Subscriben PayPal Express checkout
To support recurring and automatic billing, Subscriben’s built-in PayPal gateway uses PayPal Billing Agreements and Reference Transactions.
PayPal allows a billing agreement to be made between the customer and store to allow transactions to be completed without the need for explicit approval and confirmation by the user. Any subsequent transactions made using this agreement will then reference the original transaction.
To allow a billing agreement and recurring billing, the following setup will need to be completed in PayPal and WordPress:
Enable Reference Transactions in PayPal
To allow reference transactions in your PayPal account, you will need to contact PayPal support and request the feature be enabled. Please note that specifically ‘Reference Transactions’ must be enabled, NOT any other form of subscription or recurring payments.
PayPal support will assess your account and may ask why you need the feature enabled. In which case, answer that you are using a WooCommerce subscription extension on your site which uses the feature to enable automatic subscription billing.
PayPal may require a monthly fee for this service may not guaranteed to allow it if your PayPal account is not in good standing. If reference transactions cannot be enabled, you can still use Subscriben for subscriptions, but customers will need to make manual payments for each billing cycle.
Enable the Subscriben PayPal Express Gateway
To use the Subscriben PayPal gateway, you will need to enable the feature in your Subscriben settings:
WP Admin > Subscriptions > Settings > Gateways
After the gateway is enabled, open your WooCommerce settings Payments tab. You should find the ‘PayPal Express Checkout by Subscriben’ enabled in the list of possible payment gateways. You can then configure the gateway via the ‘Manage’ button.
Setup API Credentials
Please follow this PayPal guide to set up NVP/SOAP API credentials for your site. You will need to create an API signature (not a certificate).
After setting up the credentials, you will have an API username, password and signature. Enter those credentials into the appropriate field in the gateway settings.
Please note, the credentials for the PayPal sandbox and live account will be different.