magicalwonders Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 Hello Folks, I'm in the process of testing my WHMCS configuration. I'm using the Paypal payment gateway and everything seems to work well when making test purchases. The client is setup for recurring billing through Paypal and the first payment is updated in WHMCS control panel. Just a couple of things I am not able to test, and am wondering how the following works. 1. When the next payment becomes due, Paypal will notify me of funds received via email, but I'm not sure how WHMCS is updated? Is this done automatically somehow, or will I need to input the funds manually when I receive new funds advice from paypal? 2. When a client who does not have a Paypal account makes a purchase through the paypal gateway with their credit card, is their card automatically charged on a recurring basis? Or does the transaction go through as a one off? Hope someone can advise. Many thanks, Myles 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickendippers Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 When you say recurring billing, do you mean PayPal Subscription? 1. Subscription payments will automatically be updated in WHMCS as long as you've setup the IPN and Callback URL as per the documentation then you won't need to do a thing. 2. I'm not sure. Perhaps the PayPal documentation can shed some light? https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/xcl/rec/subscr-intro-outside 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magicalwonders Posted November 19, 2008 Author Share Posted November 19, 2008 Subscription payments will automatically be updated in WHMCS as long as you've setup the IPN and Callback URL as per the documentation then you won't need to do a thing. I've set the IPN in my paypal account, bit I'm a bit confused about the callback URL as WHMCS says the following on the Payment Gateways screen. You should enable IPN in your PayPal account and leave the URL blank I can't see how WHMCS will get notified as payments are made without a callback url. Am I missing something? Myles 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparky Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 The callback url is sent to paypal when the user either gets redirected to the gateway or clicks on pay now (or paypal logo) 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magicalwonders Posted November 19, 2008 Author Share Posted November 19, 2008 The callback url is sent to paypal when the user either gets redirected to the gateway or clicks on pay now (or paypal logo) I'm still not sure what the purpose of it is. Is it to redirect the browser back to merchants website after payment? WHMCS specifically says to leave it blank - which is a bit confusing. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickendippers Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 It tells WHMCS that a payment has been made (and includes info such as transaction ID, amount etc). Don't worry about leaving it blank, just do what it says and it'll work 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magicalwonders Posted November 19, 2008 Author Share Posted November 19, 2008 O.K. Thanks for the reassurance! I'll keep my fingers crossed. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
risrik Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 I too use PayPal for payments. Something to be aware of however that I didn't realize at the beginning is that if a customer pays an initial invoice late for something that will recur (say, monthly hosting), their first payment will be a one-time payment and their subscription will not start. The following month, they will have to start their subscription (if they pay it on-time). Simply, if a customer pays on time, their subscription will start and they won't have to do anything the following months. If they pay after the due date, it will be a one-time payment only and they will not have a subscription for the order. The next month they will hopefully pay on-time and start a subscription. The reason it works like this is that PayPal recurs the charge monthly and if a new subscription was started when the customer is paying late, PayPal would automatically charge the customer late each month (one month from sign-up, which was already late). This scenario is not for initial clients who place an order online because they are forced to pay right away to place the order. But if you have a situation where you have to move customers over and/or generate invoices manually, you may encounter this problem. Almost every client pays it late for me and I'm forced to send them an email explaining that they'll have to start a new subscription the following month. Hope this helps. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magicalwonders Posted November 20, 2008 Author Share Posted November 20, 2008 That's really useful information to know. Thanks for the advance warning on that one! If they pay after the due date, it will be a one-time payment only and they will not have a subscription for the order. The next month they will hopefully pay on-time and start a subscription. What's the best way to get things back on track if a client pays late? Say for example the first due date is the 1st of the month and they pay on the 5th, so no recurring billing will take place the following month. Is it just a matter of changing the "Next Due Date" on the "Products/Services" screen, then clicking "generate due invoices" in their Client Profile screen when the next due date comes around? Or is it more complicated than that? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickendippers Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 You don't have to do anything, just get your customers to pay on time 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magicalwonders Posted November 20, 2008 Author Share Posted November 20, 2008 You don't have to do anything, just get your customers to pay on time But if someone pays their first invoice late, then recurring billing fails. My question is how to deal with that outcome within WHMCS. But if you have a situation where you have to move customers over and/or generate invoices manually, you may encounter this problem. Almost every client pays it late for me and I'm forced to send them an email explaining that they'll have to start a new subscription the following month. This is the same situation I will be in, so am just seeking clarification on how to deal with the admin side of that. Say for example the first due date is the 1st of the month and they pay on the 5th, so no recurring billing will take place the following month. Is it just a matter of changing the "Next Due Date" on the "Products/Services" screen, then clicking "generate due invoices" in their Client Profile screen when the next due date comes around? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickendippers Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 The first invoice can't be paid late as presumably you'll configure WHMCS to only setup the account after the customer has paid (and therefore setup the subscription). If you're going to be migrating existing customers, and they pay late, then the next month another invoice will be generated as usual. If the customer pays on time then the subscription will be created and everything's hunky dory, if they're late then they'll make another one-time payment and will need to wait until next month for another opportunity to create a subscription. We have one serial late-payer and they just make single-payments every month. It's less convenient for them, but that's their problem. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magicalwonders Posted November 20, 2008 Author Share Posted November 20, 2008 Ah O.K. Thanks for explaining that. It sounds like it's not going to be much of a problem. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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