Recurring payments with Authorize.net

Note: The automatic recurring payments option is only available for: Community level ($50) and higher, See Pricing

Authorize.net vs PayPal Pro and Standard

In comparison to PayPal Pro and Standard, Authorize.net offers a more flexible way of managing recurring payments.

The amount of the recurring payment is always based on the current price of the membership level. This means that the administrator can adjust the membership level price as needed and it will apply to all existing member records.

With every successful recurring transaction, the membership renewal date will be shifted ahead according to the renewal settings of the current membership level. This also means that the administrator can always adjust the renewal period of the membership level as needed.

If there was an unsuccessful payment, the system will try to repeat the payment nine more times (2 attempts per day for five days). Every unsuccessful payment will be logged in the transaction log. The transaction log contains the response from Authorize.net for each transaction.

Setting up your Authorize.net account

In order to use recurring payments with Authorize.net, you must subscribe to the Authorize.NET Customer Information Manager (CIM) service.

Setting up your Wild Apricot account to accept recurring payments

The next step is to set up your Wild Apricot account.

• Make sure that your account is properly set up and configured with Authorize.NET. See: Integrating with Authorize.net
  • Make sure to enable Customer Information Manager (CIM) in Payment settings

• Enable the Automatic recurring payments option for the membership level(s). See: Membership levels
  • Review the message below the selection that outlines the restrictions for recurring payments

At this point, you should be all set and ready to accept recurring payments.

Member application process with Authorize.net recurring payment

During the application process the user will select the level and fill out the application. The system will then create an invoice and present it to the new member.

From here, the member clicks on the [Pay recurring invoice] button which will open the invoice details for review.

To complete the payment, the member would click on the [Pay online] button. This will open a payment form where the member would have to enter the credit card details and complete the payment.

Payment confirmation

After completing the payment, the member will see a confirmation message.

Member upgrade from free level to paid level with recurring payment

Any member who is in the free level may upgrade to a paid account at any time (see: Member - renew or change level). If the member selects a level with recurring payment, the payment process will be the same as described in the above section.

Payment records in Wild Apricot

The new payment will show in Finances > Payments & refunds, you can open it to review it and settle if required. See: Record Payment and Settle to Invoice

Membership level changes related to recurring payments

Any existing membership level can be set with the recurring payment option (See: Membership levels). The next time a member makes a renewal they will have to complete the process described above. If the member subscribes to a recurring payment level, they will no longer see the [Renew until] button in their profile screen. All the consecutive payments will be automatically charged according to the renewal terms.

Also, the administrator can make changes to the existing membership levels that have recurring payments enabled.
When the administrator makes adjustments to any of:

• membership level price
• renewal settings
• automatic recurring payment selection

These changes will apply to the existing members that have enabled Authorize.net recurring payment. For example, if an administrator decides to change the membership level price from $10 to $20 a month, then all existing members will be affected by this change and the next scheduled payment will be $20.
If the membership level that is being changed has existing members with recurring payments, the administrator will see the following message informing them that there are a certain number of records that will be affected by this change. Note, the administrator is not required to make any adjustments to individual member records.

In addition, if you have also switched payment systems in the past (e.g. from PayPal to Authorize.net) you might have some members that are being processed by the older payment system. This means you could end up with recurring payments that are being processed by two different payment systems. In this case you will also see a notification that there are some existing members still using PayPal. These PayPal records would have to be updated manually, one-by-one.

Payment failures

If the recurring payment does not go through, Authorize.net will attempt to repeat the payment two more times. The payment will be automatically canceled if it did not go through on the third attempt.

Note: You can use the regular Wild Apricot renewal settings to automatically send notices to member and/or administrator as appropriate. See Automating membership renewals

Canceling recurring payment

Recurring payment can be canceled by both the member and administrator.

The member can stop the recurring payment directly from the member profile page (or from Invoices and payments page) by clicking on [Stop recurring payments] button.

In a similar way, the administrator can go to the membership details and click on the [Stop] button.

Note that cancelling the recurring profile does not affect any other membership record settings (e.g. Membership status could still remain Active). If you need to process a membership record any further (e.g. change membership status from Active to Lapsed and or simply archive it) you should do so manually.