Why do I need both?

SubscriptionBridge adds lots of subscription management features to PayPal Recurring Payments. In a nutshell, here is how the two systems work together:

• Recurring Payments -> Triggered and processed by PayPal
• Pretty much everything else -> SubscriptionBridge

Recurring payments are triggered and processed by PayPal. No credit card numbers are ever stored by SubscriptionBridge. This ensures maximum security, reliability, and flexibility. For example, if you choose to stop using SubscriptionBridge (or if SubscriptionBridge experiences a technical issue), payments will not be affected: the recurring billing profiles still exist (and payments continue to be processed) in your PayPal account.

What does SubscriptionBridge add to Website Payments Pro recurring payments?

Lots of features. Use the table below to compare using PayPal WPP Recurring Payments with and without SubscriptionBridge.

		PayPal WPP		PayPal WPP + SubscriptionBridge
Subscription Management
Search and view existing subscriptions
Easily create subscription packages
Add/remove features to a subscription		-
Upgrade/downgrade to a related subscription package		-
Create one-time, catch-up payments		-
Create Custom Subscription Adjustments		-
Customer Service
Notify customers when important scenarios occur (credit card expiration, trial ending, etc.)		Partial support
Add custom messages to the notifications automatically sent by the system (e.g. instructions related to a free trial).		-
Allow customers to end a trial and switch to a full subscription (Merchant can do the same).		-
Allow customers to add/remove features to/from an existing subscription (if any), with automatic calculation of pro-rata amount due for current billing period.		-
Automatically and/or manually request catch-up payments when needed (e.g. outstanding balance)		Partial support
E-mail Notifications
Basic, text-only e-mail notifications				-
Rich, HTML e-mail notifications - See some examples		-
Over 10 customer service messages sent automatically in different scenarios - View a list		Limited
Ability to resend a notification email		-
Built-in shopping cart		-
Built-in integration with popular shopping carts		-
Integration with Other Applications
API for simple integration with another application
API for advanced, event-based integration		Limited number of "events" are tracked-
"Silent Posts" when a number of events occur (e.g. customer switched from trial to full account)		Same
Payment Features
Flexible recurring payment plans		The same system is used.		The same system is used.
Secure, PCI-DSS compliant payment system		PCI-DSS compliant		Leverage's PayPal's PCI compliance status. PCI-DSS validation under way for the SB-hosted payment pages.