment for the next year.
but..how does it tell my site?
i cant see anyway of entering another return url ???

does pp store the original return url and reuse it everytime the customer pays? or is there another way or place in pp where i must enter it?

i cant seem to find anything in the api about it?

also...
https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/sell/small-biz-3p-membership-outside
none of those links exist anymore lol

thanks

[LastMitch]

@shlokka

in the html form for the user to create the subscription, there is a return url... once the user has paid, paypal takes them back to my site, and my site checks the variables that have been passed from paypal....if the values match the details on my site, its confirmed.

I assume you got everything set up already.

If the customer want to be in membership and pay a fee. All you need to do is to create a option for them to do that on the checkout. Once everything is verify that customer submit the payment and info. First it will send the info to db and second it will go to PayPal.

Then your customer will have to sign up from here:

https://www.paypal.com/pdn-recurring

Then your customer will have to fill out the info payment

[shlokka]

hi, yes for the initial payment... but after the first year paypal will take the next payment without needing to ask the customer.
the site wont be generating a new invoice, paypal will just auto take it as the user has allowed it in the initial payment.
so how does my site know if theyve paid in year 2, 3 , 4 and so on?

[LastMitch]

@shlokka

hi, yes for the initial payment... but after the first year paypal will take the next payment without needing to ask the customer.

Yes, if the customer want to cancel they can cancel anytime.

the site wont be generating a new invoice, paypal will just auto take it as the user has allowed it in the initial payment.

Once the first payment is pay you get an invoice. It will do auto until the it is cancel. You can print out the invoice for each recurred cycle if you want.

so how does my site know if theyve paid in year 2, 3 , 4 and so on?

This question you ask it's really on your side not Paypal. You need to create a table for this auto payment. I think I mention this alot of times it has to be on the checkout sheet.

[shlokka]

i dont understand...

if i create a table say with 1 = paid, 0 = failed... how exactly am i supposed to check this with paypal?

i would assume that everytime the user pays, paypal will send data using the post or get method to a specific url i set, just as it is in the initial payment?

if my website needs to check each year, then how, or what do i call to check this?

thanks for your patience

[LastMitch]

if i create a table say with 1 = paid, 0 = failed... how exactly am i supposed to check this with paypal?

Yes or No. Where did you get 1 or 0 it's either Yes or No or just Y or N. It meaning the customer wants to be in a membership or not.

i would assume that everytime the user pays, paypal will send data using the post or get method to a specific url i set, just as it is in the initial payment?

Read the guideline:

Identifying Your IPN Listener to PayPal

https://www.x.com/sites/default/files/ipnguide.pdf

[shlokka]

Yes or No. Where did you get 1 or 0 it's either Yes or No or just Y or N. It meaning the customer wants to be in a membership or not.

well considering a db will return a null value of 0 by default then unless pp specifys it, using y or n would be bad practice and cause unnecessary work.

thanks for the link, checking it out now

[shlokka]

ok....im stillnone the wiser

if im right then the ipn code on my server is supposed to connect to paypal toconfirm the info...

do i request this via paypal? or should i like create a cron or something to run every day to run the function on my server??

thanks

[LastMitch]

if im right then the ipn code on my server is supposed to connect to paypal toconfirm the info...
do i request this via paypal? or should i like create a cron or something to run every day to run the function on my server??

Is your checkout sheet is connected to the Paypal? If it's connected it will goes directly to the Paypal page. On your checkout sheet it should have like a check box for membership once it is check and submited it will appear in PayPal page with the info including the membership fee.

I think you need to take time to do this because the questions you are asking is a bit confusing to me the reason why is because if your checkout sheet is connected to PayPal then there shouldn't be any issue all.

I hope you understand that Daniweb is a educational forum and there is limit how much I can help you. I can't help you integrate shopping cart or any payment plan because you are getting pay to do that and it's unfair for me or rest of Daniweb members not getting the fair share.

[veedeoo]

Hi,

Please allow me to clarify things about paypal API. Before implementing any payment processors that utilizes an IPN class or script, script should be tested in paypal sandbox environment.

Suggested steps to take.
1. Create a paypal sandbox account.
2. Login to your sandbox account and create a seller and buyer accounts. This is extremely important. Your test transactions will be made between these two.
3. Select which IPN script you will be using. For example, this one.

1. Follow the IPN script installation instructions. Most of them have some kind of database to record the payment made and payment received.

2. Write a php script that will check the subscription renewal date. You can set up a cron job for this script to run once a day. If the script finds any account due for renewal of billing, the script will trigger the IPN script to send payment request to paypal. The IPN listener will then email you for confirmations and errors.

Example of integrated form using an IPN class

<form action=”https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr” method=”post”>
<input type=”hidden” name=”cmd” value=”_xclick”>
<input type=”hidden” name=”business” value=” [e-mail] “>
<input type=”hidden” name=”item_name” value=”ipad”>
<! -- the rest of the form here --->

Convert the above for subscription form

<form action=”https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr” method=”post”>
<input type=”hidden” name=”cmd” value=”_xclick-subscriptions”>
<input type=”hidden” name=”business” value=” [e-mail] “>
<input type=”hidden” name=”item_name” value=”Your service yearly subscription”>
<input type=”hidden” name=”return” value=”yourDomain.com/ipnlistener.php “>

Notice the return value? yourDomain.com/ipnlistener.php. This is the file that will add the subscriber's info. e.g. name, date, amount paid, next billing cycle.

That's all I can help you right now.. I need to see your own codes, so that we can further help you..

[shlokka]

thank you all for your help, and very imformative veedeoo thanks