Integration Guide

PayPal Payments Pro Integration Guide April 2012 65
Integrating Recurring Payments
Recurring Payments With the Express Checkout API
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When redirecting the buyer to PayPal, PayPal recommends that you use the HTTPS response
302 “Object Moved” with the URL as the value of the Location header in the HTTPS
response. Make sure that you use an SSL-enabled server to prevent browser warnings about a
mix of secure and insecure graphics.
Getting Buyer Details Using GetExpressCheckoutDetails
The GetExpressCheckoutDetails method returns information about the buyer, including
name and email address stored on PayPal. You can optionally call this API after PayPal
redirects the buyer’s browser to the ReturnURL you specified in the SetExpressCheckout
request.
The GetExpressCheckoutDetails request has one required parameter, TOKEN, which is
the value returned in the SetExpressCheckout response.
PayPal does not return the values you specified for the following parameter fields in the
GetExpressCheckoutDetails response unless the transaction includes a purchase. PayPal
ignores the fields if you set up a billing agreement for a recurring payment that is not
immediately charged.
 PAYMENTREQUEST_n_DESC
 PAYMENTREQUEST_n_CUSTOM
 PAYMENTREQUEST_n_INVNUM
Creating the Profiles With CreateRecurringPaymentsProfile
After your buyer has agreed to the recurring payments billing agreement on your confirmation
page, you must call CreateRecurringPaymentsProfile to create the profile. If you are
creating multiple recurring payments profiles, you must call
CreateRecurringPaymentsProfile once for each profile you plan to create.
If the transaction includes a mixture of a one-time purchase and recurring payments profiles,
call DoExpressCheckoutPayment to complete the one-time purchase transaction. Then call
CreateRecurringPaymentsProfile for each recurring payment profile you plan to
create.
IMPORTANT: PayPal does not create the recurring payments profile until you receive a
success response from the CreateRecurringPaymentsProfile call.
To obtain the best rates for digital goods, set values for the following required payment details
item fields:
 L_PAYMENTREQUEST_0_NAMEn
 L_PAYMENTREQUEST_0_AMTn
 L_PAYMENTREQUEST_0_QTYn
 L_PAYMENTREQUEST_0_ITEMCATEGORYn (you must set the value to Digital)