My feedback on the new PayPal module

[Juan GG Host]

1. The WHMCS documentation on this is very limiting and contradictory in places.
2. The documentation states it can still be used if you don;t have a PayPal account from one of the 33 countries listed, with limited functionality(i.e. no vaulting), but the linking process for this is unintuitive, and results in a bunch of errors when linking. Despite the errors, the module could be activated.
3. The documentation states the unbranded credit card sb-module can be used if not in one of the listed 33 countries, but without vaulting, however the siub-module cannot be activated if not in one of these countries (?)
4. There doesn't seem to be any way to modify the CSS of the payment window. This is a problem with the darker text in use, as it cannot be seen if you use a dark background for your cart. Workaround is to modify the cart page's CSS for that window.
5. There doesn't seem to be a way to modify the LANG variables used in the module. Changing the PayPal LANG variables in WHMCS's own language file has no impact. This is a problem, as our checkout button sits on the menu on the right under the order summary, but the PayPal module instructs users to "click below to continue". This confuses customers, who end up not checking out.
6. The new PayPal module initiates a payment hold prior to the checkout being completed. Customers reported getting payment confirmation from their banks when entering payment details, and thus do not complete the checkout process as they believe it is completed already. The transaction is then automatically reversed by PayPal a few hours later.

We've opted to remove this module and go back to using the older module. 

It's interesting that WHMCS do not use the new module on their own cart and invoices either. I can't help but wonder if it is due to the above issues.

[WHMCS John]

Hi @Juan GG Host,

Thanks for your feedback, that's really helpful to us.

1. So that we can clarify these, could you share with me the contradictory parts of the documentation. Are those the contradictions which you elaborate in points 2 & 3?

2 . Can you share the error messages you encountered when performing the linking process? Were they on the PayPal popup, or in WHMCS after returning from PayPal?

3. Are you seeing an error that's preventing the PayPal Card Payments module for being activated? If so, please share it here.

4. There's a css file at modules/gateways/paypal_ppcpv/css/payment.css which controls the appearance of the elements controlled by WHMCS.

Some parts of the checkout flow and forms are hosted and controlled by PayPal, so can't be customised. If that CSS file doesn't contain the elements you need to customise, please share a screenshot of exactly which part of the UI you'd like to customise.

5. The language strings which are controlled by WHMCS are part of the paypalCommerce group, eg:

$_LANG['paypalCommerce']['paymentInstructions'] = "To complete payment with PayPal, choose an existing linked PayPal account or link a new account.";
$_LANG['paypalCommerce']['error']['noAccount'] = "You must select an existing linked PayPal account or link a new account before making payment.";

Similar to q. 4,  parts of the checkout flow and forms are hosted and controlled by PayPal, so can't be customised.

6. Believe me we in the CX team are excited to start using the new PayPal module as soon as possible, and planning is under way to upgrade our WHMCS instance to 8.10 🙂 

 

We particularly welcome this kind of feedback during the pre-release testing stage, so that we can iterate on our documentation and the UX whilst the developers are creating the new features. Keep an eye out here on the community and on our blog for future betas and release candidates.

 

[Evolve Web Hosting]

@WHMCS John hopefully I am not hijacking this from @Juan GG Host but I have a few things to add regarding #1

 

Under 'Vaulting' on this page: https://docs.whmcs.com/PayPal_Payments

The paypal email address is shown under the clients Payment Accounts page. I don't know if the Vaulting part of the documentation is where you'd list this or not. From what I see, there's nothing for the customer to manage here in WHMCS though.

On this page: https://blog.whmcs.com/133746/whmcs-89-now-available-in-general-availability (What's new in WHMCS 8.9)

 

>>> utilising PayPal's Saved Payment Methods technology enabling flexible recurring and on-demand billing of variable price and term subscription plans.

Where do we get to manage the pricing? Is it done automatically if someone has a subscription and we update the pricing on the Admin side of WHMCS for a product / domain?

It would be nice if you included the following link to let Users know where to find out who has a subscription. I don't see it denoted anywhere within WHMCS

https://www.paypal.com/billing/subscriptions