How to specify Instalments in Subscription PreApproval

[pranav-g10]

While one-time payments via the Payments API gives the option to specify the number of installments that the payment should be split in

The subscription pre-approval creation API does not have support for any such field.

I want to collect Annual subscription but also give the customers the option to pay the annual price in installments. Is this not possible ? Please suggest.

[andreagostinho-meli]

Hello @pranav-g10, if you need to split an annual payment into 12 installments, you can use the one-time payment to do so.
Now, if you want to use the PreApproval API, you can create an annual subscription using the auto_recurring object and setting the frequency to 1 and frequency_type to months, along with start_date and end_date fields considering one year.
The PreApproval API offers installments control as a frequency of the subscription.

"auto_recurring": {
  "frequency": 1,
  "frequency_type": "months",
  "start_date": "2024-01-01T00:00:00.000Z",
  "end_date": "2024-12-31T00:00:00.000Z",
  "transaction_amount": 10,
  "currency_id": "<CURRENCY_ID>"
},

[pranav-g10]

Hi @andreagostinho-meli , thanks for the reply. But if I set the frequency to 1 and frequency_type to months, wont that make it into a monthly subscription ?

What we were hoping to achieve was an annual subscription where I as the seller get the full annual amount upfront, while the buyer gets the benefit of paying the amount in more manageable 12 instalments with interest. I hope this clarifies what we are trying to build.

The weird thing is that Mercado's Checkout Bricks do show the support for instalments, I just don't know where to send this value in the Pre-Approval API

[andreagostinho-meli]

@pranav-g10 Yes, the payment frequency would be monthly, but the subscription would last for one year.
The PreApproval API offers installments control as a frequency of the subscription.
I recommend you read the Subscriptions documentation to understand better how the PreApproval API handles the frequency of the subscription.

[pranav-g10]

Hi @andreagostinho-meli , so I have a pre-approval plan which looks like this.

As you can see this plan is annual (not monthly or quarterly) and it's duration is unlimited.

Currently I was creating subscriptions like this:

new PreApproval({key, token}).create({
  preapproval_plan_id, payer_email, card_token_id, status: 'authorized'
})

Are you saying if the customer chooses 3 installments then I should create the subscription like this instead?

new PreApproval({key, token}).create({
  preapproval_plan_id, payer_email, card_token_id, status: 'authorized',
  auto_recurring: {
    frequency: 3, frequency_type: 'months', currency_id: 'MXN'
  }
})

If I send preapproval_plan_id and auto_recurring at the same time the subscription will be annual and I will get MXN 100 but the customer will be charged MXN 36.11 every 3 months instead ?

[pranav-g10]

Hi @andreagostinho-meli, please confirm your response regarding the above question