2006

Introduction
Recurring Billing Terms
1
2 Payflow Link Recurring Billing Service User’s Guide
Recurring Billing Terms
Payment. A payment is the sum that is transacted during each payment period. Payments
differ from transactions. Several transactions may be required to successfully perform a
payment for a payment period; for example, due to a lack of funds during the first transaction
attempts. Once a transaction succeeds for a payment period, the payment is marked as
successful.
Payment Period. There is one payment made per payment period; for example, a $42
payment on a monthly basis. In this example, the payment period is Monthly.
Profile. A profile is your definition of a recurring transaction for a single customer. The
profile includes all information required to automatically bill the right person the right amount
of money at the right time for the right period of time.
Profile ID. A 12-character string (generated by PayPal) that uniquely identifies a recurring
profile. Test profile IDs start with the characters RT and live profile IDs with RP.
Term. The total number of payment periods over the duration of the agreement. For example,
a three-year, monthly payment contract has a term of 36. It is important to remember that the
term defines the number of scheduled payment periods, and not payments actually made. See
the definition of Mature Profile for further details.
Mature Profile. A profile is considered mature when the term is complete (the total number of
payment periods for the profile have occurred). Remember, however, that even though the
number of payment periods specified by the term has occurred, the customer might have not
made all scheduled payments.