paypal recurring payments and billing cycle

Gravity Support Forums » Plugin Support » Gravity Forms PayPal Add-On

drewmcmanus
Member

In the Billing Cycle I really like that there are multiple ways to indicate the billing date but I don't see anything that allows for something like "first monday of each month" Am I missing it?

Similarly, If I select any similar option (every 30 days, every four weeks, once a month) does that cycle actually begin when the buyer makes the first payment? If so, it would be great if there were a way to set it up with a due date and automatic late notices.

Lastly, I'm trying to find an example for how the recurring notices work but I'm not finding anything in the documentation, could you provide that info?

Thanks in advance!
Drew

Posted 12 years ago on Monday December 5, 2011 | Permalink
Carl Hancock
Administrator

This kind of granular control over the billing cycle is not supported in the PayPal Add-On. The only billing cycle options are those available in the Add-On. We are limited in what we can provide by the PayPal API and how PayPal standard recurring payments work.

The billing cycle begins when the user completes the purchase. If you select every 4 weeks then it will be every 4 weeks from when the user completes the purchase. If you select every 30 days it will be every 30 days from when the user completes the purchase.

Gravity Forms does not send out late notices and due dates. It doesn't track the payments because it's all handled by PayPal. The payment is made on PayPal's site and payments are PayPal handles everything.

Communication between Gravity Forms and PayPal happens via PayPal's IPN notification system. There is no documentation on it because it's all behind the scenes. PayPal communicates back to Gravity Forms when a recurring payment is made via the PayPal IPN system. This IPN notification updates the entry and adds a note regarding the recurring transaction. When a recurring subscription is canceled, the IPN notification knows this and if you configured something to happen on cancellation this would be triggered by the IPN cancellation notice.

Posted 12 years ago on Monday December 5, 2011 | Permalink
drewmcmanus
Member

Acknowledged on everything above and what I'm wondering then is if there is a way to edit the delivery date for a recurring notice after the initial payment has been made (and is therefore used to schedule future notices).

If there is, then at the very least I can go in and manually make adjustments. It isn't a perfect solution but at least it would solve the problem. If this is possible, how is it done?

Posted 12 years ago on Monday December 5, 2011 | Permalink
ahufford
Member

Does paypal send a reminder email before they charge the person for the renewed subscription? Or does it just charge and THEN send a reminder email?

Posted 12 years ago on Friday January 6, 2012 | Permalink
Chris Hajer
Key Master

I believe they bill the client, and send a receipt. I don't think they send reminders out. That's been my personal experience anyway. I am always surprised to be billed for something automatically because I forgot to cancel it, and by then it's too late.

Posted 12 years ago on Monday January 9, 2012 | Permalink
Joe T
Member

Not sure if this needs a post of its own, but the topic here is relevant.

I need to be able to have conditional logic around the billing cycle (i.e - I am offering Monthly, quarterly and annual terms). I see no way to do this on a single subscription form today. Is there a way to accomplish this?

Posted 12 years ago on Monday January 9, 2012 | Permalink
stueynet
Member

I am with Joe T. I have a subscription form whereby the user selects the type of package, and then they select the payment recurrence option. The total field works fine for this thanks to the magic of gravity forms, but when they go to pay, it is based on the fixed billing cycle that I set in the payment setup.

Posted 12 years ago on Monday January 9, 2012 | Permalink