magento cart totals when using subscriptions - php

Question

when using paypal subscriptions in magneto - by default, magento uses the awkward method of
separating the subscription items from grand totals
grand total is zero if only sub is in cart while it calculates physical good separately
subscription items cost is placed below grand totals so it looks like:
as shown, subscription items are not even totaled
subtotal
0.00
grand total
0.00
subscription items
sub1 $1.00
sub2 $1.00
In my view, it would be better like this:
this would be what i consider normal....
Subscription Items:
sub1 $1.00
sub2 $1.00
Subtotal $2.00
Other Cart Items:
T-Shirt 1.00
Subtotal $1.00
grand total
$3.00
or...
Subscription Items:
sub1 $1.00
sub2 $1.00
Other Cart Items:
T-Shirt 1.00
Subtotal $3.00
grand total $3.00
or simply...
Your Cart Items:
sub1 $1.00
sub2 $1.00
T-Shirt 1.00
Subtotal $3.00
grand total $3.00
has anyone faced this and found a way to fix paypal/magnetos bad coding so that everything in cart adds up like a normal shopping cart?

Answer 1

It is a standard practice to keep subscription items separate from current order items. The way you're outlining this would cause confusion with your customers, I can pretty much guarantee.
If you show a break down like you've explained...
sub1: 1.00
sub2: 1.00
tshirt: 1.00
subtotal: 3.00
grand total: 3.00
Your customers are going to wonder if they're being charged 3.00 on a recurring bases or only the 2.00.
The actual shopping cart items that are "normal" as you put it, would be setup and included in the one-time purchase. Subscription items, which would be billed on a recurring basis, would be shown separately to differentiate and make it very clear.
Now, a subscription profile may have an "initial amount" charged, and that could be included and shown as a cart item, but again, the recurring amount would typically be shown separately.
Here's an example of a site of mine that is completely custom. I toyed around with lots of ways to display this so it was clear to people, and this is the sort of thing I came up with.
As you can see there I'm showing the one-time amount as the subtotal and then the recurring amount under that as an additional charge that will happen based on the subscription included with the order. If I were to simply show 71.85 as the total that would be confusing to people (and I experienced that first hand before I moved to this format.)
So then here's another screenshot of what it looks like with shipping included, so the subtotal and grand total are updated accordingly, but the subscription amount is still separate.
I have other orders where the one-time is $0 and there's nothing but a subscription, but it still gets broken down as $0 + 1.95/mo or whatever the case may be.
So, personally, I think what Magento is doing makes sense and is going to be better for you once you have live customers shopping on your site. It breaks down exactly what will be charged now, one-time, vs. what will be charged on a recurring basis.