PayPal Subscriptions

[growe]

I thought there was something wrong with WHMCS until I found out that it was designed to act strange.

 

http://wiki.whmcs.com/PayPal#Modify_Subscriptions states "When a client upgrades/downgrades modifying of the subscription does not occur at the time of the upgrade, it occurs on the next renewal invoice (when the client logs in to pay the new amount)."

 

That seems a bit conceptually wrong to me. Example...

Lets say the client was paying $50 and upgraded to a $75 plan. At the point of the upgrade the client is billed and pays $25 for the difference. The client now assumes they are on the $75 dollar plan but they aren't really. WHMCS says they are on the $75 plan but PayPal says they are still on the $50 plan.

 

Continuing the example... Let's say the client is Joe Procrastinator and the PayPal subscription gets processed before he does anything. PayPal sends a payment of $50 and $25 is still due. At this point in time Joe Procrastinator becomes Joe Confused as he thought he had already taken care of the upgrade. At this point in time Mr. Company Admin which doesn't fully understand the inner workings of WHMCS is contacted by Joe Confused to sort things out. Mr. Company Admin becomes just as confused.

 

Wouldn't it be a lot less confusing and straight forward to modify the PayPal subscription at the point in time that the upgrade is taking place?

 

I expect the fine folks at WHMCS will say the problem is that when making modifications PayPal can't handle the upgrade difference as an initial payment and the new package price as the recurring amount. I believe that is true; however, I see 4 options on how to deal with this issue...

 

1) Handle it in the current way which is confusing (as mentioned above)

 

2) Submit a refund for the current amount and modify the subscription to the new amount effective immediately.

 

3) Create a non-recurring invoice for the difference (as is being done now) and force the next payment cycle to be paid immediately thus enacting the new subscription immediately.

 

4) [My recommendation] Give the client a choice of option 1 and option 3 by displaying to the client something like this....

 

When modifying your subscription PayPal only allows us to provide them with the new subscription amount and not the prorated difference between your old and new subscription price. Also, a modification can not be sent to PayPal unless a payment is being made to the subscription. As a result we must bill the prorated amount separately and we can not modify the subscription without an additional payment. How would you like us to handle your subscription?

 

a) Invoice me now for the prorated difference between plans AND modify my subscription by charging me now for the next payment cycle.

 

b) Refund me a prorated amount for my current billing cycle AND modify my subscription by creating a new billing cycle immediately at the new price.

 

c) Invoice me now for the prorated difference between plans AND cancel my subscription. I will create a new subscription when the next payment is due.

 

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I believe option 4 will ensure that nobody is confused and will keep the client happy because they have options.

 

Anyone agree with me?

 

 

 

 

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