Create ACH Profile

This page is available only if you have signed up for Recurring Billing Services.

Create ACH Profile page enables you to create a new recurring billing profile for a customer using ACH. A profile is your definition of a recurring transaction for a single customer. The profile includes all information required to automatically bill the right person the right amount of money at the right time for the right term.

Create a New ACH Profile

To access the Create ACH Profile page, navigate to Service Settings -> Recurring Billing -> Create ACH Profile.

  1. For Transaction Mode, specify whether to display Live or Test transactions. Profiles created in Test status are handled by PayPal’s test system and do not accept or process live credit card or ACH account numbers. Live profiles handle real funds.

  2. Specify a Profile Name (up to 128 characters) for the person or organization that is useful to you. For example, Monthly Newsletter - Jane Doe. You can use the name specified here to search for a profile.

  3. Enter the Billing Information, including phone, fax and email address, for the new profile.

  4. If the Shipping Information is the same as the billing information, click the Same as Billing Information check box. Otherwise, fill in the shipping information.

  5. Enter the Phone number for contacting purposes.

  6. Enter Email address to search for profiles. This field is required if you wish to send the customer messages each time a payment succeeds or fails. Refer to Customer Email for more information.

  7. Enter the following payment information:

Field

Description

Recurring Amount

Fixed amount to be charged to the customer’s credit card each payment period.

Start Date/Next Payment Date

The date that the first payment should be processed. Subsequent payments are processed in the next payment period that you specify. Use today’s date or a date in the future.

Comment

Use this field for comments on this profile. You can search for profiles by comment and view comments for all profiles.

Maximum Failed Payments

 

The number of payment periods for which the transaction is allowed to fail before PayPal deactivates a profile.

For example, if you bill monthly and specify 3, PayPal attempts to process the card for three months (possibly with multiple retries during each monthly payment period). If the transaction is not approved during that time, PayPal deactivates the profile.

The default value of 0 (zero) specifies that retry attempts should occur until the profile expires (that is, when the term is complete).

Term (number of payments)

The number of payments to be made over the duration of the agreement. For example, a one-year, monthly payment contract has a term of 12. A value of 0 (zero) specifies an indefinite number of payments.

Maximum Retry Number of Days

This setting applies to Recurring Billing server errors and not to ACH result codes. Recurring Billing server errors occur immediately when the payment is submitted. (In contrast, if there is an ACH NSF problem, the ACH NSF/R01 retry occurs after 3 to 5 banking days. The NSF retries occur as specified in your ACH service agreement, and have nothing to do with the Recurring Billing server.)

The number of consecutive days that PayPal should attempt to process a failed transaction until approved status is received.

For example, if you specify 4, PayPal attempts to process the transaction once each day for four consecutive days. If the transaction is not approved during this time, the payment scheduled for that payment period is marked as failed. This increments the number of failed payments used to by maximum fail payments.

Valid values: 1 - 4. Default: 2.

Payment Period

Specifies how often the payment occurs. For example, specify monthly to cause one payment to occur every month.

  • Weekly: Every week on the same day of the week as the first payment.

  • Every Two Weeks: Every other week on the same day as the first payment.

  • Monthly: Every month on the same date as the first payment. Results in 12 payments per year.

  • If you select Monthly payments, and have selected your start date as the 31st of each month, then your profile will be billed every month on the 31st. However, for months with fewer dates, like February, or April, your billing date will be the last date of the month.

Routing (ABA) Number

American Banker’s Association routing or transit number of the customer’s bank

Bank Account Number

Customer’s account number

Bank Account Type

Customer's account type: Savings account or Checking account.

 

  1. Using the Optional Transaction section, you can optionally submit a Authorization or Sale transaction when submitting example, a setup fee. Optional Transaction is a one-time transaction and is not considered a payment.

  1. Click Submit.

Optional Transaction Guidelines

Optional Transaction Amount

The amount to be charged to the customer’s credit card.