The Simple Membership plugin allows you to create Buy Now buttons for membership payment from the payments menu of the plugin. This method of payment button creation is very easy. Once you create the button in the plugin, you can add a shortcode to place the payment button on your membership “Join Us” page.
Note: We recommend creating a PayPal Payment Button using the New API for membership payments. It offers smoother integration.
Table of Contents
- Creating PayPal Buy Now Button for Membership Payment
- Customizing the Button
- Open PayPal Payment Page in a New Window
- PayPal IPN Feature
- Set UTF-8 Format for your PayPal IPN
- What Happens After the Payment?
- How Can I Test My PayPal Buy Now Button?
- Troubleshooting Related
Creating PayPal Buy Now Button for Membership Payment
Step 1) Select PayPal Buy Now Button
Go to Payments -> Create New Button interface from the admin side of this plugin. Then select the PayPal Buy Now option (see image below):
Step 2) Configure the Payment Button Details
Enter the payment details and select your membership level for the button. See example below:
Step 3) Put the Payment Button on a Page
You can now put this newly created button on your membership join us page so the visitors can pay you using this button.
The “Manage Payment Buttons” tab shows you the shortcode you need to use to put your payment button on a page.
The shortcode will create a buy now button (for the membership level you specified). It should look something like the following:
When visitors make payment using this button, they will be able to create accounts for the gold (in this example) membership access.
Customizing the Button
The look and feel of the button will depend on your theme’s style/CSS.
You can use a custom image for your button to customize it. Simply upload your button image to the media library then specify the URL of the image in the “Button Image URL” field (by editing the button).
You can also customize the button text by specifying the value in the shortcode using the “button_text” parameter. Below is an example shortcode that uses “Join Now” as the payment button text:
[swpm_payment_button id=75 button_text="Join Now"]
Open PayPal Payment Page in a New Window
You can also open the paypal payment page in a new window (when the membership payment button is clicked). Add the “new_window” parameter in the shortcode to do this.
Below is an example shortcode:
[swpm_payment_button id=75 button_text="Pay Now" new_window="1"]
PayPal IPN Feature
The plugin uses the PayPal IPN feature to receive notification from PayPal for membership payments. Read the Enabling PayPal IPN feature documentation to learn more.
Set UTF-8 Format for your PayPal IPN
If you are using a non-english language then you should setup your paypal account to send IPN message in UTF-8 format. Learn how to set UTF-8 message format in your paypal account.
What Happens After the Payment?
If this is a payment made by a NEW member then the user will receive an email that contains a “special” link to complete the registration. Read the registration process overview documentation to learn more.
If the payment is made by an EXISTING member then the membership level (associated with this payment button) is applied to the existing member’s profile.
Note: The member must be logged into the site as a member for this plugin to recognize the user and treat him/her as an existing member.
How Can I Test My PayPal Buy Now Button?
Prior to testing a transaction, it is recommended that you go through this payment testing checklist.
The best way to test the functionality of your PayPal buy now button is to edit the price of the button and make it $1.00 (or less) temporarily. This allows you to play out the membership payment as if you were a customer coming to the site. You can issue a refund after your testing is complete (so the payment gets reversed).
This can be achieved by:
- Clicking on WP Membership > Payments and then editing the PayPal button you wish to test.
- Alter the payment amount to $1.00 or less.
- Ensure you click the Save Payment Data button.
Once you have altered the price of your membership buy now button, you are ready to test the functionality. Enabling the debug logging feature at this stage is a good idea in the case that something does not go as planned after the payment has been made.
In a browser (different to the one you are logged into as admin) open the page/post where your buy now button is present. You will need a PayPal account that is not the one you have used within the settings of Simple Membership to test the functionality.
Click the PayPal Buy Now Button and using a secondary PayPal email address, checkout with the $1.00 (or less membership). Ensure the process works correctly and you are able to sign up using the registration form. See if you are able to view content hidden for that level.
Once you have tested the functionality, you can go back and edit the price of the membership level.
Please note: The email address you use when registering needs to be unique and not within your WP users system already. If the email address has been used previously you may find that the member is upgraded rather than treated as a new member.
Troubleshooting Related
Payment Testing
When Testing the Functionality of the Buy Now Button Ensure The Following:
- You are not using an email address that already has an account on the site (for testing a new user registration scenario).
- You can go to the member’s menu of your site and search using an email address to make sure there is no entry for that email.
- Go to the WP users menu and search using the email address to make sure you don’t have a WP user entry with that email.
- Perform the transaction from a web browser where you are not logged into the site (to simulate what your real new members will see).
- Check that the PayPal IPN feature is enabled in your PayPal account.
- You can enable the debug logging feature before making the test purchase. It will help you see if there is any issue with the transaction.
Unexpected Behavior After Payment
If you are getting unexpected behavior after the payment, the issue is likely caused by one of the following.
To troubleshoot, enable the plugin’s debug logging feature and perform a test transaction. This will help determine whether the IPN notification is successfully reaching the plugin after payment. In most cases, this is where the issue lies.
#1) PayPal IPN Not Enabled: Make sure the IPN (Instant Payment Notification) feature is enabled in your PayPal account. Please refer to this guide on Enabling PayPal IPN Feature in Your PayPal Account.
#2) Server-Side Changes: Your hosting provider may have made changes to the server (e.g., updated software, firewall, or security rules) that are now blocking PayPal’s IPN notifications.
3) Emails Not Sending from Your Server: The mail configuration on your server may be incorrect, causing outgoing emails to fail. Please refer to the following guide to help troubleshoot email-related issues.