[bkg]

We want to set up membership groups with different groups able to access different subsets of vB forum features. The intent is to provide free basic functionality to all registered members while providing advanced vB functionality (PM,Calendar,Avatar,Private Forums, etc.) based upon paid membership status. By doing so, we can have members using most bandwidth and storage pay for those services. Currently, we have vB configured with only single registration status 'Registered' and we are planning to provide minimal basic vB functions for this without any fee. We plan to have many of these members (few hundreds to few thousand) upgrade to 'Premium' levels through an external payment scheme such as Paypal. Then we would need to change their registration group status to use the premium set of features for 'Premium' group.

What is the most efficient method for creating registration groups based upon different levels of fees (with base at 0) tied to different levels of vB features?

What is the best way for doing batch updates for doing membership upgrades from 'basic' to 'premium 'membership by exporting data from PayPal or Authorize.Net transactions?

Thanks in advance for your response.