How to cancel a PayPal subscription without a PayPal account?

Question

My current project allows users to subscribe to a membership without registering for a paypal account.

The users' username and password is created and managed by my own application, not PayPal.

Can anyone tell me how to create an hTMl form that would cancel that subscription? Could I perhaps cancel a subscription by sending the txn_id??

I believe I can capture this info with the IPN.

I should also mention that I'm a DBA and not really a developer so bear with me if i'm a little newbish.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Here's what I ended up doing.

<?php
require 'core/init.php';
require 'core/conn.php';
/*The paypal_transactions table is a table I'm using to store the IPN data.  This is necessary to capture the Profile_ID/Subscr_ID.  The Custom parameter is being used to pass the username.*/

$profileid_sql = "select subscr_id from paypal_transactions where custom ='". escape($user->data()->username)."'";
$result=mysql_query($profileid_sql); 

      while($row=mysql_fetch_array($result)){ 
      $profileid = $row['subscr_id'];
      }


include 'functions/change_subscription_status.php';
change_subscription_status( $profileid, 'Cancel' );
header('Location: Cancelled.php');
?>

The change_subscription_status function is here...

<?php

/**
 * Performs an Express Checkout NVP API operation as passed in $action.
 *
 * Although the PayPal Standard API provides no facility for cancelling a subscription, the PayPal
 * Express Checkout  NVP API can be used.
 */
function change_subscription_status( $profile_id, $action ) {

    $api_request = 'USER=' . urlencode( 'API_username' )
                .  '&PWD=' . urlencode( 'API_Password' )
                .  '&SIGNATURE=' . urlencode( 'API_Signature' )
                .  '&VERSION=76.0'
                .  '&METHOD=ManageRecurringPaymentsProfileStatus'
                .  '&PROFILEID=' . urlencode( $profile_id )
                .  '&ACTION=' . urlencode( $action )
                .  '&NOTE=' . urlencode( 'Profile cancelled at store' );

    $ch = curl_init();
    curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_URL, 'https://api-3t.sandbox.paypal.com/nvp' ); // For live transactions, change to 'https://api-3t.paypal.com/nvp'
    curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_VERBOSE, 1 );

    // Uncomment these to turn off server and peer verification
    // curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, FALSE );
    // curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYHOST, FALSE );
    curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1 );
    curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_POST, 1 );

    // Set the API parameters for this transaction
    curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $api_request );

    // Request response from PayPal
    $response = curl_exec( $ch );

    // If no response was received from PayPal there is no point parsing the response
    if( ! $response )
        die( 'Calling PayPal to change_subscription_status failed: ' . curl_error( $ch ) . '(' . curl_errno( $ch ) . ')' );

    curl_close( $ch );

    // An associative array is more usable than a parameter string
    parse_str( $response, $parsed_response );

    return $parsed_response;
}
?>

Answer 2

Use paypal api method ManageRecurringPaymentsProfileStatus ( API Operation NVP ), using ACTION parameter you can:

• Cancel – Only profiles in Active or Suspended state can be canceled.
• Suspend – Only profiles in Active state can be suspended.
• Reactivate – Only profiles in a suspended state can be reactivated.

Paypal Documentation - https://developer.paypal.com/docs/classic/api/merchant/ManageRecurringPaymentsProfileStatus_API_Operation_NVP/

To create a recurring profile follow this (PHP) example:

// Parameters for SetExpressCheckout, which will be sent to PayPal

$padata['L_BILLINGAGREEMENTDESCRIPTION0']   = 'Product description';
$padata['L_BILLINGAGREEMENTDESCRIPTION0']   = $padata['L_BILLINGAGREEMENTDESCRIPTION0'] . 
' $'.$product->price.'/month';
$padata['L_PAYMENTREQUEST_0_DESC0']         = $padata['L_BILLINGAGREEMENTDESCRIPTION0'] . 
' $'.$product->price.'/month';
$padata['PAYMENTREQUEST_0_NOTIFYURL']        = 'http://site_url/paypal/ipn';
$padata['PAYMENTREQUEST_0_DESC']            = $product->name;
$padata['RETURNURL']                        = 'http://site_url/paypal/returnurl';
$padata['CANCELURL']                        = 'http://site_url/paypal/cancelurl';

$padata['PAYMENTREQUEST_0_CURRENCYCODE']    = 'USD';
$padata['PAYMENTREQUEST_0_PAYMENTACTION']   = 'SALE';
$padata['PAYMENTREQUEST_0_ITEMAMT'] = $product->price;
$padata['PAYMENTREQUEST_0_AMT']      = $product->price;
$padata['L_BILLINGTYPE0']            = 'RecurringPayments';
$padata['L_PAYMENTREQUEST_0_NAME0']  = $product->name;
$padata['L_PAYMENTREQUEST_0_NUMBER0']= '322';
$padata['L_PAYMENTREQUEST_0_QTY0']  = '1';
$padata['L_PAYMENTREQUEST_0_AMT0']   = $product->price;


$paypal_data            = http_build_query($padata);
$httpParsedResponseAr   = $this->PPHttpPost('SetExpressCheckout', $paypal_data);

//Respond according to message we receive from Paypal
if("SUCCESS" == strtoupper($httpParsedResponseAr["ACK"]) || "SUCCESSWITHWARNING" == strtoupper($httpParsedResponseAr["ACK"])){

    //Redirect user to PayPal store with Token received.
    $paypalurl ='https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_express-checkout&token='.$httpParsedResponseAr["TOKEN"].'';
    header('Location: '.$paypalurl);

}else{
    echo 'Error : '.urldecode($httpParsedResponseAr["L_LONGMESSAGE0"]).'';


}

Page returnurl:

$hosteddata['L_BILLINGAGREEMENTDESCRIPTION0']   = 'Recurring Description';
$hosteddata['L_BILLINGAGREEMENTDESCRIPTION0']    = $hosteddata['L_BILLINGAGREEMENTDESCRIPTION0'] . ' $'.$pr->price.'/month';
$hosteddata['L_PAYMENTREQUEST_0_NAME0']         = $pr->name;
$hosteddata['PROFILEREFERENCE']                    = $GetExpressCheckoutDetails['L_PAYMENTREQUEST_0_NUMBER0'];
$hosteddata['PROFILESTARTDATE']                 = date('Y-m-d') . 'T' . date('H:i:s').'Z';
$hosteddata['SUBSCRIBERNAME']                    = $GetExpressCheckoutDetails['FIRSTNAME'] . ' ' . $GetExpressCheckoutDetails['LASTNAME'];
$hosteddata['TOKEN']                          = urlencode($_POST['token']);
$hosteddata['DESC']                               = $hosteddata['L_BILLINGAGREEMENTDESCRIPTION0'];
$hosteddata['AMT']                             = $pr->price;
$hosteddata['BILLINGPERIOD']                  = 'Month';
$hosteddata['BILLINGFREQUENCY']                  = '1';
$hosteddata['TOTALBILLINGCYCLES']                = '12';
$hosteddata['REGULARTOTALBILLINGCYCLES']        = '1';
$hosteddata['VERSION']                           = '74.0';
$hosteddata['MAXFAILEDPAYMENTS']              = '1';
$hosteddata['L_PAYMENTREQUEST_0_QTY0']           = '1';
$hosteddata['L_BILLINGTYPE0']                    = 'RecurringPayments';
$hosteddata['L_PAYMENTREQUEST_0_ITEMCATEGORY0']  = 'Digital';
$hosteddata['L_PAYMENTREQUEST_0_AMT0']         = $pr->price;
$hosteddata['INITAMT']                            = $pr->price;
$hosteddata['L_PAYMENTREQUEST_0_NUMBER0']     = $pr->id;
$hosteddata['PAYMENTREQUEST_0_NOTIFYURL']        = 'http://site_url/paypal/ipn';


$paypal_data = http_build_query($hosteddata);
$hosted_saas_response = $this->PPHttpPost('CreateRecurringPaymentsProfile', $paypal_data);

I used a separate method to post parameters to paypal

private function PPHttpPost( $methodName_, $nvpStr_ ) {

$api_username   = 'yourpaypal@email.com';
$api_password   = 'QWEQWEWQEQWEQEQWE';
$api_signature   = 'WQEQWEQWEQWEWQEQWEQWEQWEQWEQWE.cT';
$api_endpoint    = "https://api-3t.paypal.com/nvp";
$version     = '124.0';

$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $api_endpoint);
   curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_VERBOSE, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, FALSE);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYHOST, FALSE);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);

curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, 1);
 
$nvpreq = "METHOD=$methodName_&VERSION=$version&PWD=$api_password&USER=$api_username&SIGNATURE=$api_signature&$nvpStr_";

curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $nvpreq);
$httpResponse = curl_exec($ch);

    if(!$httpResponse) {
        exit("$methodName_ failed: ".curl_error($ch).'('.curl_errno($ch).')');
}

    // Extract the response details.
    $httpResponseAr = explode("&", $httpResponse);

    $httpParsedResponseAr = array();
    foreach ($httpResponseAr as $i => $value) {
        $tmpAr = explode("=", $value);
        if(sizeof($tmpAr) > 1) {
            $httpParsedResponseAr[$tmpAr[0]] = $tmpAr[1];
         }
    }

    if((0 == sizeof($httpParsedResponseAr)) || !array_key_exists('ACK', $httpParsedResponseAr)) {

        exit("Invalid HTTP Response for POST request($nvpreq) to $api_endpoint.");

    }

    return $httpParsedResponseAr;

}

The other way to cancel is inside the user account:

1. Log in to your PayPal account.
2. Click Profile near the top of the page.
3. Click My money.
4. Click Update in the My preapproved payments section.
5. Click Cancel, Cancel automatic billing, or Cancel subscription and follow the instructions.