idev and cancellations/refunds

[marketbizpro]

I am using the "generic pixel" process of integrating s2Member with idevaffiliate. I have subscriptions and one-time sales. My question is how does s2Member talk with idev regarding cancellations and or refunds from Paypal? Is there anything I need to do? Should I switch to the API notifications process, or is all of this taken care of with the generic pixel system?

I want to pay affiliates after 30 day cancellation period, but if a customer does cancel their suscription or wants a refund from a one-time payment, how does this information get passed to idevaffiliate?

Thanks ahead.

[Cristián Lávaque]

You could probably try working with s2Member's Notifications API to let iDev affiliate know. WP Admin -> s2Member -> API / Notifications

[marketbizpro]

Yes, I have made the switch...but my real question here is how to send refund/cancellation info to idevaffiliate. I noticed there have been a couple of requests on this topic, but I have yet to see a solution. idev needs the order number, but according to s2member for refunds/cancellations, that variable is not available. Please help...I'm almost ready, but without this functionality, all the work I've done so far is rendered useless.

Thank you.

And if it takes a professional installation, I'm willing to do that, too.

[Jason Caldwell]

Thanks for the excellent question.
~ and thanks for bringing this to my attention Cristián.

Yes, this is most definitely possible. You can use s2Member's API Notification for Refunds/Reversals, under: s2Member -> API Notifications -> Refunds/Reversals. You'll want to connect s2Member's API Notification to the Custom Script provided by iDevAffiliate. You'll find this inside your iDevAffiliate administrative panel, under: Setup & Tools -> Advanced Developer Tools.

I'm attaching a screenshot for you ( click to enlarge )

My question is how does s2Member talk with idev regarding cancellations and or refunds from Paypal? Is there anything I need to do? Should I switch to the API notifications process, or is all of this taken care of with the generic pixel system?

No, it's not all taken care of with the pixel. In order for s2Member to speak with iDevAffiliate about cancellations, refunds, chargebacks, etc, you must integrate the Custom Script provided by iDev, as noted above. Please let us know if you have any trouble. I can confirm this works nicely.

[marketbizpro]

I think I get it...BUT I need clarification...

Cancellation (customer stops their payment) and EOT/Deletion Notifications (term has ended or WP admin has deleted the member) are both used to inform idevaffiliate that a recurring commission should be stopped for future payments, so I should use the url:

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http://mysite.com/affiliates/API/scripts/terminate_recurring.php?secret=238683457&order_number=abc-123

which terminates recurring commissions inside of idevaffiliate. My problem is that, as you can see, idevaffiliate is asking for an order number. In your documentation in the s2Member -> API Notifications -> Cancellation & s2Member -> API Notifications -> EOT/Deletion Notification sections you do not have a replacement code for an order number.

On the other hand, Refunds/Reversal Notifications are made when a customer actually gets refunded their payment. In this case, I want to terminate the original commission. Fortunately, idevaffiliate asks for almost the same code except the file being triggered changes. So instead of terminate_recurring.php, we will be using terminate_commission.php:

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http://mysite.com/affiliates/API/scripts/terminate_commission.php?secret=238683457&order_number=abc-123

This, I assume, should be used in the s2Member -> API Notifications -> Refunds/Reversal Notifications section. Please note that in this section you DO have something that resembles an order number: %%parent_txn_id%% ...so the url I use here is:

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http://mysite.com/affiliates/API/scripts/terminate_commission.php?secret=238683457&order_number=%%parent_txn_id%%

I think this is right, it is the other two (Cancellation and EOT/Deletion), I am unsure of since you don't have replacement codes in those sections which resemble an order number.

Should I use %%parent_txn_id%% even though they are not listed?

If not, what do I use as a replacement code for order number in the Cancellation and EOT/Deletion Notification sections?

[Jason Caldwell]

Thanks for the follow-up.

Although circumstances vary ( depending on your iDev configuration ); under normal/typical circumstances, you would ONLY terminate a commission whenever a Refund/Reversal occurs. In other words, you are only losing money in that specific scenario. In the case of a Cancellation, all that's happening is that future payments are being stopped ( i.e. no money from the past is being lost ).

So in the case of a Cancellation, you would only contact iDevAffiliate if you're paying commissions on a recurring basis; and even then, you would only terminate recurring commissions ( i.e. terminate_recurring.php ). So for Cancellations, when you setup your API Notification URL with s2Member, you'd use %%subscr_id%% as the Order Number, because that's what should be associated with the recurring commission.

In the case of a Refund/Reversal, you would also use %%subscr_id%%. The Subscription ID remains constant throughout the life of the paid Subscription, so this is what you'd use to reference and terminate a previous commission paid to an affiliate.

For the sake of being thorough, it won't hurt to create a second API Notification, which includes the %%parent_txn_id%% as well. For example, you might have two lines in your s2Member Refund/Reversal Notifications box. Something like this would cover you in any Membership situation.

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http://example.com/affiliates/API/scripts/terminate_commission.php?secret=xxx&order_number=%%subscr_id%%
http://example.com/affiliates/API/scripts/terminate_commission.php?secret=xxx&order_number=%%parent_txn_id%%

In addition, if you're using s2Member's Specific Post/Page Access, be sure to setup an API Notification for that as well. There's a separate API Notification processed by s2Member, specifically for Refunds/Reversals that were originally associated with the purchase of a Specific Post/Page.

Code: Select all

http://example.com/affiliates/API/scripts/terminate_commission.php?secret=xxx&order_number=%%parent_txn_id%%

[marketbizpro]

Perfect! Thanks for clarification.

I really understand now! I am at a small loss when it comes to EOT/Deletion Notifications. I thought this would occur if I either deleted their user account in WP and/or their term came to a halt with no more recurring. I am paying recurring commissions, so I used:

Code: Select all

http://example.com/affiliates/API/scripts/terminate_recurring.php?secret=238683457&order_number=%%subscr_id%%

in the EOT/Deletion Notifications section. Just to feel safe...is this okay?

Again, thank you very much for the support! I will recommend your product to anyone. I've had issues with Memberwing, MagicMembers, and DAP.

[Jason Caldwell]

Yes, that should work just fine too.

EOT/Deletion Notifications. I thought this would occur if I either deleted their user account in WP and/or their term came to a halt with no more recurring.

Yes, this is correct.

---

FYI: There are two ways to handle recurring commissions with iDevAffiilate.

1. You can use iDevAffiliate's internal handling of recurring commissions with a CRON job ( as instructed by iDev ), which is obviously what you've already implemented. That works fine, and the benefit to this technique, is that recurring commissions are reported to affiliates with more clarity ( i.e. easier to understand inside their iDev account ).

However, one down side to this technique, is that iDevAffiliate is now processing recurring commissions by itself, separately from your Payment Gateway and/or s2Member. So it creates a situation where you're always concerned about making sure s2Member/iDev/PayPal are synchronized at all times. Although s2Member makes this possible through it's API Notifications, it still makes some site owners nervous.

2. Instead of allowing iDevAffiliate to handle recurring commissions internally, you can use s2Member's "Payment Notification" to create a new commission each time an actual payment comes in. This way everything remains in perfect sync at all times, and there is no room for doubt.

The down side to this, is that iDevAffiliate does not break down it's statistical reporting with as much clarity. Inside an affiliate's iDev account, all they see are new commissions being generated, and there is no separate section/column for recurring stats. So it's a matter of preference I suppose.

[marketbizpro]

So this is saying that if I were to ONLY use the s2Member -> API Notifications -> Payment Notifications and Refund/Reversal Notifications, I should delete all other notifications on this tab in s2Member. Then ensure that idevaffiliate's Enable Recurring Commissions Option? is set to "NO". This setup would be positively a way to not pay affiliates for a commission that did not result in a membership sale? (I would also have to put a Delayed Commission number of days equal to my refund period in idevaffiliate)

I'd be trading the functionality of being able to allow affiliates to see more information for a more secure way of regulating payments.

Thank you for this tidbit. I guess, it would matter if I was unsure of anything...which I am (chron jobs, integration setup, idev settings, etc.)

It sure would be nice to have someone look over my setup and change anything that would cause a hiccup! How much should I pay you?

[Jason Caldwell]

Yes, that is correct.
And in this scenario, you would use order_number=%%txn_id%% in the Payment Notification, and always use order_number=%%parent_txn_id%% in the Refund/Reversal Notification. This is what I recommend, because in this configuration, you're dealing with specific individual payments, instead of the Subscription overall.

It sure would be nice to have someone look over my setup and change anything that would cause a hiccup! How much should I pay you?

I know. I'm sorry, I'm unavailable at this time. But you could try jobs.wordpress.net.

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