Mar, 2015
Does s2Member integrate w/ PayPal Pro?
Yes. PayPal Pro is a powerful payment gateway that supports s2Member Pro-Forms.
Available to Merchants in the US, UK, and Canada
Please see Product Availability for PayPal's "Website Payments Pro" service.
Note: PayPal Pro requires a formal application and a small monthly fee. Please see: PayPal Website Payments Pro.
Note: s2Member Pro supports PayPal Website Payments Pro and PayPal Website Payments Pro (Payflow Edition). s2Member Pro does not support Payflow as a stand-alone product. There is a difference. s2Member's support for Payflow is limited to "PayPal Website Payments Pro (Payflow Edition)"; where the Payflow "Edition" of PayPal Pro is now very common in newer PayPal Pro accounts; i.e., if you signup for PayPal Website Payments Pro today, you will get the Payflow Edition automatically—and that's fine! ~ It's the stand-alone Payflow Payment Gateway that we do not support.
Checkout Occurs on Your Site; via Pro-Forms
PayPal Pro-Forms (instead of PayPal Standard Buttons). s2Member's PayPal Pro-Forms integrate seamlessly with WordPress Shortcodes. This allows you to keep customers on your site at all times, and it consolidates registration/checkout into a single step. Since checkout occurs on your site, you can dress up the Post/Page containing your Pro-Form in ways that are most effective for your product/service.
You Can Accept the Following Forms of Payment
If you choose to integrate with PayPal Pro, you can accept all major credit cards, plus any funding source supported by PayPal Express Checkout; i.e., a credit/debit card, the customer's PayPal balance, their checking account, and others—depending upon your PayPal account configuration.
Full IPN Integration (Instant Payment Notifications)
Instant Payment Notifications (IPNs) are messages (behind-the-scenes, via HTTP) that automatically notify s2Member about events related to PayPal transactions. s2Member uses this to automate back-office and administrative functions, like automatically fulfilling orders or terminating access when a customer cancels their subscription or forces a refund/chargeback.
Built-in PayPal® Pro-Form Generators
s2Member's Pro-Form Generators (in your WordPress Dashboard) are so convenient! With these, you can establish a free trial period (or an initial fee), the cost & billing interval, whether it will be recurring, and much more. You can even set the Membership Level and add a list of any Custom Capabilities that you intend to bundle. Pro-Form Generators provided by s2Member produce a WordPress Shortcode that can be copied/pasted into a Post or Page in WordPress. Pro-Forms are, by far, the easiest way to implement on-site credit card processing.
Supports "Buy Now" Products/Services
You can sell fixed-term or lifetime access using "Buy Now" functionality. The term, "Buy Now" indicates that it's a one-time fee that will not recur. This is a popular way to sell products/services with PayPal Pro, because "Buy Now" functionality does not require you to enable Recurring Billing in your Website Payments Pro account.
Supports Recurring and Non-Recurring "Subscriptions"
You can sell access that requires a recurring payment. If recurring payments fail too many times, access is terminated automatically by s2Member. Subscriptions support both Standard and Custom Recurrences. Or, you can sell access that is non-recurring; e.g., 6 days free, then $39 for 1 year of access—where access & billing are both terminated after the year is over; i.e. it is not recurring.
Note: You must enable Recurring Billing (aka: Recurring Payments) in your PayPal Pro account before you can sell recurring or non-recurring Subscriptions with s2Member Pro. PayPal charges an additional monthly fee for PayPal Pro Recurring Billing service.
Supports a Free or Paid Initial/Trial Period
With PayPal Pro you can set a free or paid initial/trial period of any length. For instance, $0.00 for the first X days/weeks/months/years, then $39/mo. An initial/trial period can be any length of time that you like; i.e. there is no limit to the length of an initial/trial period whatsoever.
Supports Standard & Custom Subscription Recurrences
The following Subscription Recurrences are supported by PayPal Pro-Forms: weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-yearly, and yearly. It is also possible to establish custom Subscription Recurrences by editing the s2Member Shortcode Attributes: rp="" and rt="" (e.g., every 2 days, every 2 weeks, every 9 months, or pretty much whatever is needed).
Note: PayPal Pro does not support daily Subscription Recurrences. The minimum is weekly. Also, there is a maximum of 1 year between Subscription Recurrences; i.e., it is not possible to charge someone every 2 years. You can charge them every 1 year, or anything less than 1 year. e.g., every 2 weeks, every month, every 2 months, twice monthly, twice yearly, etc.
PayPal Pro (Payflow Edition): If you have a PayPal Pro (Payflow Edition) account, please take note. Payflow Edition supports only a specific set of Subscription Recurrences. Pro-Forms integrated with the Payflow Edition can be configured to charge: weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-yearly or yearly. Custom Recurrences are not possible with the Payflow Edition.
Supports a Fixed Number of Billing Recurrences
By default, recurring charges will remain ongoing until cancelled, or until payments start failing. However, it is possible (using the s2Member rrt="" Shortcode attribute) to terminate access & billing after X billing cycles. Please note that a fixed number of installments, also means a fixed period of access. If a customer's billing is monthly, and you set rrt="3", billing will continue for only 3 monthly installments. After that, billing will stop, and the customer's access to the site will be revoked as well (based on your s2Member EOT Behavior setting).
Supports Fixed-Term Access
For example, access can be granted for exactly 7 days, 2 weeks, 1 year, etc. This is made possible by s2Member's Auto-EOT System. Fixed-term access can be sold as part of a non-recurring Subscription, or as a "Buy Now" purchase. It is also possible to establish a custom time-period by editing the s2Member Shortcode Attributes: rp="" and rt="" (e.g., 3 days, 10 weeks, 9 months, or pretty much whatever is needed).
Supports Lifetime Access
For example, you can sell a recurring Subscription that never expires (i.e. not until the customer chooses to cancel). Or, you can generate a "Buy Now" Pro-Form that sells lifetime access to a product/service; i.e. a one-time fee that provides access that never expires.
Supports "Buy Now" Access to Specific Posts/Pages
This is referred to as "Specific Post/Page Access"—customers are not required to register at all. Specific Post/Page Access is like selling a product—only, instead of shipping anything to the customer, you just give them access to a specific Post/Page on your site; one that you created in WordPress. A Specific Post/Page that is protected by s2Member might contain a download link for your eBook, access to file & music downloads, access to support services, etc. The possibilities with this are endless; so long as your digital product can be delivered through access to a WordPress Post/Page. You can also package multiple Posts/Pages together into one "Buy Now" transaction.
Supports Independent Custom Capabilities
In addition to selling a Membership that already comes with Custom Capabilities—with PayPal Pro-Forms you can also sell additional (Independent) Custom Capabilities to existing members of your site. Independent Custom Capabilities are added to a customer's account immediately after checkout, and the customer will have the Custom Capabilities for as long as their membership lasts.
Supports Coupon Code Configurations
With PayPal Pro-Forms, you can build a configurable list of Coupon Codes that provide a flat-rate discount, or a percentage-based discount; up to and including 100% of the transaction amount (i.e., a 100% free checkout experience is possible). Coupons can be limited in scope too. Such as limiting the discount to the first/initial payment only, or to regular recurring payments only. It's also possible to limit Coupon Codes to specific Pro-Form instances, to specific customers, to specific dates, and even put a limit on the maximum number of times that a specific Coupon Code can be used collectively. It's also possible to integrate s2Member's Coupon Code functionality with affiliate platforms. Affiliates can be identified through promotions that use affiliate-specific Coupon Codes, which your Pro-Forms will graciously accept.
Supports the Sale of Gift/Redemption Codes
With PayPal Pro-Forms, you can sell access to auto-generated Gift/Redemption Codes (using the Shortcode: [s2Member-Gift-Codes /]). This makes it possible for you to sell Gift Certificates (aka: Gift Codes). Or, you can sell one customer access to an account that includes a list of Redemption Codes that they can share with others on their team or in their group. Gift/Redemption Codes can provide a flat-rate discount, or a percentage-based discount; up to and including 100% of the transaction amount.
Supports Virtual Terminal Transactions (Manual Payment Processing)
You can accept offline payments (e.g., check by mail, funds collected in cash, by phone, etc). Customer accounts can be created from your WordPress Dashboard to fulfill orders, or through s2Member's Pro Remote Operations API. With PayPal Pro, you will also acquire a Virtual Terminal where you can process credit cards manually by logging into your PayPal Pro account.
Supports Custom Thank-You Page URLs
With PayPal Pro-Forms, you can customize the success="http://..." Shortcode attribute. This allows you to define a custom URL of your own, where you might create a Post/Page in WordPress that thanks a customer for their purchase, and provides additional details about how to proceed.
