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  • They only get added when the transaction gets processed and the system gets the IPN message from PayPal.

    Does the user show an active Subscription?
      Mark Hamstra • Developer spending his days working on Premium Extras and a MODX Site Dashboard with the ability to remotely upgrade MODX and extras to make the MODX world a little better.

      Tweet me @mark_hamstra, check my infrequent blog at markhamstra.com, my slightly more frequent ramblings at MODX.today or see code at Github.
      • 35025
      • 5 Posts
      Thanks for the quick reply.
      Ok, I've just tried again and it's working fine if I add a Complimentary subscription.

      It's not working when I use the paypal Sandbox though - Is that how it's supposed to function when using the Sandbox - if so fine. I haven't tried any live tests yet.

      One other question - which I appreciate you may not be interested in answering as it's outside the scope of your original spec.
      My client thinks it would be better to just take a one off paypal payment each year (rather than recurring payments) and then automatically email subscribers when their subscription is due to expire when they can subscribe again. Would it be fairly straightforward for me to modify this package to take payments in this way?
      • Have you set up IPN on the sandbox? You need to tell PayPal to "ping" your SubscribeMe installation when something happens. I've documented that for the Live PayPal here: http://rtfm.modx.com/display/ADDON/SubscribeMe.Configuring+API+Credentials%2C+IPN+and+going+Live
        With the sandbox you do nearly the same - from developer.paypal.com login to your sandbox merchant account and set up IPN.

        Here's some links on IPN / Sandbox:
        https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/sell/ipn-test-outside
        https://cms.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/?cmd=_render-content&content_ID=developer/e_howto_admin_IPNSetup
        https://cms.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/?cmd=_render-content&content_ID=developer/howto_testing_sandbox

        It wont be straightforward to modify SubscribeMe to do that - it's been specifically build for PayPal recurring payments for a client. I may be using this myself on an upcoming project as well (haven't decided if I want recurring or one-off payments) but if I do decide to go with recurring I may be refactoring the core to more easily adapt to other methods... but not sure yet, busy enough w/o it too! tongue
          Mark Hamstra • Developer spending his days working on Premium Extras and a MODX Site Dashboard with the ability to remotely upgrade MODX and extras to make the MODX world a little better.

          Tweet me @mark_hamstra, check my infrequent blog at markhamstra.com, my slightly more frequent ramblings at MODX.today or see code at Github.
          • 37286
          • 160 Posts
          What happens if the subscription cost changes? Is there a process in place to change that and would also update in the paypal renewal?
          • SubscribeMe doesn't change that. It will apply for new subscriptions only.

            PayPal imposes limits on how much it can change, and from what I remember it wouldn't allow any changes within a year after the start anyway. The changes you can make you can do via your PayPal profile.

            You can cancel subscriptions from both SubscribeMe and your PayPal provider though.
              Mark Hamstra • Developer spending his days working on Premium Extras and a MODX Site Dashboard with the ability to remotely upgrade MODX and extras to make the MODX world a little better.

              Tweet me @mark_hamstra, check my infrequent blog at markhamstra.com, my slightly more frequent ramblings at MODX.today or see code at Github.
              • 35025
              • 5 Posts
              Ok, thanks for the links - I'll check my IPN settings, that's sure to be the problem.

              As for modifying the way payments are taken I'll try and persuade the client again to go with recurring payments but if not then perhaps I'll try creating a standalone paypal form which uses single payments and updates the database tables for SubscribeMe using a snippet or two.
                • 35025
                • 5 Posts
                Hi Mark,
                Me again. I've now got this all set up and working nicely - thanks.
                Just a question re Paypal. We're now testing this with the Paypal live system and just wondering if you've experienced the behaviour we're seeing which is.
                1. Subscription created - Paypal automatic profile set up immediately.
                2. First payment (and therefore payment IPN message) not sent until a few hours later

                I think this is Paypal standard behaviour but it's a bit annoying as we'd like members to have immediate access to premium content having 'paid' their subscription.

                • The PayPal docs said it could take anywhere from a minute to 24 hours. SubscribeMe processes it as soon as it gets the IPN, but it all comes down to PayPal..

                  I think it also depends on how the payment was made (eg credit card could be instant, where debit card payments could take a bit longer). The tests I did were < 20 mins or so.

                  Don't think there's anything I can do to speed it up, tho perhaps if someone at PayPal has any ideas on what could be done to speed it up on our end I would be willing to see if we can implement something.
                    Mark Hamstra • Developer spending his days working on Premium Extras and a MODX Site Dashboard with the ability to remotely upgrade MODX and extras to make the MODX world a little better.

                    Tweet me @mark_hamstra, check my infrequent blog at markhamstra.com, my slightly more frequent ramblings at MODX.today or see code at Github.
                    • 35025
                    • 5 Posts
                    I've asked a contact at Paypal that I've been dealing with on a non MODX project and this is what he had to say:

                    With Website Payments Standard subscriptions (& Express Checkout Recurring Payments) profiles are run nightly as a batch which is why you’re not getting an immediate payment upon signup.
                    I tend to recommend that Express Checkout with Recurring Payments over Website Payments Standard Subscriptions because you can take an initial one off payment while setting up the recurring payments profile. It also gives you the flexibility to modify the recurring payment terms at a later stage and lookup the profile status via the API.

                    Express Checkout Recurring Payments Overview
                    https://cms.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/?cmd=_render-content&content_ID=developer/e_howto_api_ECRecurringPayments

                    In the meantime I've taken a different approach. I've created a couple of new pages using custom snippets which take one off payments for membership from paypal and then update the Subscribeme Database tables accordingly once an IPN message is received (this occurs immediately).
                    This gives me the immediate access to subscriber content required by new members with the advantages of using Subscribeme for admin.


                    • I'm working with Revo 2.2 rc3. In the Subscribers tab, all MODx users are listed in the list of Subscribers. The Create New and Edit links just redirect to the Manager home page.
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