Setting up subscriptions and recurring payments for your business.

Recurring payments are becoming more important as more businesses adopt a subscription model, including:

• Television and internet providers
• Gyms for monthly membership fees
• Magazines, newspapers and other media
• Food delivery services
• Home services like lawn care or housecleaning 
• Financial services
• Automotive tools
• Non-profit organizations that accept recurring donations
• Monthly software services

Types of recurring billing.
There are several types of recurring billing models: 

• Fixed amount subscriptions – an agreed upon subscription price that stays the same each month. Membership dues are a great example of this type of recurring billing.
• Variable amount subscriptions – the amounts for these types of subscriptions could change month to month, like bill payments.
• Preapprovals and reference transactions – examples of this type of recurring billing include online gaming, usage-based charges like Uber, and payments for per-use access to your app store.

Benefits of recurring billing.
Not only is it a timesaver by cutting the time spent on invoicing, but it can also be great for helping customer retention, and can help lower billing and collection costs. It’s not simply a technology to facilitate billing, but rather a technology to help meet rising expectations and encourage ongoing and long-term customer relationships. 
 
Consumers see the benefit on their side as well – they don’t need to input all their payment information every month. It can also help businesses offer more flexible product or service models, like installments or micro pricing.   
Cost of recurring payments. 
Since PayPal is a gateway and a billing solution provider, businesses may enjoy a cost savings because they don’t have to pay a separate monthly fee for billing on top of a gateway fee. PayPal also offers a flexible billing platform and global reach so businesses can present their products on websites in more than 90 currencies.  
 
And, don’t forget the big picture: Flexible and customer-centric solutions, like PayPal recurring payments, are designed to help extend and sell more subscriptions, and they may also help to extend their relationships with their customers over the medium- and long-term.   
Get started.
To get started, log in or sign up for your PayPal Business account. Click on Tools > Recurring Payments. You'll be guided step-by-step on how to create a subscription payment button for your website, allowing you to bill customers on a recurring basis.