Paypal DoDirectPayment without user present (e.g. with cron job)

Question

Is it possible to make Paypal payments using stored user's data (credit card info, name, address etc.) within cron job or other script execution without actual user present?

I want to implement autopayments on my service but I can not to use standard Paypal autocharge functionality because of its complexity.

I want to repeatedly charge s/o's credit card without him being notified, can you please help me? — I'm with Monica, Dec 06 '12 at 13:46
@AlexanderKosubek I've understand your sarcasm but it is not a problem with notifying, because Paypal already have autocharge function and it automatically notify the user when it charging. I only want to make my own shedule, not more. If there is any good capability to make autocharges within complex shedule, please let me know. I am relatively new at Paypal so everything will help. — Epsiloncool, Dec 06 '12 at 14:05
Noted. But when you create an recurring charge, the user knows that it will recur. As I understand your question, you want to re-charge without user interaction at your chosen interval. Whatever the motive may be, it would be circumventing a legitimate security measure: Every transaction has to be authorized by the user. Or at least I hope that it has to... ;) - Even if the user is notified afterwards, the charge would still not have been explicitly authorized. — I'm with Monica, Dec 06 '12 at 14:22
@AlexanderKosubek You are right, everything should be authorized. I have informed my users and yes, they are made selection on my site before autopay system is activated - it's same as on standard Paypal autocharge functionality. Do you know where I can read about it is restricted to make automatic charges or no? — Epsiloncool, Dec 06 '12 at 15:28

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 25 '22 at 09:09

2

What you're looking for is called Reference Transactions. You can use the DoReferenceTransaction API to accomplish your goal.

Using this API you simply pass in the transaction ID of a previous Authorization or Sale transaction along with a new amount you'd like to process. It will lookup the billing info saved on PayPal's system using that previous transaction ID, and then process the same source for the new transaction.

This works with both Payments Pro and Express Checkout.

I noticed you posted this with the adaptive payments tag, too. That would be the Preapproval API and the Pay API, but would not involve DoDirectPayment.

edited Apr 25 '22 at 09:09

Dharman

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answered Dec 06 '12 at 18:18

Drew Angell

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@AndrewAndell Thanks, does it work with credit cards also, or Paypal accounts only? – Epsiloncool Dec 06 '12 at 22:36
Yes, it works with credit cards processed using DoDirectPayment. – Drew Angell Dec 07 '12 at 04:39

Paypal DoDirectPayment without user present (e.g. with cron job)

1 Answers1