In my PayPal Button plugin there are certain shortcode parameters that you can use to create a PayPal subscription button and accept recurring payments from your WordPress site.
PayPal Subscription Button Parameters
Before getting into adding a shortcode lets take a look at the parameters available for a subscription/recurring payment button.
Button
Type of payment button. For a subscription button you need to specify button=”subscription”.
Recurrence
Duration between each billing. This would be a numeric value based on the period.
Period
Subscription units of duration. Allowable values are:
- D – for days; allowable range for “recurrence” is 1 to 90.
- W – for weeks; allowable range for “recurrence” is 1 to 52.
- M – for months; allowable range for “recurrence” is 1 to 24.
- Y – for years; allowable range for “recurrence” is 1 to 5.
Src
Settings this value to 1 will make a subscription payment to recur. You don’t really have any reason to set this to 0. But if you do so the payment will not recur, which means it will be a one-time payment (like a buy button).
Srt
Number of times a subscription payment will recur. This would be a numeric value with a range of 2 to 52. You don’t need to specify it if you want the subscription to continue until cancelled.
Subscription with No Recurring Times
Example 1
[wp_paypal button="subscribe" name="My product" amount="2.99" recurrence="1" period="M" src="1"]
If your currency is USD, It means $2.99 USD for each month. The subscription will continue to recur until cancelled.
Example 2
[wp_paypal button="subscribe" name="My product" amount="3.50" recurrence="2" period="W" src="1"]
If your currency is USD, It means $3.50 USD for each two weeks. The subscription will continue to recur until cancelled.
Subscription with Recurring Times
Example 1
[wp_paypal button="subscribe" name="My product" amount="2.99" recurrence="1" period="M" src="1" srt="4"]
It means $2.99 USD for each month, for 4 installments. After this the payment will not recur anymore.
Example 2
[wp_paypal button="subscribe" name="My product" amount="3.50" recurrence="2" period="W" src="1" srt="6"]
It means $3.50 USD for each two weeks, for 6 installments. After this the payment will not recur anymore.
Subscription with Trial
You can use some additional parameters to offer a trial with your recurring/subscription payments.
a1
Trial period amount (similar to amount parameter). In order to offer a free trial you can specify 0.
p1
Trial period duration (similar to recurrence parameter).
t1
Trial period units of duration (similar to period parameter).
Example 1
[wp_paypal button="subscribe" name="My product" a1="1.99" p1="10" t1="D" amount="2.99" recurrence="1" period="M" src="1" srt="4"]
It means $1.99 USD for the first 10 days, then $2.99 USD for each month, for 4 installments. After this the payment will not recur anymore.
Example 2
[wp_paypal button="subscribe" name="My product" a1="1.49" p1="1" t1="M" amount="3.49" recurrence="1" period="M" src="1"]
It means $1.49 USD for the first month, then $3.49 USD for each month. The subscription will continue to recur until cancelled.
Subscription with Free Trial
Example 1
[wp_paypal button="subscribe" name="My product" a1="0" p1="1" t1="M" amount="2.99" recurrence="1" period="M" src="1"]
It means free for the first month, then $2.99 USD for each month. The subscription will continue to recur until cancelled.
Does this also work for recurring donations?
@Carolynne, It’s for accepting subscription payments. Donation is a different type of payment method.
Is there a button to cancel subscription payments?
@Adriano, Not the at the moment unfortunately. However, your customer will be able to cancel from their PayPal account.
Great plugin!
2 questions:
Does this catch the logged in member’s username who paid for subscription? If not, how can that be included?
Thanks!
@Girl, Unfortunately it doesn’t track any logged in username. However, the email address used to make the purchase should be included in the orders menu.
Thanks.
An issue with that though is if the member has a different paypal email than the one they used on the site.
Which database table does it store the payments?
@Girl, It doesn’t have a database table. The plugin uses WordPress custom post types.
Hi, is there a way I can center the Paypal subscribe button?
Hi, what if we want the subscription to always occur and not end, so the subscriber would just to cancel on their own? What is the shortcode for a monthly subscription of $5 per month that never ends?
Never mind that last comment. I got my answer. You can delete that last comment.
Edit this comment to: “Great plugin and it works well. Also, your documentation is easy to understand”.