Upgrade to Pro, set up Coupons, Clickbank

[JeffStarr]

Okay, so s2Member free plugin is setup and working great. With the free version, we have now setup a simple system that lets users click a "Buy Now" button, purchase thru PayPal, and then return for registration to the site. At the site, they are allowed access to a Downloads page where they can get what they paid for.

The next step is to set up coupon codes and clickbank. This is where the functionality of the Pro version comes into play. I've been meditating on the various documentation and information available online, but have a few "pre-sales" questions/clarifications that would really help bring it all together..

1) To set up coupons, s2Member Pro Forms are required. If so, this means we would need SSL for the site. Is this correct, or is there a way to setup/use coupons without SSL?

2) With s2Member Pro, is it possible to set up a system where customers who purchase through a clickbank affiliate link are sent to the site for registration? As mentioned above, registration would then give affiliate purchases access to the downloads page.

3) Is SSL required for clickbank transactions? If not, we then would have the option of not using coupon codes and still using s2 Pro for the clickbank stuff.

Thank you for any help with these questions

[Cristián Lávaque]

1) To set up coupons, s2Member Pro Forms are required. If so, this means we would need SSL for the site. Is this correct, or is there a way to setup/use coupons without SSL?

No, if you're not using PayPal Pro or Auth.Net, you can use the pro-forms without SSL. Using pro-forms with PayPal Express Checkout, though, would require your customers to have a PayPal account to pay.

2) With s2Member Pro, is it possible to set up a system where customers who purchase through a clickbank affiliate link are sent to the site for registration? As mentioned above, registration would then give affiliate purchases access to the downloads page.

Yes, it's pretty much like using PayPal buttons, but through ClickBank. I'm not sure what the doubt with this one is so, if I didn't answer the question fully, please ask let me know what I missed.

3) Is SSL required for clickbank transactions? If not, we then would have the option of not using coupon codes and still using s2 Pro for the clickbank stuff.

No, same as with PayPal buttons.

[JeffStarr]

Awesome, Thanks for the information. The PayPal account we are using currently with the free plugin is indeed a PayPal Pro account, only using just the regular "Buy Now" buttons, which I think work for any type of PayPal account..

So given that we are using a PayPal Pro account, is it possible to use the pro-forms without SSL? And also for the clickbank integration, will using PayPal Pro require us to set up SSL?

Sorry if this is redundant, but I really want to make sure before spending any more time/money on this.

And, great to hear the response for question #2 - that's exactly what we were hoping to hear, but wanted to make sure that the integration also works for affiliate purchases.

[Cristián Lávaque]

What do you mean by affiliate purchases exactly? Just want to make sure.

About SSL, I believe you have to have it to use PayPal Pro, but I'll ask Jason to be certain.

[JeffStarr]

Affiliate purchase in the sense that, people who sign up as affiliates with clickbank can sell our products using their normal clickbank affiliate URLs (placed on their own sites), and so the customer who makes a purchase thru any affiliate links are redirected back to our site for registration. Otherwise, we have no way of registering people who buy thru affiliates. Is this something that s2Member Pro can do?

And yes, please let us know if SSL required if we are using a PayPal Pro account for purchases. Hopefully it depends on the type of button/checkout form being used, but either way it would be good to know.

Thanks again for the help

[Cristián Lávaque]

Ah, got it. Yes, you can use ClickBank normally, including having affiliates promote you with their affiliate links. So you have the affiliates send traffic to your salespage, people click your s2Member button for ClickBank, pay and come back to your website, and the affiliate will be credited the sale.

[JeffStarr]

Awesome, that is great news

Any word yet on the SSL?

[Cristián Lávaque]

Sorry about the delay. I wasn't sure where I had read it and I just found it now. http://www.s2member.com/support/

Do I need an SSL certificate to use PayPal Pro or Authorize.Net?

If you're using s2Member's Pro Forms, then yes. In order to comply with PayPal®, Authorize.Net® and PCI Compliance policies, as set forth by major credit card companies; you will need to host all of your Pro Forms on an SSL enabled site. Please check with your hosting provider to ask about obtaining an SSL certificate for your domain. Please note... when you create Pro Forms using the Form Generators provided by s2Member; you'll be supplied with WordPress Shortcodes, which you'll insert into Posts/Pages of your choosing. These special Posts/Pages will need to be displayed in SSL mode, using links that start with ( https:// ). In other words, when you link to these Posts/Pages, you'll need to make sure your links start with https://.

You can skip the SSL certificate during Development/Sandbox testing. SSL is not required until you officially go live. Once you're live, you can add the Custom Field s2member_force_ssl -> yes to any Post/Page. s2Member will buffer output on those special Posts/Pages, converting everything over to https:// for you automatically, and forcing those specific Posts/Pages to be viewed over a secure SSL connection; so long as your server supports the https protocol. This will help you eliminate the dreaded Secure/Insecure errors in Internet Explorer. If your server runs SSL over a special port number, or your server requires the port number to actually be in the URL ( i.e. HOST:port ), you can set s2member_force_ssl -> 443; or to whatever port you need.

[JeffStarr]

If you're using s2Member's Pro Forms, then yes

So this implies that the "Buy Now" buttons work without any SSL, even when using a PayPal Pro account, correct?

Sorry for harping on this, but we need to know for sure before spending the time/money on something that may not work. Everything else sounds great so far, just need this bit of information and I'll be out of your hair. At least for awhile.

Thanks again for your help

[Cristián Lávaque]

You don't need SSL if you use the PayPal buttons because the transaction is done over at PayPal, not your website.

[JeffStarr]

Great, thanks for humoring us!

[Cristián Lávaque]