Upgrading to Pro

[markelshark]

Hello all, I'm going to upgrade to S2Member Pro (and PayPal Pro) and I wanted to know if it is a pretty seamless transition? I have about 170 recurring billing profiles with PayPal currently - when I upgrade to PayPal Pro and S2Member Pro will those all still work as setup or will I need to manually enter the profile IDs. The worst case scenario would be if all my customers had to re-sign up after the switch to PayPal pro.

Can anyone speak to how that transition will look?

Thanks,

Mark

[Jason Caldwell]

Hi Mark. Thanks for the great question.
I sincerely apologize for the delayed response.

OK. Yes, that will work just fine.

If these are "Billing Profiles" and not "Subscriptions"...
in other words, if they're already associated with a PayPal Pro account,
and not with a standard Subscription:

1. Install s2Member, and add the s2Member Pro Module, which provides Import/Export tools.
2. Import your existing Members, you can include their existing Billing Profile IDs if you like.
Or, if you've already got those Members in your system, then you can still use the Import tool.
( check the documentation on how to Import ( updates ) to existing Members, under:
s2Member -> Import/Export in your Dashboard.

s2Member can take over from there. Just be sure to set your IPN URL inside your PayPal account, to the one that speaks with your installation of s2Member. In your Dashboard, see: s2Member -> PayPal Options.

Now. If instead, these are standard PayPal "Subscriptions", NOT associated with a PayPal® Pro account, but you're planning to switch over to PayPal® Pro integration:

You'll want to perform the exact same steps above. BUT, use the "Subscription ID", instead of the Billing Profile ID. Also, depending on the software you were using previously, you may find that s2Member is unable to speak with PayPal through the IPN service ( because Subscriptions are sometimes tied to a specific IPN URL, on a per-transaction basis, and you can't change those on "Subscriptions" ).

One work-around is to use s2Member's Auto-EOT Time. You can configure an Auto-EOT Time for each existing Member, before you do the Import. Or afterward is also fine. Go to your list of Users in WordPress®, and click Edit. There you can set a manual EOT Time for existing Members. This way the expiration of those accounts will remain accurate, even in cases where s2Member/PayPal are unable to communicate due to a migration that took place from one Membership system to another.

[markelshark]

Hi Jason, to clarify I am currently using S2Member and looking to upgrade to S2Member Pro. Does that change your answer? Is there another post on how to upgrade?

Thanks for your hard work.

Mark

[Jason Caldwell]

Hi Mark. Thanks for the follow up.
~ You're very welcome BTW.

Not yet, but thanks for asking. I have several new videos coming soon, which will provide an in-depth look at all areas of s2Member Pro. That being said, upgrading is actually quite simple, and no, it does not change my previous response. My response was based on where you're coming from, not necessarily what you're going to do with s2Member. In other words, I was speaking in terms of migrating from one membership software to another ( ex: coming from AMember, or WishList over to s2Member ).

Upgrading to s2Member Pro:
Basically, all you do is purchase the paid upgrade for s2Member Pro, and this enables several new features within your existing installation of s2Member. s2Member Pro is just an add-on module, it's NOT an entirely new plugin. In other words, s2Member Pro runs on top of the free s2Member Framework, which is what you're already using ( available @ WordPress.org ).

Now that you've got s2Member Pro, most site owners choose to take advantage of it's integration with PayPal® Pro. So the steps are as follows:

1. Install s2Member Pro, following the installation instructions provided with s2Member Pro.
( you just upload the /s2member-pro/ folder is all there is to it )

2. In your Dashboard, navigate to: s2Member -> PayPal Options -> Account Details
( there will be several new fields there, where you'll enter your API Credentials )
( API Credentials are provided by your PayPal® Pro account )

3. Take down all of your PayPal® "Buttons" and use the s2Member Pro "Form" generator instead.
( the end result is that instead of having Buttons, you'll be hosting your own checkout "Forms" ).

Much more information, as well as screen shots are available here:
http://www.s2member.com/features/screenshots/