Advanced Features Guide
Table Of Contents
- Express Checkout Advanced Features Guide
- Contents
- Preface
- Customizing Express Checkout
- PayPal Review Page Order Details
- Providing Gift Options
- Obtaining Buyer Consent to Receive Promotional Email
- Overriding Your Customer Service Number
- Adding a Survey Question
- PayPal Page Style
- Changing the Locale
- Handling Shipping Addresses
- Automatically Filling Out Shipping and Contact Information
- Buyer Pays on PayPal
- Express Checkout on Mobile Devices
- About the Express Checkout Experience on Mobile Devices
- Mobile Platforms Supported by Express Checkout
- About Mobile Express Checkout Integration
- Integrating Express Checkout With Your Mobile Website
- Enabling PayPal Account Optional Checkout on Mobile Devices
- Request Fields Supported by Express Checkout on Mobile Devices
- Locales Supported by Express Checkout on Mobile Devices
- Features Not Supported by Express Checkout on Mobile Devices
- Handling Recurring Payments
- How Recurring Payments Work
- Recurring Payments Terms
- Options for Creating a Recurring Payments Profile
- Recurring Payments With the Express Checkout API
- Recurring Payments Profile Status
- Getting Recurring Payments Profile Information
- Modifying a Recurring Payments Profile
- Billing the Outstanding Amount of a Profile
- Recurring Payments Notifications
- Reference Transactions
- Implementing Parallel Payments
- Integrating giropay with Express Checkout
- Implementing the Instant Update API
- Payment Review
- Express Checkout Dynamic Image Integration
- Immediate Payment
- Revision History
Express Checkout Advanced Features Guide April 2012 57
4
Reference Transactions
A reference transaction is a financial transaction from which subsequent transactions can be
derived. For example, a buyer can make a purchase on your site and the PayPal transaction ID
becomes the ID of a reference transaction that can later be used to initiate another transaction.
Introduction to Reference Transactions
Recurring payments using reference transactions enables you to handle payments for varying
amounts of money on a varying schedule. The buyer can sign up for recurring payments as
part of the Express Checkout flow or sign up before making a purchase. Consider the
following examples:
A buyer purchases a mobile phone and selects a carrier. The buyer pays for the phone using
Express Checkout and agrees to pay monthly for the service.
A buyer downloads a music video and pays for it with Express Checkout. During checkout,
the buyer agrees to make a payment whenever the account balance exceeds a specified
minimum amount.
A buyer agrees to pay monthly for utilities, such as gas or electricity. The buyer makes no
payment at the time of agreement. PayPal deducts payments monthly for actual use.
These examples represent payment transactions that reoccur periodically, either for a specific
time period or when transactions reach a certain threshold. The amount of each transaction
varies by use. These kinds of recurring payments are well-suited for processing with reference
transactions, which are used in the same way as reference transactions in credit card
processing. When implementing recurring payments using reference transactions, you control
transaction initiation and the transaction amount. You can also include payment for multiple
items in one checkout.
NOTE: PayPal must enable you to use reference transactions. Contact PayPal for details.
Reference Transactions
A reference transaction is a financial transaction from which you can derive subsequent
transactions. For example, a buyer makes a purchase on your site, and you use the PayPal
transaction ID or reference transaction ID later to initiate another transaction. In the music
video example, you might use the transaction generated by the purchase to initiate a monthly
transaction for renting videos from the service. Similarly, you can use the transaction for the
first download to generate another transaction for other downloads.