Mar, 2015
Does s2Member integrate w/ simple PayPal buttons? i.e., without needing PayPal Pro?
Yes. This is even possible in the free version of s2Member.
Available to Merchants in Most Countries
Please see Product Availability for PayPal's "Website Payments Standard" service.
Checkout Occurs at PayPal.com
With PayPal Standard "Buttons" (a hosted solution); customers do leave your site to complete checkout at PayPal.com, and then they return to complete registration afterward. If you want to avoid this limitation use s2Member's PayPal Pro integration (an s2Member Pro feature), where Pro-Forms are used instead of Buttons, and registration/checkout are both completed in a single step at your site. See: PayPal Pro Integration w/ Pro-Forms.
You Can Accept the Following Forms of Payment
If you choose to integrate with PayPal Standard, you can accept any funding source supported by PayPal; 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.
Full Auto-Return & PDT Integration
Payment Data Transfer (PDT) is a secure method to retrieve the details about a PayPal transaction so that s2Member can process it in real-time (as checkout is completed); and without needing to wait for an IPN to occur silently behind-the-scenes. This works together with PayPal's Auto-Return functionality—a customer is immediately returned to your site after completing checkout at PayPal.
Built-in PayPal® Button Generators
s2Member's Button 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. Button Generators provided by s2Member produce a WordPress Shortcode that can be copied/pasted into a Post or Page in WordPress. s2Member Pro-Forms work the same way. See: PayPal Pro Integration w/ Pro-Forms.
Supports "Buy Now" Products/Services
You can sell fixed-term or lifetime access using "Buy Now" functionality. This is a popular way to sell products/services without requiring a customer to have a PayPal account in order to complete checkout; which is a limitation when using PayPal Standard "Buttons". Selling it as "Buy Now" avoids the issue. Another way to avoid this limitation is to use s2Member's PayPal Pro integration (an s2Member Pro feature), where Pro-Forms are used instead of "Buttons". See: PayPal Pro Integration w/ Pro-Forms.
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.
Supports a Free or Paid Initial/Trial Period
With PayPal Standard you can set a free or paid initial/trial period of any allowable length. For instance, $0.00 for the first X days/weeks/months/years, then $39/mo. An initial/trial period can be up to 5 years. To avoid this limitation use s2Member's PayPal Pro integration (an s2Member Pro feature), where Pro-Forms are used instead of "Buttons". See: PayPal Pro Integration w/ Pro-Forms.
Supports Standard & Custom Subscription Recurrences
The following Subscription Recurrences are supported by PayPal Standard Buttons: daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, bi-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 Standard Buttons support a maximum of 5 years between Subscription Recurrences; i.e., it is not possible to charge someone every 10 years. You can charge them every 5 years, or anything less than 5 years. e.g., every 2 years, every 2 weeks, every month, every 2 months, etc.
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 2 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" Button 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 Standard Buttons 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 Custom Thank-You Page URLs Requires s2Member Pro
With s2Member Pro, PayPal Standard Buttons can use a custom Thank-You Page URL. It becomes possible for you to 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.
