paid membership queire

[adamskis_side_fx]

Hi! I’ve used vb forum in the past and have had experience setting up custom user groups.

I have a client that would like us to setup a forum that has paid membership system.

2 questions that I cannot answer for her are.

1. Can users be upgraded instantly by paying through paypal, or does it require the admin to authorise them one the payment has been accepted.

2. Is it possible to setup the system so the user has to pay say £50 membership for the first month, then each time they wish to renew their membership status the rate is only £10.

Thanks for reading, I’ll look forward to receiving replies.
Regards - Adam

[Trevor Hannant]

Hi! I’ve used vb forum in the past and have had experience setting up custom user groups.

I have a client that would like us to setup a forum that has paid membership system.

2 questions that I cannot answer for her are.

1. Can users be upgraded instantly by paying through paypal, or does it require the admin to authorise them one the payment has been accepted.

2. Is it possible to setup the system so the user has to pay say £50 membership for the first month, then each time they wish to renew their membership status the rate is only £10.

Thanks for reading, I’ll look forward to receiving replies.
Regards - Adam

1. Yes.

2. Because the subscription is setup with PayPal rather than vB, that's not currently possible. PayPal subscriptions are maintained at their original level and can't fluctuate while they remain valid.

If you wanted to go down this line, you'd have to find a way to cancel the subscription with PayPal and setup a new one for the lower amount.

[adamskis_side_fx]

Hi Trevster, thanks for your reply.

So am I right in thinking that when a user subscribes to the paid membership, they receive this for the designated time period (1 month in this case), then the system knows when this expires and will atomically reduce their user group from paid member to free member (or whatever user group I specify).

If so is there a way the demoted user could subscribe to another user group that has the same access rights as the paid member but is offered at a lower rate? And is it possible that people new to the site couldn’t access this lower rate subscription.

So in total the user groups would look something like this

free (very low access)
first time paid membership @ £50 (full access)
demoted member (low access)
returning paid membership @ £10 (full access)

Regards - Adam

[Trevor Hannant]

Hi Trevster, thanks for your reply.

So am I right in thinking that when a user subscribes to the paid membership, they receive this for the designated time period (1 month in this case), then the system knows when this expires and will atomically reduce their user group from paid member to free member (or whatever user group I specify).

Yes. vB automatically moves them back

If so is there a way the demoted user could subscribe to another user group that has the same access rights as the paid member but is offered at a lower rate? And is it possible that people new to the site couldn’t access this lower rate subscription.

Yes. If you create your subscription for the lower amount, you can then use the Subscription Permissions to block certain usergroups from accessing it. Be aware though that if they forget to take out the new subscription before they revert back to their original usergroup, they won't see it.

So in total the user groups would look something like this

free (very low access)
first time paid membership @ £50 (full access)
demoted member (low access)
returning paid membership @ £10 (full access)

Regards - Adam

Mmmm, don't think that'll work. It won't put them back to a usergroup that they weren't in previously. Example:

- User joins, spends few weeks in 'free' group.
- Takes out £50 membership
- On expiry, is moved back to 'free' usergroup

[adamskis_side_fx]

Ahh, yeah hi see. Ok then, would it be possible for the admin to work it like this.

The user signs up for free forum account (level 1).
They then pay for full access (level 2A)
The admin then switches them to level 2B.
The subscription ends and the user goes to level 3
The user can then subscribe to level 4.
When this ends they go back to level 3, and so on.

Level 1 - free (very low access)
Level 2A - first time paid membership @ £50 (full access)
Level 2B – same as above but permissions are set that when subscription expires the user goes to level 3 not 1
Level 3 - demoted member (low access)
Level 4 - returning paid membership @ £10 (full access)

Regards - Adam

[Trevor Hannant]

Nope, as I stated - it won't put them back to a usergroup that they weren't in previously. They will revert to their previous usergroup when the subscription expires.

[Trevor Hannant]

For clarification - The system records the user's previous primary group at the time of purchase so it can revert them back when the subscription expires.

If you want to do it differently, you'll need to look into modifying the code which isn't supported here but may already be available over at www.vbulletin.org.

[adamskis_side_fx]

Ok, what if the admin moves them from level 1 to level 3 after their first subscription has expired, It won’t be a smoother user experience and there will be a small time period that the user cant then re-subscribe at the lower rate, as well as a little extra admin input, but would that work?

Regards - Adam

[Trevor Hannant]

Let's see if I can word this any clearer...

When a user takes out a subscription, certain information is passed into the database (including but not exclusively):

- The id of the subscription
- The length of the subscription
- The userid the subscription is to be applied to
- The start timestamp of the subscription
- The expiry timestamp of the subscription
- The user's existing usergroupid

A Cron job checks these tables at specified intervals and if it finds a user has a subscription and it's past the expiry timestamp, they will have their access reverted to the existing usergroupid.

So, you changing their usergroup AFTER they take out the subscription will have no effect as the usergroupid has already been set in the database - a value that doesn't get updated.

[Trevor Hannant]

Ok, what if the admin moves them from level 1 to level 3 after their first subscription has expired, It won’t be a smoother user experience and there will be a small time period that the user cant then re-subscribe at the lower rate, as well as a little extra admin input, but would that work?

Regards - Adam

Yes it would but then you'd also have to keep manual records of when everyone's subscriptions are due to expire as you don't receive notifications...

[cellarius]

If you want to move users around manually, you can put them into a special usergroup before the subscription expires. I.e.:

- they subscribe at full rate
- as soon as they have subscribed, you manually assign a secondary usergroup to them (for instance: has_subscribed)
- you set up a second subscription a reduced rate that can only be subscribed by users who are in usergroup has_subscribed. No need to wait until the old subscription expires.

It would also be fairly easy to automate this. But for this you'd have to go to vbulletin.org.

[cellarius]

Oh, btw, we are in presales here. Trevster, I fear we might have gone in to great detail already - support in that depth is reserved for the support forums, where only customers that have their license confirmed can post, or so I gather...

[Jobe1986]

It could be possible using subscription permissions and a scheduled task/promotion. Eg. for the £50 initial subscription, as a non-recccuring subscription, and use a scheduled task/promotion to add an extra group to their profile. Then only allow that extra group to use the £10 (allow reccuring) subscription.

(all just theory on what exists so may not work)