I have recently been given the task to create a proof of concept that we can create adaptive payments within our system, but I have come to a stumbling block - just one!
When the API call is fired off to set up the pre-approval, the returned data does not extend past the 12 month period, regardless of if I go past that date.
I have read online that the limit is 12 months, but then I checked my own pre-approved list and I have an active pre-approved payment set up with Skype, from 2009, that is still active, so I figured it must be possible, so I called paypal.
They informed me that you can do it with Express Checkout, but for the life of me, I can not find how to allow periods of more than 12 months.
So the main question is: Does anybody know how to allow dates for the end date, to extend past the 12 months period?
The secondary question is: Express Checkout appears to be a separate payment system, so how are they linked in this instance?
Adaptive and Express Checkout (aka Pro) are separate payment products, both built on top of PayPal's core payment processing. The APIs and the specific features of the two products differ but they both result in similar PayPal payments, meaning things like how money is drawn from the sender's account is all shared.
But the two products create different billing agreements and features definitely vary between the two products.
I'm not familiar enough with the Adaptive product to comment on agreement length time limits and whether they could be changed; you already had PayPal on the phone, and they would be the people to ask. But the Pro product definitely does not have any such limits.
Most of the big integrations (Skype, iTunes, Netflix, etc) are with Pro, so it should be a Pro billing agreement that you have with Skype :-).
You said that your requirement was to make adaptive payments. I'm not sure if you need specific features of Adaptive Payments (e.g. split payments?) but if not, I would recommend switching to Pro.