Gauging interest in a Recurring Billing and Subscription Management Module for Drupal

There is another module out there called lm_Paypal that I tried over a year ago for a client site. I mention it just for completeness, because at the time I looked at it it was a sigle module written for Drupal 4 and 5. Yes, not a 4 version and a 5 version, just a version that did both. It did other clunky non-standard things too, but it did the job. I see that it now sports versions for 4, 5 and 6, but I'm guessing that its most fundamental issues still remain.

You could pay for a single subscription, or you could have an ongoing subscription that was automatically renewed, or that reminded you to renew your subscription. However it could only use PayPal and in fact most of the work was being done by PayPal. (It's worth looking at PayPal just to see the kinds of functionality they provide, as there are several good ideas therein.) Using lm_paypal, for a one-off payment you could use PayPal without becoming a member (although of course they try to trick you into joining), but for recurring payments/reminders PayPal forced you to be a PayPal member. So this was also a bad solution because you don't want to force this on clients because many will not sign up to your site if you do that. I'm guessing this is still the case. So we ended up going the UberCart route, which was quite comprehensive, though I did report a bug or two because back then it was still bleeding edge, and they were super fast in acting on things. It worked very well, but most assuredly is taking a sledgehammer to a fly. So the summary is that Ubercart does it well, but is waaaay overkill because you essentially have to set up an ecomerce store to make it happen. lm_paypal with PayPal had the right concept and ideas -- essentially exactly what you're talking about, a simple straightforward module -- but executed it poorly.

I'd say there is a distinct need for a simple module like this and likely you can plunder some of the code from UberCart (hey, it's all open source after all) as they do exactly the kind of roles-purchasing you mention. I have not seen the trial periods and coupons you mentioned, though I'm sure they could be mocked up in UberCart. Another nice addition would be to accept payments that are not fixed, as some like memberships to be a donation of the member's choosing, possibly with a minimum amount.

Either as a part of this, or as an offshoot module, you could also have a feature to simply accept donations/one-off payments. The payment mechanism will be much the same, but again staying within the Drupal realm, instead of the usual tricks that use the APIs of vendors like PayPal.

Grant

Oh... i forgot to mention that I did not include lm_paypal because of the requirement to become a member of Paypal to recur billing. As far as I know, that is still the case.

IP Applications offers a user-friendly, cost-effective solution to Subscription Billing and Payment Management. The application is function-rich and provides vast visibility into all activities and processes in the Billing and Payment Cycle. If you have multiple re-sellers, or different levels within your model, this software is an excellent means for channel management, providing real-time knowledge and visibility into each and every level or channel, informing you of who bought/sold what to who and when.
Current clients include AOL, Sprint, Sage Telecom and others, however, they do cater to small and mid-sized companies and it is reflected in their pricing model.

If you would like a further details, please feel free to contact me.

Paul Cain
pcain at ipapplications.com

One of the challenges with recurring payments is that you need to keep Credit Card information on-hand for future payments- which is quite a risk, especially on shared hosting.

Some payment gateways get around this by passing back a token on the first transaction. You can then use the token for future transactions. This adds quite a security layer to the whole process.

Each payment gateway has its own way of doing this. There is no industry standard- afaik. That is where the challenge lies.

I learned all this doing the ec_autopay and trustcommerce modules.

I hope this helps out.

DaveA

Davea for your input!

Initially our goal is to service Authorize ARB and Paypal. And that is probably it. That takes care of a huge part of the market place. Certainly others are out there, but Authorize dominates much of the merchant market. Neither requires the storage of CC info.

On a related note you bring up: I had a client recently have us attempt to upgrade their old proprietary membership system. They had 2000+ CC numbers with ALL supporting info including CID numbers basically unsecure on their server. We were shocked.

Dylan:

Thanks for your feedback. I have been looking at the duplicate modules/HOS group quite a bit. And in consideration of just that very thing is why we are soliciting feedback, which has been really helpful so far.

It may end up that we do just what you suggest and improve upon an existing feature set of existing work. Or we may not pursue this at all if we feel the effort will not truly be beneficial for all parties.

Gordon's work currently on the receipt system I think will yield some very good advancement in the ecommerce arena.

So we are evaluating seriously and are not going to just jump in.

In regards to:

Compare "17 modules is too many", vs "I need my application to handle 300 transactions per second on server hardware costing less than $500 / month").

You make a good point because it is a value judgement and is general. I do however stand by our experience and assertion that it can be simpler than what is currently available. Simpler may not suit everyone, but we have evidence that "simpler" is strongly desired for Drupal when it comes to paid membership and recurring billing.

There will be many configurations/parameters where our proposed module simply will not do. We are not trying to one-size fits all. We are trying to be THIS size fits MANY.

Thanks again for your thoughts!

-gripmedia

I tend to need a lot of hook integration when I use Authorize.net's ARB. Beyond just roles, I'll need to run other permission checks and other checks (quotas of various types, participation points, etc), execute actions, etc.

I can usually do the ARB APIs and needed role/hook work within a couple pages of code, and reuse it for other clients. I think, if anything, a simple, hook-heavy API would be helpful. eCommerce and Ubercart satisfy the great number of needs out there, and the only remaining market is for a lightweight API for programmers who are working with edge cases.

In contrast to Dylan's strong point - let's not remake the wheel for the 100th time. Which I would completely agree is just plain a bad use of time.

I think the concept of a lightweight module that serves much of the 'Drupal Light' user base (those who are jumping for joy that they can even install and configure a complex module - a strong and powerful part of the community). This suggested module would be a welcomed contribution.

Consider this...

For the first time user of Ubercart, deployment and configuration require a substantial investment in time. The type of recurring payment solution doesn't necessarily represent a store front - which Ubercart does well. The recurring payment element of Ubercart is a solution that is more of a modified product. All that power, it reminds me of using a dump truck when a wheel barrel is the right tool.

So, in response to the initial question... Would I use this? I would always choose the right tool for the right application. I think deploying Ubercart (my favorite Drupal eCommerce solution for clients) is too much horsepower for subscription only based sites. Part of the reason I can attract clients to Drupal is the lightweight ease of use. For small scale - this would probably be a GREAT solution.

It is for this reason --> two thumbs up!

Scott Baetz

Awesome idea! I am no developer but I just spent literally 2 days in the guts of Drupal to find a D6 subscription module supporting a PayPal WPS account. I installed Ubercart (sounds awesome) but does not seem to support Subs / Paypal WPS. I installed lm_paypal, seemed to work ok but limited. I installed e-commerce, spent hours trying to config and still having issues just from a usability standpoint. Can't see my sub. service offering in the cart. So I am going back to lm_paypal to spend more time configuring. All I would need from a req standpoint is Subscription management for user roles, none of the bells and whistles associated with ship-able physical products.

. Subscription services management, ie access management and reporting

. Sub user management

. Google analytics integration

I can help some more on the requiremens if needed ... can't code it unfortunately. Thanks for the initiative.

-arnaud