Extending end of terms?

[divagrrl27]

My first subscribers are coming up to the end of their first month's term, and I'm about to open the shopping cart for membership renewals & extensions.

I just realized, however, that I'm not entirely sure if this is going to work!

My membership levels are as follows:

Level #0: Free Subscriber (I do not actually allow free subscriber registrations)

Level #1: BuddyPress Forums/Social Network access ONLY (lifetime legacy members)

Level #2: BuddyPress + Product A content pages - 1 month access

Level #3: BuddyPress + Product A + Product B - 3 months access

Level #4: BuddyPress + Product A + Product B - 12 months access


I realize that level 3 & 4 are actually identical except for the length of term, and that I could control that with the PayPal button I create, but this is how everything is currently configured.

What I want to do is give ALL current members the opportunity to renew/extend their membership at special holiday pricing. Access to product A and B is tied to membership length, so it's not a simple matter of saying "upgrade to Level 3." For Level 1 & 2 members, if they renew by 3 months or 12 months, it WILL be an actual level upgrade (they'd get access to stuff they don't currently have). But for Level 3 and 4 members, it's a simple term extension.

Right now I have a members-only sales page, going live TOMORROW for CyberMonday, with regular Buy Now buttons made in the s2Member button-creator.

Questions:

Is this going to work??? will existing members get their terms extended??? Or do I have to use the "PayPal Subscr Modification Buttons," even though in a lot of cases the access is not actually being changed?

After spending hours putting together the existing sales pages (different sets for members and non-members, for CyberMonday and post-CyberMonday specials), the idea of having to create a whole slew of subscription modification buttons makes me want to tear my hair out! There are just TOO MANY OPTIONS for me to create a separate button for each possibility!!!! (current 1-mo member wants to extent to 3-mo membership; current 12 mo-member wants to extend for 3 months; etc. etc.)

Also, if an existing member goes to extend their membership using one of my PayPal Buy Now buttons, will the system create an entirely new user account for them..???

Help!

Thanks so much,
Melissa

[Cristián Lávaque]

Hi Melissa. I'm sorry I didn't see your post earlier today.

I'm not sure I understand all your model, but I'll try to answer your questions.

If the user is logged in, using the button will upgrade his account, if he's not logged in when he pays, it won't update his existing accout. So tell the user to login first in order to upgrade his existing account. If these new buttons are for existing members only, then just show them in a protected page so non-members don't see them.

Regarding Level 3 and 4 giving the same access, you could change the role of all Level 4 users to Leveel 3. This won't affect their subscription over at PayPal. You can go to the users list, filter to see only Level 4 users and change their role with the dropdown. Remember to make a backup before a change like this, just in case. WP Admin -> Users -> All

I see what you mean by changing the payments affecting the access, if they pay monthly they get Product A, but if they pay every quarterly or yearly, then they also get B.

If they're logged in to the account, using the Level 3 buttons, either quarter or yearly, should change their subscription and role. Buy a Level 2 account so you create the subcription at PayPal and then try the buttons to verify the role and subscription changes to make sure it works.

I hope it helps.

[divagrrl27]

Thanks Cristian. I did a test, and it seems to be extending fine.

[Cristián Lávaque]

I'm very glad.

[divagrrl27]

Oops... Just had a 3-month member (whose term was set to expire on Jan 28) extend for another 3 months, which meant her membership SHOULD have extended to April 28, but instead it extended 3 months from the second order date (which, being yesterday, was also the 28th of the month), to Feb 28.

Help!

I've changed her EOT by hand, but from what I understand, now I'm stuck permanently changing her EOT by hand forevermore.

Also, since the automatic EOT extension didn't work for her, I'm concerned it won't work for anyone else.