Does Subscriptions require Customer to have PayPal account?

[grwongku]

I thought with Recurring (Subscriptions) payments, requiring customers to have PayPal account was an option. However in my checkout I see the following:
"You need a PayPal account for this purchase. "

And in the docs I also see:
https://developer.paypal.com/webapps/developer/docs/classic/paypal-payments-standard/integration-gui...
"Important: For your Subscribe buttons to support credit/debit cards, you must be approved for PayPal Payments Standard Enhanced Recurring Payments (ERP). Unless you sign up for ERP, your Subscribe buttons will accept payment from PayPal accounts only. For more information, contact your PayPal representative."

Please explain.

[snowshoe]

Standard subscriptions do require customers to have a PayPal Account.   This also allows your customers to make limited changes to their subscription as well as make automatic scheduled payments from their PayPal Account.

Enhanced Recurring Payments or ERP is an "optional" feature that does have an additional montly fee. Your customers do not need a PayPal Account.  You can accept recurring payments from all customers who prefer to pay directly with their credit card. This advanced functionality applies to subscriptions, automatic billing, and installment plans.

The catch - this is an optional feature which costs $19.99 a month plus the standard transaction processing fees.

If this is something you're interested in applying for, you can sign up for this feature from within your PayPal Account.

One way to do this is to login to your Account.

Click on the Merchant Services tab.

Under Features you can use right now.

Click on Create payments buttons for your web site.

Click on the blue Create Button link.

In Step 1, for the type of button, click on Automatic Billing.

You will then see Enhanced Recurring Payments

Click on the orange "Learn More" link.

On the next page you'll see additional details and a link for signing up.

[grwongku]

I tried that but got the following result:

Thanks for your interest

Thanks for your interest in Enhanced Recurring Payments. At this time, the service is not available to your account.

Fortunately, we offer another great solution for recurring payments. You can sign up for a recurring payments service specifically designed for PayPal Payments Pro.

Thanks

[snowshoe]

Wonder what the reason is?   Do you currently have a US Business Account?  You can always call to find out: 

888-818-3922

If you call them, let us know as that would help others.

(Payments Pro would be an alternative, it's just cost more - $30 a month plus transaction processing fees.)

[grwongku]

I received an email response from PayPal support, that I should be using "Recurring Billing". When I tried creating 

Recurring Billing button, I get the following message:

Enhanced Recurring Payments
You need to have a PayPal Business account and the Enhanced Recurring Payments package to create Automatic Billing or Installment Plan buttons.

Thanks