Changing PayPal account

Discussion in 'Payments processing' started by netsmashers, Sep 2, 2010.

  1. netsmashers

    netsmashers New Member

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    Hello,

    We use PayPal recurring payments for our users. Now we had to create a new PayPal business account.

    What happens to existing recurring payments when I change the Merchant ID in the amember paypal configuration? Will recurring payments automatically go to the new paypal account or do users have to cancel their current membership and subscribe to a new one?

    Thanks for your help.
  2. davidm1

    davidm1 aMember User & Partner

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    Did you simply upgrade your account to business? You should still be using the same email if you did- in this case no change is needed.

    If you have a new account/email- this may be a problem.

    David
  3. netsmashers

    netsmashers New Member

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    Thanks David.

    We have a completely new account (new email). What problems could occur?
    Do you think it would be best to email existing customers and ask them to re-subscribe?
  4. davidm1

    davidm1 aMember User & Partner

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    Yeah, you will need them to re-signup, you can cancel them yourself once they resubscribe, but the $ may overlap- so i think you will need to give them the 1st month free to get em to move and maybe a bonus item.

    David
  5. alex

    alex aMember Pro Customer Staff Member

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    No, no, no.
    There are really no way to move them, but there is a way to keep it "as is".

    You do not need them to re-signup. Old subscriptions will be billed by your old PayPal, and new subscriptions by your new PayPal.
    For that, go to aMember Cp -> Setup -> PayPal.
    Copy "Merchant ID" and paste it to "Alternate PayPal account emails (one per line)", then enter your new "Merchant ID" and press "Save" button.
    This way aMember will handle existing subscriptions as desired, but all new subscriptions will be passed to your new PayPal account.
  6. davidm1

    davidm1 aMember User & Partner

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    I think thought that he wants all subscribers to be handled via the new account. In other words- old payments should be paid into the new account, this cant be done.

    Alex- thats a good method for using old account and new one at the same time- will make note of it.

    David
  7. netsmashers

    netsmashers New Member

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    Yes, David is right. I wanna have all subscriptions (existing and new ones) to be handled via the new account.

    Thanks for your advise.
  8. amadeus

    amadeus Member

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    What you're wanting really isn't possible and honestly isn't logical if you really think about it. Your customers basically enter into an agreement (contract) to pay a specific paypal account (entity) on a clearly defined basis. The only option would be for the user to cancel the subscription and create a new one.

    Obviously paypal could come up with a system by which all subscriptions were changed; however, I think it could cause legal problems. I'm sure they'd suggest that you cancel all subscriptions on your old account and advise your customers to create new ones using your new account once their subscription time had "ended".

    Honestly, the best option is what Alex suggested. Having old customers using a different account should be a better solution than the possibility of losing customers when you cancel their subscriptions and require them to create new ones.
  9. netsmashers

    netsmashers New Member

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    We decided to leave existing subscriptions on the old PayPal account and send new subscriptions to the new PayPal account using the method Alex described above.

    Thanks for your help.
  10. theguru

    theguru New Member

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    So this has to be the MERCHANT ID and not the paypal email for it to work?
  11. caesar

    caesar aMember Pro Developer Staff Member

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    @theguru It should be paypal email.

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