Preface

Chapter 2, “How It Works,” is an overview of how PayPal Subscriptions works.

Chapter 3, “Subscription Button Factory,” describes the PayPal Subscriptions button factory software.

Chapter 4, “Timing of Scheduled Subscription Payments,” details how recurring subscriptions payments operate.

Chapter 5, “Subscription Cancellation,” describes the effects of a cancelled subscription.

Chapter 6, “Modifying Active Subscriptions,” details how to change subscriptions that are still active.

Chapter 7, “Custom Payment Pages,” details how to alter the appearance of the PayPal pages that are part of creating a new subscription.

Chapter 8, “Notifications Merchants Receive,” gives details about PayPal Instant Payment Notification (IPN) notifies your website about subscription events.

Chapter 9, “PayPal Subscriptions HTML Code,” includes sample HTML for implementing Subscriptions on your website.

Chapter 10, “Integrating PayPal Subscriptions with your Website,” describes how to add Subscriptions on your website.

Chapter 11, “Prepopulating PayPal Payment Pages,” details how to prepopulate the fields a user sees on PayPal during sign-up for a subscription.

This document uses typefaces to identify the characteristics of text. These typefaces and the characteristics they imply are described below:

Typeface	How Used
serif italics	A document title.
A term being discussed or defined. For example: A file is a readable or writable stream of characters …
Boolean values (not keywords). For example: The function returns true if it encounters an error.
monospace	Pathnames or file names that appear in body text frames.
Code-related names that appear in body text frames. Such names are used for functions, callbacks, arguments, data structures, and fields. For example: AbstractResponseType is the SOAP response type definition on which all PayPal API response methods are based.
Components of Internet protocol requests and responses, such as HTTPS and FORM variables. For example: The PayPal system uses a method=POST request to return IPN status variables related to subscriptions, such as txn_type.
Serif bold	User interface names, such as window names or menu selections. For example: On the Profile page, click Email to confirm your email address.
San-serif oblique	Placeholders used in the context of a format or programming standard or formal descriptions of PayPal system syntax. Placeholders indicate values or names that the reader should provide. Example: For example, amount is the variable for a single-item shopping cart, but amount_X is the name of the variable for a multi-item shopping cart. amount_3 is the item amount for the third item in a multiple-item shopping cart.

A term being discussed or defined.

For example: A file is a readable or writable stream of characters …

Boolean values (not keywords).

For example: The function returns true if it encounters an error.

monospace

Pathnames or file names that appear in body text frames.

Code-related names that appear in body text frames. Such names are used for functions, callbacks, arguments, data structures, and fields.

For example: AbstractResponseType is the SOAP response type definition on which all PayPal API response methods are based.

Components of Internet protocol requests and responses, such as HTTPS and FORM variables.

For example: The PayPal system uses a method=POST request to return IPN status variables related to subscriptions, such as txn_type.

Serif bold

User interface names, such as window names or menu selections.

For example: On the Profile page, click Email to confirm your email address.

San-serif oblique

Placeholders used in the context of a format or programming standard or formal descriptions of PayPal system syntax. Placeholders indicate values or names that the reader should provide.

Example: For example, amount is the variable for a single-item shopping cart, but amount_X is the name of the variable for a multi-item shopping cart. amount_3 is the item amount for the third item in a multiple-item shopping cart.

To convey additional information, this document may also apply color and underlining to words or phrases that use the typefaces described above. Such use is described below:

Text attribute	How Used
xxxxxx	Hypertext link to a page in the current document or to another document in the set.
xxxxxx	Hypertext link to a URL or that initiates a web action, such as sending mail.

Text attribute

How Used

xxxxxx

Hypertext link to a page in the current document or to another document in the set.

xxxxxx

Hypertext link to a URL or that initiates a web action, such as sending mail.

If you discover any errors in or have any problems with this documentation, please e-mail us by following the instructions below. Describe the error or problem as completely as possible and give us the document title, the date of the document (located at the foot of every page), and the page number or page range.

To contact Customer Service about documentation problems:

1.	Log in to your account at https://developer.paypal.com/ by entering your email address and password in the Member Log In box

2.	Click Help Center at the bottom of the box on the right side of the page.

Revision history for PayPal Subscriptions and Recurring Payments Guide.