Create Subscription Plan Question

    • 15 posts
    February 28, 2018 5:18 PM EST

    Hello when creating a Subscription Plan i'm confused how to make it to charge members monthly. How should these options be set so that members pay monthly?

     

    Billing Cycle How often should members in this plan be billed?

    I have 1 month selected

    Billing Duration

    When should this plan expire? For one-time plans, the plan will expire after the period of time set here. For recurring plans, the user will be billed at the above billing cycle for the period of time specified here.

    Do i choose monthly here? or forever?

     

  • gs
    • 857 posts
    February 28, 2018 6:45 PM EST

    https://support.socialengine.com/php/customer/en/portal/articles/1655419-admin-panel---billing->-plans?b_id=14386

     

     

    ==> '...Do i choose monthly here? or forever?...'

    Most that depends on your needs.  I believe there are 4 options for Duration (week, month, year, forever), but my 3PD Subscription Plugin is also showing Day (so I don't know if that exists in SE).  Hopefully this will help:

    Cycle = how often

    Duration = for how long

     

     

    Sample Scenario#01

    Billing Cycle = 1 month

    Duration = Month

    Result = should charge Price for 1 month (1x)

     

     

    Sample Scenario#02

    Billing Cycle = 1 month

    Duration = Year

    Result = should charge Price for 12 months (12x)

     

     

    Sample Scenario#03

    Billing Cycle = 1 month

    Duration = Forever

    Result = should charge Price every month (forever) until someone cancels it

     

     

  • gs
    • 857 posts
    February 28, 2018 6:50 PM EST

     (I tried to edit the above post due to fix syntax and add better syntax to Results but am unable to; when I select Edit, the Edit section is displayed with an empty text box; I tried this on 3 Browsers on 2 laptops with the same results, so maybe this is an issue with this Forum, possibly due to 4.10.01?).

     

    (I just edited this post and Edit is working properly as I type this, so maybe it has something to do with the URL in that post?)


    This post was edited by gs at February 28, 2018 6:51 PM EST
    • 15 posts
    February 28, 2018 7:38 PM EST

    Thanks for explanation this is what i was needing a member paying every month till cancel.. Thanks

    Sample Scenario#03

    Billing Cycle = 1 month

    Duration = Forever

    Result = should charge Price every month (forever) until someone cancels it

     

    • Moderator
    • 6923 posts
    March 1, 2018 4:45 AM EST

     Wow that's a weird bug. I think it's from putting the link first but I've not seen this issue before. I will go debug on my local.

    For the rest of this, that was some great help @gs!

    • Moderator
    • 6923 posts
    March 1, 2018 5:13 AM EST

    Ok I tested. It's due to our URL structure at our tutorial section. Note that URLs are automatically made links so you don't need to click the link icon to make it one. It would have been ok to edit without that but with that, it makes it break due to our URL. We will work on this issue. 

    • Moderator
    • 6923 posts
    March 1, 2018 6:33 AM EST

     Ok the post issue is fixed. 

  • gs
    • 857 posts
    March 1, 2018 2:59 PM EST

    @Donna: Thanks for fixing. 

    • 119 posts
    March 15, 2018 1:02 PM EDT

    If I'm right, I read something about cancelation of a subscription and PayPal; 

     

    If you are using PayPal as payment merchant,  you have to let your member know that they have to cancel the subscription too. Paypal won't automatically cancel on your behalf.

     

     

    • 378 posts
    March 15, 2018 4:04 PM EDT

    Paypal, or any other merchant provider, will allow for auto upgrade and downgrade if the gateway is written to do so.

    • 119 posts
    March 15, 2018 4:50 PM EDT

    I've tried it with the standard SE with PayPal,  and it didn't automatically cancel the subscription. All members just pay 3, 6, 12 months one of payments.

    • 378 posts
    March 15, 2018 9:13 PM EDT

    The gateway that you are using is not fully evolved to allow for it - I would suggest looking for an advanced version of your current gateway or speak with a developer to build it into the one you use.

    • Moderator
    • 6923 posts
    March 16, 2018 4:46 AM EDT

    Does it work with a business Paypal account? I recall the same issue at other scripts though so it may not work to auto-unsubscribe. I've not tried it.

    • 119 posts
    March 16, 2018 8:50 AM EDT

    You normally have to have the API keys and a secret key to accomplice automatic cancellation on a customer merchant account.

    PayPal standard will not allow automatically cancellation, the customer needs to do it themselves. I had it before customer left the site and I was still getting paid. That is why I set fixed terms instead. This must be written in the TERMs of you use paypal standard.

    Paypal is different from other merchants, you send a HTTP request instead of using the API keys and secret key.

     

    I hate Paypal with a passion!! Not gonna lie about that. ( ... too long of a story to post here as in why ... )

     

    I don't know why SE PHP doesn't have more merchant options as standard, like Authorize.net and a few others.

     

    I install shopping platforms for customers (nopCommerce) they have 99% of the payments merchants as an ad-don option within their platform, you ask the customer which merchant they want, install it, set it up, job done, you can not get it simpler than that.

     

    I think this is a must have(more a requirement) for any online site to have more options as standard which are tested by the software developer.

    • Moderator
    • 6923 posts
    March 16, 2018 9:03 AM EDT
    Maurits said:

    I don't know why SE PHP doesn't have more merchant options as standard, like Authorize.net and a few others.

    It's on the list to improve. Payment options. There's a feature request either here or the old github for improving payment options.

    • 378 posts
    March 16, 2018 9:57 AM EDT

    Why not just upgrade your paypal account to business then and take advantage of the API?