PayPal is retiring the legacy connection that powers PayPal Standard and PayPal Express Checkout, and replacing it with PayPal Complete Payments (PPCP). We are currently implementing support for PPCP on Rainmaker Platform. Even before PPCP rolls out to Rainmaker Platform, you can start determining the impact of this change on your site, by hiding PayPal from your memberships through the transition, and planning how to approach existing PayPal subscribers.
Does this affect you?
This PayPal change affects you if you have members with active recurring MemberPress subscriptions paid through PayPal Standard or PayPal Express Checkout.
- You sell recurring memberships through MemberPress with PayPal (Standard or Express Checkout) as a payment option. You can check under Settings > Conversion > Payment Gateways.
- If you have a custom WooCommerce subscription integration, updates will be required. Please contact our support team for guidance with this custom configuration. If you only use PayPal for one-time WooCommerce purchases, no action is required. Single orders will continue to work through the transition. If PayPal is not enabled on your site at all, you can ignore the rest of this email.
- If your memberships are set to a number of payments (for example, 3 payments of $100), leave those subscribers as they are. In the membership’s Membership Terms box, confirm that the Limit Payment Cycles is ticked. Payment plans will end on their own after the last payment and new subscriptions will use the new gateway once enabled.
- If PayPal is not enabled on your site at all, you can ignore the rest of this notice.
Timeline
- By September 30, 2026: Rainmaker Platform will release the PPCP gateway. We will email you two weeks prior to publication and again on the release date so you can take action.
- Before December 31, 2026: Connect PPCP and move subscribers over to the PPCP gateway (details below).
- January 2027: PayPal is expected to stop accepting new subscriptions on the legacy gateway technologies. PayPal has not published a final date, but industry partners including MemberPress are expecting end-of-life in January.
What you need to understand
PayPal does not allow existing subscriptions to be moved from the legacy gateway to PPCP. Each member paying for a recurring subscription through PayPal will need to re-subscribe through the new gateway once it is live to avoid access disruptions. Rainmaker Platform will keep processing legacy renewal transactions for as long as PayPal accepts them, but eventually those renewals will fail, and subscribers on the old gateway will see failed payments or cancellation notices.
What to do now?
- Confirm whether your memberships accept PayPal (see above).
- Count your active PayPal members you’ll need to manage. If you want help pulling that list, let us know and we’ll help you generate a member list.
- Define the best method and messaging to invite members to re-subscribe: an email, a login notice, a limited-time incentive, whatever fits your audience.
- Consider adding a second gateway. Stripe or Authorize.net are both fully integrated with Rainmaker Platform and many platforms and customers are using this PayPal update to reduce their dependence on a single gateway.
Optional: Hide PayPal on Active Memberships
Consider hiding the PayPal gateway on your active memberships until PPCP is live. If you offer another gateway such as Stripe, consider removing PayPal as an accepted payment method on your membership signup forms for now. Every subscription created on the legacy gateway between now and the release is one more you will need to move later. To hide a payment gateway on a Membership, open the membership, scroll down to the Membership Options.
- Check (enable) the Customize Payment Methods option.
- This reveals your configured gateways, all displayed under Inactive Payment Methods.
- Check every gateway you want to keep available except PayPal — this moves them into the Active Payment Methods list.
- Leave PayPal unchecked so it stays in Inactive (hidden from checkout).
- Click Update to save your changes.
Please do NOT ask existing members to re-subscribe to PayPal yet. Until PPCP is live, any new PayPal subscription still lands on the legacy gateway and nothing is gained. The goal for now is simple: keep new legacy subscriptions on PayPal to a minimum, and leave existing ones alone until our release announcement.
Get your PayPal credentials ready
The PayPal setup does not depend on the Rainmaker Platform version, so you can generate your credentials today. It only takes a few minutes.
- Go to https://developer.paypal.com/ and log in with your PayPal Business account. A separate developer account is not required.
- Set the toggle at the top of the page to Live.
- Select Apps & Credentials, then click Create App.
- Enter a name for the app (your platform site name works well), select Merchant as the type, choose your PayPal Business account, and click Create App to confirm.
- Open the new app. You will see your Client ID and, behind the eye icon, your Secret Key.
- Copy both values and store them somewhere secure. Treat the Secret Key like a password. Do NOT email it, paste it into a support request, or share it publicly.
Decide how to handle your existing PayPal subscribers
PayPal will not allow existing subscriptions to be moved from the legacy gateways to PPCP. Each member will need to create a new recurring subscription through the PPCP gateway.
Rainmaker Platform will continue processing legacy renewals for as long as PayPal accepts them. PayPal is expected to begin retiring the legacy gateway in January 2027. You have time to plan how to manage recurring subscribers, though we recommend moving subscribers before December 31, 2026.
Here are two recommended approaches for converting existing subscriptions. Both methods allow members to receive the full period they have already paid for while moving to the PPCP gateway.
Option A: Create an upgrade link
This method is best if you have more than a handful of PayPal subscribers. You will create a duplicate membership that uses the PPCP gateway, then share an upgrade link to that duplicate membership with active PayPal subscribers. This is the method Rainmaker Digital recommends for most sites.
When members log in, they can select the upgrade link and check out through PPCP. Their remaining paid subscription time carries over, so they will not pay anything on the day they upgrade. Their first PPCP payment will occur on their original membership renewal date.
PayPal will ask members to approve the new subscription, and their legacy subscription will be canceled as part of the switch.
Here’s how you will create an upgrade link:
- Create a copy of the original membership. The duplicate membership will have its own ID and should use the PPCP gateway.
- Group the original membership and duplicate membership. This generates an upgrade link that members can use to update their membership. We will publish detailed instructions in an upgrade knowledge base article when the PPCP gateway is released.
- Update all relevant content shortcodes, such as and , as well as course access rules, coupons, reminders, and email-list connections, to include both the original and duplicate memberships. Members may lose access to any item that is not updated.
- Do not place the duplicate membership on your pricing page. Only affected members who need to switch subscriptions should see the upgrade link.
- Generate upgrade links only for memberships with active PayPal subscribers.
- Do not send an upgrade link or ask members to resubscribe until your site displays the CONNECTED badge for the PPCP gateway.
Rainmaker Digital will publish a knowledge base article with step-by-step directions, and Platform Support is available to help. Contact us with any questions.
Option B: Leave existing subscriptions renewing for now
This method is best if you have only a few PayPal subscribers and would prefer to wait until PayPal announces its final deadline.
Legacy subscribers will continue renewing and paying you exactly as they do today for as long as PayPal continues processing the legacy gateway. You do not need to take action until that changes.
What you need to know about Option B:
- You do not need to complete any work, and no revenue is lost while the legacy gateway continues to operate.
- PayPal has not announced the date when it will stop accepting legacy renewals.
- Once PayPal stops accepting legacy renewals, payments will fail for each legacy subscriber as their renewal date arrives. Each affected subscriber will then need to subscribe again through PPCP.
Plan for the PayPal change now by preparing your member messaging in advance. We will contact all customers as soon as PayPal announces the end-of-life date.
To stop a legacy subscription, use Cancel – either through the MemberPress admin function or the member’s account. Canceling stops payments at PayPal.
Do not delete legacy subscriptions or change their status by editing them. Doing so changes only the subscription record on your site; PayPal may continue charging the member.
Our recommendation is Option A for most sites. Option B is reasonable if you have only a handful of subscribers. You can also combine the two methods: create upgrade links for your largest memberships and allow the remaining subscriptions to renew for now.
What Happens Next
Over the next several weeks, Rainmaker Platform will be rolling out the new PayPal Complete Payments (PPCP) gateway and publishing guidance for the transition to the new version.
If you have questions or want help confirming which gateway your site uses, contact us today.
Thank you for trusting Rainmaker Platform with your business.
Best Regards,
Ed Bardwell
President
Rainmaker Digital Services
