Billing cycles

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Last updated: Aug 15th, 6:11am

When you create a plan, you set the regular period billing cycle duration. A plan’s billing cycle defines the recurring frequency with which the subscriber is charged. For example, a plan with a weekly billing cycle charges the subscriber on a recurring frequency of one week.

You can choose from the following billing cycles:

  • Day
  • Week
  • Month
  • Year
  • Custom: customize the billing cycle for more flexible options like two weeks or three months.

Finite and infinite

Billing cycles can continue for a specified period of time, a finite plan, or until the user cancels the subscription, an infinite plan.

  • Finite plan - A plan with a fixed number of billing cycles. Create a finite plan if you want to associate a pre-defined number of cycles to the plan. Once a buyer subscribes to a finite plan, the subscription remains active for the specified number of billing cycles. You create a finite plan by specifying the total_cycles of billing cycles when you create the plan.

    Example: An online tutorial course priced at $10 per month and scheduled to last for five monthly cycles. The subscriber is charged $10 for five monthly cycles with the subscription ending after the fifth cycle.

  • Infinite plan - A plan without a fixed number of cycles. Create an infinite plan if you don’t want to associate a pre-defined number of cycles to the plan. Once a buyer subscribes to an infinite plan, the subscription remains active until cancelation. You create an infinite plan by specifying the total_cycles of billing cycles as 0 when you create the plan.

    Example: A plan for video streaming service priced at $20 per month. The subscriber is charged $20 per month until they cancel the subscription.

Example: finite plan

This example sets a finite plan with the following characteristics:

  • Five cycles
  • Each billing cycle is one month

    1curl -v –X POST https://api-m.sandbox.paypal.com/v1/billing/plans /
    2-H "PayPal-Auth-Assertion: AUTH-ASSERTION" /
    3-H "Content-Type: application/json" /
    4-H "Authorization: Bearer ACCESS-TOKEN" /
    5-d '{
    6 "name": "Beginner Plan",
    7 "description": "Five month beginner course",
    8 "product_id": "PROD-5RN21878H3527870P",
    9 "billing_cycles": [
    10 {
    11 "frequency": {
    12 "interval_unit": "MONTH",
    13 "interval_count": 1
    14 },
    15 "tenure_type": "REGULAR",
    16 "sequence": 1,
    17 "total_cycles": 5,
    18 "pricing_scheme": {
    19 "fixed_price": {
    20 "value": "10",
    21 "currency_code": "USD"
    22 }
    23 }
    24 }
    25 ],
    26 "payment_preferences": {
    27 "auto_bill_outstanding": true,
    28 "payment_failure_threshold": 1
    29 }
    30 }'

    Example: infinite plan

    This example sets an infinite plan with the following characteristics:

    • Billing continues until the subscriber cancels. Create an infinite plan by specifying the total_cycles of billing cycles as 0.
    • Each billing cycle is one month
      1curl -v –X POST https://api-m.sandbox.paypal.com/v1/billing/plans /
      2-H "PayPal-Auth-Assertion: AUTH-ASSERTION" /
      3-H "Content-Type: application/json" /
      4-H "Authorization: Bearer ACCESS-TOKEN" /
      5-d '{
      6 "name": "Premium Video Plus",
      7 "description": "Premium plan with video download feature",
      8 "product_id": "PROD-5RN21878H3527870P",
      9 "billing_cycles": [
      10 {
      11 "frequency": {
      12 "interval_unit": "MONTH",
      13 "interval_count": 1
      14 },
      15 "tenure_type": "REGULAR",
      16 "sequence": 1,
      17 "total_cycles": 0,
      18 "pricing_scheme": {
      19 "fixed_price": {
      20 "value": "20",
      21 "currency_code": "USD"
      22 }
      23 }
      24 }
      25 ],
      26 "payment_preferences": {
      27 "auto_bill_outstanding": true,
      28 "payment_failure_threshold": 1
      29 }
      30 }'

      See also

      • Create a plan - You set the billing cycle frequency and the length of the subscription when you create the plan.

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