vbaddons8
05-17-2012, 07:01 PM
Hey vBulletin forum members!
I was under the assumption that integrating vBulletin and aMember was a fairly simple, straightforward procedure; it seems I was wrong. I did search the forums before posting this, but came up (really) short. It seems code distribution through aMember might be the most complicated part, though I really have no idea.
I found this: http://www.amember.com/forum/threads/wher-e-do-i-download-the-vbulletin-integration-plugin-i-just-bought.14124//
.., but I'm not sure to which plugin it's referring, and if it's still valid for vB 4. I've been waiting for quite some time for the web designer to hook all this up, including, if it's not too difficult, integration with aWeber, so that it's as seamless and intuitive as possible. Unfortunately, due to communication errors made by both him and I, he was not as on the ball with this as I previously assumed. This lack of integration has caused a significant delay in our business for weeks now, since I've had to accept payment manually (i.e., "Please Paypal X$ to Y email address") and I'd like to finally get everything set up as quickly as humanly possible. Though I'm sure I'll set some time aside to begin learning relevant programming once things get moving, unfortunately my technical knowledge is very limited at this point.
Relevant aspects of our business:
- We sell two types of products:
1) Login codes for software that we develop. Basically, the software is downloadable to everyone, and, since the software code is stored server-side, in order to use it, users must first open the GUI, then log in. We sell codes in various time intervals which countdown beginning from first login, such as daily, monthly, and 3-month. Right now, we just have these, though we may do 6-month codes (or longer) at some point.
2) Random products, like you might buy anywhere. These could be services, like leveling up a character in an MMO game (our industry), or even t-shirts.
- We run a membership forum to support the software. We need certain parts of it accessible to users based on which code they purchased, and when. If someone buys a 1-month code, he might have access to a certain related sub-forum for, say, 35 days. Having specifics customizable would be ideal.
- All people should be able to register for free, as they can do now, and have access to basic sub-forums like "Off-Topic," or "Introductions."
- If someone buys one of these so-called random products -- i.e., not tied to a specific countdown time like with the login codes -- they might then get access to an additional X or Y sub-forum.
- All this needs to be tied in so it's as seamless as possible for affiliates, who will be pushing a lot of sales, and making a percentage of everything sold on the site.
- I'll need pretty darn good statistics and payment tracking, especially (and mostly) for accounting, in terms of which login codes were sent to which member, when, and with which Paypal transaction #(s), net revenue (after Paypal fees), and so forth.
- As I mentioned, aWeber integration would be ideal, since it seems like this is one of the industry standards for membership site email.
- This may be stating the obvious, but I'll need to be able to constantly check several different variables (looking up X member's Paypal transaction info/history, looking up codes sent based on transaction # or member name, and so forth) as easily as possible, and keep track of it all in a way that doesn't make me go looney toons :) In other words, user friendly.
Can people with related experience please chime and let me know what I need to do specifically in order to accomplish this? Do I need to hire a programmer, and if so, any recommendations?
Thanks in advance!
I was under the assumption that integrating vBulletin and aMember was a fairly simple, straightforward procedure; it seems I was wrong. I did search the forums before posting this, but came up (really) short. It seems code distribution through aMember might be the most complicated part, though I really have no idea.
I found this: http://www.amember.com/forum/threads/wher-e-do-i-download-the-vbulletin-integration-plugin-i-just-bought.14124//
.., but I'm not sure to which plugin it's referring, and if it's still valid for vB 4. I've been waiting for quite some time for the web designer to hook all this up, including, if it's not too difficult, integration with aWeber, so that it's as seamless and intuitive as possible. Unfortunately, due to communication errors made by both him and I, he was not as on the ball with this as I previously assumed. This lack of integration has caused a significant delay in our business for weeks now, since I've had to accept payment manually (i.e., "Please Paypal X$ to Y email address") and I'd like to finally get everything set up as quickly as humanly possible. Though I'm sure I'll set some time aside to begin learning relevant programming once things get moving, unfortunately my technical knowledge is very limited at this point.
Relevant aspects of our business:
- We sell two types of products:
1) Login codes for software that we develop. Basically, the software is downloadable to everyone, and, since the software code is stored server-side, in order to use it, users must first open the GUI, then log in. We sell codes in various time intervals which countdown beginning from first login, such as daily, monthly, and 3-month. Right now, we just have these, though we may do 6-month codes (or longer) at some point.
2) Random products, like you might buy anywhere. These could be services, like leveling up a character in an MMO game (our industry), or even t-shirts.
- We run a membership forum to support the software. We need certain parts of it accessible to users based on which code they purchased, and when. If someone buys a 1-month code, he might have access to a certain related sub-forum for, say, 35 days. Having specifics customizable would be ideal.
- All people should be able to register for free, as they can do now, and have access to basic sub-forums like "Off-Topic," or "Introductions."
- If someone buys one of these so-called random products -- i.e., not tied to a specific countdown time like with the login codes -- they might then get access to an additional X or Y sub-forum.
- All this needs to be tied in so it's as seamless as possible for affiliates, who will be pushing a lot of sales, and making a percentage of everything sold on the site.
- I'll need pretty darn good statistics and payment tracking, especially (and mostly) for accounting, in terms of which login codes were sent to which member, when, and with which Paypal transaction #(s), net revenue (after Paypal fees), and so forth.
- As I mentioned, aWeber integration would be ideal, since it seems like this is one of the industry standards for membership site email.
- This may be stating the obvious, but I'll need to be able to constantly check several different variables (looking up X member's Paypal transaction info/history, looking up codes sent based on transaction # or member name, and so forth) as easily as possible, and keep track of it all in a way that doesn't make me go looney toons :) In other words, user friendly.
Can people with related experience please chime and let me know what I need to do specifically in order to accomplish this? Do I need to hire a programmer, and if so, any recommendations?
Thanks in advance!