Add-On Releases - Pay to Register

Overview
This product allows (and can require) visitors to select a paid subscription at registration time.

Installation (Basic)

• File Edits: 2-3 (install and every vBulletin upgrade)
• Ghost Users: Yes
• One-click Updater Compatible: No

Also See: Spammers Suck!

[BadgerDog]

Originally Posted by Lancerforhire

The issue stained has encountered is a bug in the product, but it is harmless. vB is trying to send the ghost user an activation email but the ghost user does not have a real email address, so you end up with this. It does not change functionality in any way, that is why I said it is harmless. That said, the issue is being fixed in the next version which is being released later on today.

Thanks ... :up:

We just installed and turned v2.0 on with "live" 4.1.3 site ....

We normally get 16+ registrations per day, so we have out fingers crossed nothing blows up ...

Regards,
Doug

[stained]

That's reassuring to know Lancer. Thanks :up: Just so that I fully understand how a paid registration works (in case anyone on my forum contacts me to say that he/she is having problems) is this how it functions?:

they click on the paid option at registration and are forwarded directly to Paypal (this happens on my forum - the user is not prompted to enter any details but is forwarded straight to Paypal). Once payment is complete they are then automatically returned(?) to the forum where they then continue with the registration process. They then wait for the activation email (if that option is set in vb admincp) and after activating their account they then change from being 'Pending Subscription' to their selected username and can begin to use the forum.

I only ask because if I don't have auto-return set in my Paypal account how does the user continue with registration when he presses the back button to get back to the forum? He won't necessarily know what to do next and how will the forum know that he is the person who just paid? Or to put it another way, how does he tell the forum that he just paid and wishes now to continue with registration?

If I have auto-return on which URL should I set to take the user back to where he was so that he can continue with registration? Also, if I set a URL sending the payer back to registration it will totally confuse any members who are simply upgrading their accounts through 'settings' ==> 'paid subscriptions'.

I'm confused but I'm sure you'll have a logical answer

[vbresults]

Originally Posted by stained

That's reassuring to know Lancer. Thanks :up: Just so that I fully understand how a paid registration works (in case anyone on my forum contacts me to say that he/she is having problems) is this how it functions?:

they click on the paid option at registration and are forwarded directly to Paypal (this happens on my forum - the user is not prompted to enter any details but is forwarded straight to Paypal). Once payment is complete they are then automatically returned(?) to the forum where they then continue with the registration process. They then wait for the activation email (if that option is set in vb admincp) and after activating their account they then change from being 'Pending Subscription' to their selected username and can begin to use the forum.

I only ask because if I don't have auto-return set in my Paypal account how does the user continue with registration when he presses the back button to get back to the forum? He won't necessarily know what to do next and how will the forum know that he is the person who just paid? Or to put it another way, how does he tell the forum that he just paid and wishes now to continue with registration?

If I have auto-return on which URL should I set to take the user back to where he was so that he can continue with registration? Also, if I set a URL sending the payer back to registration it will totally confuse any members who are simply upgrading their accounts through 'settings' ==> 'paid subscriptions'.

I'm confused but I'm sure you'll have a logical answer

There is no activation email; the reason for this has been explained in the last question in the FAQ. Aside from that, you have it down.

I am not sure what auto return setting you are talking about; the script sets a page to return to automatically. The next visit to the forum will automatically take the visitor to the registration form where they can fill out their username, password, email, etc.

You do not have to turn anything on.

[stained]

There's that logical answer Thanks very much. I'm on tenterhooks actually. I had a member join 20 minutes ago who went for the paid option but I don't know whether he went through your mod to pay or whether he upgraded through 'settings' ==> 'paid subscriptions'. Sitting here now waiting for him to get back to me.

PS: by 'activation email' I mean the one a user receives from vb if I set 'verify email address during registration'

[vbresults]

Originally Posted by stained

There's that logical answer Thanks very much. I'm on tenterhooks actually. I had a member join 20 minutes ago who went for the paid option but I don't know whether he went through your mod to pay or whether he upgraded through 'settings' ==> 'paid subscriptions'. Sitting here now waiting for him to get back to me.

PS: by 'activation email' I mean the one a user receives from vb if I set 'verify email address during registration'

Yes, I know what you mean by activation email and there is none if you sign up with paid registration. If you can make a payment with whatever payment processor is used, it is safe to assume that your account is legitimate.

[stained]

Okay thanks. That makes perfect sense.

[BadgerDog]

Well, so far I've had no registrations, free or otherwise, since I installed 2.0 ....

What's that old expression ... "a watched kettle never boils" ...

Regards,
Doug

[HouseAddict]

Originally Posted by HouseAddict

I don't get one thing - why does the registration template page go back to default VB style (the out of the box one) with this mod enabled?

How do I get this plugin to NOT overwrite my customized style ("header" template, additional.css, etc) with the default one?

This is really annoying...

anyone?

why does this plugin, when activated, reset my header template to default?

[vbresults]

Originally Posted by HouseAddict

anyone?

why does this plugin, when activated, reset my header template to default?

Url? If you don't want to post it here, PM me.

[BadgerDog]

Well, we've been running live now for about 24 hours ? :up:

In that period, we've had one successful registration, which was of the FREE type. I assume that validates that the FREE registration process we've always used (vBulletin default) is still working as the user would have had to fill in the registration form and then acknowledge the Activate Membership email he would have automatically received from our vBulletin 4.1.3 setup?

What I find suprising is the drop in registration activity. Up until we installed the mod, we were getting over 16 FREE registrations every 24 hours, so to drop to 1 is startling. I wonder if the fact that there's a "pay" option appearing at the top of the new registration screen above the FREE option is scaring off people? Perhaps they don't take the time to read past that option down to the free registration sign-up at the bottom underneath it?

Anyway, I think I'll give it a few more days and then I might try to move the free registration to the top and change the wording slightly.

Something else that I thought of, which I was hoping someone here could help with.

Over the years we get a lot of people who register, but never validate the email, so end up sitting in the "Awaiting Email Confirmation" usergroup status for long periods of time. We used to MANUALLY go into the "prune" function and delete any members of that usergroup who were over 14 days without having acknowledged the validation emails, then we found and implemented the following mod to do it every night via a cron job automatically.

Users Cleanup

My question involves the "Ghost Users" aspect of this mod. Is the Users Cleanup mod going to screw up anything if it's automatically deleting members of the Awaiting Email Confirmation" usergroup who haven't responded in over 14 days?

Thanks for any feedback ?.

Regards,
Doug