Subscription Scenario--advice needed

[Bacteria Man]

I've read through the docs and various message threads here, but I don't quite have enough knowledge to currectly setup the following subscription scenario.

My vB system is 100% subscription based consisting of several industry-specific forums. Guests will see no forums listed. Once registered they will receive free 30-day trial access to all the forums with some restrictions (i.e. no downloads.) Once they pay for a subscription, they are promoted to a full 1-year subscription. If they don't pay for a full subscription after the 30-day trial, they are demoted to registered and cut-off from the forums.

Based on the above, I have made the following assumptions:

-3 user groups: registered (no forums), trial subscription (30-day) and full subscription (1 year)
-1 or more forums associated with both trial and full user groups
-2 subscriptions, trial subscription (30-day) and full subscription (1 year)

Setting everything up is reasonably straightforward, but what about the promotion and demotion? After the 30-day trial has expired, what's the best way to communicate this to the user?

Would someone be willing to give me a play-by-play on how to set this up?

Many thanks,

[Jake Bunce]

First of all, you should use the Registered Users group as the trial group. This is the group where new registrations end up, and I assume you want new registrations to have trial access.

Create a new group for demotions:

Admin CP -> Usergroups -> Add New Usergroup

Setup this group's permissions to No so members don't have access to anything. Then create a new promotion:

Admin CP -> Usergroups -> Promotions -> Add New Promotion

Use these settings:

Usergroup - Registered Users
Reputation Comparison Type - Greater or Equal to
Reputation Level - 0
Days Registered - 30
Posts - 0
Promotion Strategy - Join Date
Promotion Type - Primary Usergroup
Move User to Usergroup - the new group you just created

Then create a new group to represent subscribed members. Set their permissions appropriately:

Admin CP -> Usergroups -> Add New Usergroup

Then create a new subscription:

Admin CP -> Subscriptions -> Add New Subscription

Configure the subscription so it changes a user's primary group to the new group you created for subscribed members.

Now when users register, they will have 30 days to purchase the subscription. Otherwise at the end of 30 days they will still be in the Registered Users group which will qualify them for the promotion (demotion).

You can let users know that they have been demoted by editing this template:

Admin CP -> Styles & Templates -> Style Manager -> « » -> header

Add this code below the $spacer_open variable:

<!-- content table -->
$spacer_open

[color=red]<if condition="$bbuserinfo['usergroupid'] == X">

<br />

	<div align="left" style="color: red; background-color: white; border: 1px solid black; padding:2px">You have been demoted.  Blah blah blah...</div>

</if>[/color]

$_phpinclude_output

Where X is the usergroupid of the demoted usergroup. Change the message appropriately. This will display a highlighted message at the top of your forums for members of the demoted group.

[Bacteria Man]

Jake, thank you for your very detailed response. I am anxious to implement your instructions.

BTW, I love vB! It's not complicated, but the sheer number of configurable features and options takes some time to get a handle on.

Keep up the good work!

[Bacteria Man]

Jake, everything worked just like you said except... I don't see how a user subscribes. I created a new user and was place in the Registered Users group (i.e. 30 trial subscription.) From the UserCP, I don't see my Full Subscription listed. What am I missing?

[conqsoft]

It should be under UserCP->Paid Subscriptions, if you added the subscription, and made it active.

[Bacteria Man]

I have reproduced the above subscription scenerio on my prod server. Everything works great, but I'm still puzzled how "Registered" users request to become full subscribers. From the User CP under "List Subscriptions" there are no subscriptions listed. I have confirmed the subscription is "Active".

Please advise.

[Jake Bunce]

The subscription should be listed if it is active.

If you are still having problems, then send me a PM with a URL and admin login for your forums. I will take a look.

[EZ-Dozet]

Very imformative post.

Thank you

[David Copeland]

Most of our higher level access groups subscribe to one year of access. But their join dates are different.

Example: If we have a Level 2 Group with 26,000 members who joined from 2000 to 2005 and have renewed each year, can we modify this group to be on autopilot? If so, would we not have to manuall change their join date to day 1 of a new annual term? And if so, could we not just add a new field and title if Subscription Date, and use that field to generate the demotion 12 months along?

David

[Bacteria Man]

A quick follow-up regarding paid subscriptions.

In order for a subscription to appear under Paid Subscriptions on the User CP page, you must have a payment processor enabled:

Admin CP -> vBulletin Options -> Paid Subscriptions

You must also associate a dollar amount with the subscription otherwise the transaction cannot be processed.

If you collect your subscription fees through a third party service, you must manually enable a user's subscription.

[Jake Bunce]

Most of our higher level access groups subscribe to one year of access. But their join dates are different.

Example: If we have a Level 2 Group with 26,000 members who joined from 2000 to 2005 and have renewed each year, can we modify this group to be on autopilot? If so, would we not have to manuall change their join date to day 1 of a new annual term? And if so, could we not just add a new field and title if Subscription Date, and use that field to generate the demotion 12 months along?

I don't understand. "Autopilot" for what?

[David Copeland]

I don't understand. "Autopilot" for what?

Meaning that presently we manually run reports each month to see who to downgrade and send a notification for renewal. If the software will prompt an expired member, then this will save time.

[Jake Bunce]

The Subscriptions task already sends out reminder emails 2-3 days before subscriptions expire.

[David Copeland]

The Subscriptions task already sends out reminder emails 2-3 days before subscriptions expire.

Yes, but . . .

Most of our higher level access groups subscribe to one year of access. But their join dates are different.

Example: If we have a Level 2 Group with 26,000 members who joined from 2000 to 2005 and have renewed each year, can we modify this group to be on autopilot?

If so, would we not have to manually change their join date to day 1 of a new annual term?

And if so, could we not just add a new field and title if Subscription Date, and use that field to generate the demotion 12 months along?

[Jake Bunce]

I still don't understand. What do join dates have to do with it? You want these users to receive reminders that their subscriptions have expired?

Sending out reminder emails after a subscription has expired is not something the Subscriptions task does. You would need to add custom code to the task to handle that.