Paypal variable subscription

Question

There is a Paypal subscription mechanism which allows customers to be charged by a variable amount each month but I'm struggling to get info about it.

1. What is the mechanism known as? I can't google it because Paypal doesn't give it a consistent name. They variously refer to it as "automatic billing", "Variable amount subscriptions" and other random descriptions.

2. Is there a good source for info?

3. I created an HTML subscribe button. Can I now use the Express Checkout API to get info about the state of that subscription?

Nigel

Answer 1

1. When you create Recurring profiles/subscriptions using CreateRecurringPaymentsProfile then you can have variable amount.
2. https://developer.paypal.com/docs/classic/paypal-payments-standard/integration-guide/subscribe_buttons/
3. You cannot use ExpressCheckout API to get information of subscriptions created through normal subscription button, if you do so you will get this error Subscription Profiles not supported by Recurring Payment APIs.