07-19-2005, 11:55 PM
|
|
Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
|
|
All PayPal Auto-Renewals Finally Cancelled: Subscribers Please Read
This concerns subscribers, so if you've received an email from PayPal saying that your Pocket PC Thoughts subscription has been cancelled, keep reading.
When we first launched subscriber services in 2003, we had an auto-renew option that used PayPal's then-new subscription feature. When you had a subscription, it would automatically bill every year until you wanted to stop it. This seemed like a great idea at the time (don't they always), but a year after we launched subscriber services I quickly realized what a bad decision I had made. I started getting emails from people demanding to know why I had billed their account again - most seemed to have forgotten it was set up to auto-renew, and some even forgot they bought a subscription in the first place. What's worse is that PayPal didn't give me a tool to cancel the auto-renewing subscriptions, so all I could do was issue a refund then ask the person to cancel the subscription from their end. Now and then someone would file a complaint with PayPal, and their anti-fraud department would contact me asking why I charged the customer - all because the original person forgot that they signed up for a subscription in the first place. :? What made matters worse is that the auto-renewing subscriptions bypassed our subscriber activation system, meaning I had to renew those subscriptions manually. Not hard to do, but yet another thing to look after in my day.
I've been going through this for several years, and this year I decided to dig deeper and call PayPal to find out if I was missing something - turns out was...sort of. :roll: When a subscription is renewed and I clicked on the details, there was no "Cancel Subscription" button. After speaking with PayPal support today, I learnt why: the only way to cancel a subscription is to find the original subscription creation point, go into the details for it, click Cancel Subscription, then click Cancel Subscription on the next page. 8O I just finished spending the last hour doing just that - going back through almost three years of subscriber history, finding every active subscription, and cancelling it. So there should be no more auto-billing PayPal subscriptions - I did this for 2checkout last year.
What does this mean to you as a subscriber if you received an email from PayPal stating that your Pocket PC Thoughts subscription has been cancelled? Absolutely nothing - your subscription data and expiration date is stored on our server, separate from PayPal. From now on though, when your subscription comes up for renewal, you'll receive an email from our system stating as much and giving you an option to renew. If you're a lifetime subscriber, absolutely nothing changes at all - you still have your lifetime subscription.
Lastly, for those of you who got auto-renewed within the last week, I've emailed you to ask if you wanted it to auto-renew or if you wanted a refund. I'll processing those next, so thanks for your patience. Back to your regularly scheduled Pocket PC news & views!
|
| |
|
|
|
07-20-2005, 12:38 AM
|
|
Ponderer
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 73
|
|
A lot of problems with paypal...it's sweet, but hasn't been re-designed for e-commerce yet.
One way to avoid problems might be to offer monthy auto-renewals instead of yearly. That way the user remembers it from month to month.
The worst thing about paypal auto renewal, like the problem you had canceling, is that the end user likewise can't terminate it via they paypal control panel. I tried it with another site recently. The user has to contact the merchant to manually track them the account and do it.
|
| |
|
|
|
07-20-2005, 12:55 AM
|
|
Mystic
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 1,911
|
|
This is all the more reason to buy a lifetime membership. I did it last year and haven't had to worry about it since. Plus Jason will give you a cool little light if you do. 
|
| |
|
|
|
07-20-2005, 01:39 AM
|
|
Pupil
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 16
|
|
Paypal auto-renewal
Wow, Jason, that's a lot of work you had to do!
I, for one, appreciate your efforts. Thanks for looking out for us!
|
| |
|
|
|
07-20-2005, 04:45 AM
|
|
Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
|
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Airscanner
One way to avoid problems might be to offer monthy auto-renewals instead of yearly. That way the user remembers it from month to month...The worst thing about paypal auto renewal, like the problem you had canceling, is that the end user likewise can't terminate it via they paypal control panel.
|
We thought about that, but the PayPal per-transaction fee then eats up most of the profit. And FWIW, end-users actually can cancel their subscription, it just takes some digging. Easiest way is for the user to look at the history > subscriptions and they'll find it. Until today, that was the only way they used to get cancelled, by the end users.
|
| |
|
|
|
07-20-2005, 04:51 AM
|
|
Pupil
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 25
|
|
Wow! Ironic timing. I just recently learned of this site:
http://paypalsucks.com/
Go check it out. You are not alone 0X
|
| |
|
|
|
07-20-2005, 01:20 PM
|
|
Thinker
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 330
|
|
When I checked my email this morning I thought by Odens Raven what has happened to PPCT my subs cancelled. So panic over now 
Maybe a lifetime sub is the way to go.
|
| |
|
|
|
07-20-2005, 04:38 PM
|
|
Pontificator
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,041
|
|
Wow, Paypal has been quite a hassle! How about creating your own credit card processing portal on this site?
|
| |
|
|
|
07-20-2005, 04:47 PM
|
|
Theorist
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 291
|
|
I got a warning from the thoughts website saying my subscription was going to expire I have since renewed but the website is still showing that I haven't paid, I recieved a receipt from 2Checkout if you want the order number let me know.
I have sent an email and contact us form and haven't had a reply 
Thanks
|
| |
|
|
|
07-20-2005, 04:55 PM
|
|
Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
|
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by ricksfiona
Wow, Paypal has been quite a hassle! How about creating your own credit card processing portal on this site?
|
We use 2checkout in addition to PayPal, but 2checkout's % fee is quite a bit higher than PayPal's - ultimately people can chose to pay with whichever they prefer.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Linear Mode
