- Joined
- Jan 1, 2001
- Messages
- 60,100
XenFans.com Article: XenForo Paid Subscriptions
Copyright (c) 2010-2011 http://xenfans.com, author: Steven Moore @ Mythotical's Blog
Subscriptions are a very useful feature whether it is used for account upgrades, creating threads or posts, buying products, etc. There are many useful ways to use the feature, an admin is only limited by their imagination. In this article we will take a look at a few uses of paid subscriptions by using XenFans as the example.
First and foremost, account upgrades, these are handy when wanting to allow a member access to otherwise private information or products such as unique downloads only available to someone who has a paid subscription. On XenFans when paid subscriptions was available, members could pay a subscription fee to gain access to premium member only forums that provided unique add-ons only available from XenFans or premium documentation.
Moving on from account upgrades, donations are a great help for a site. If a member likes a site or the content, they want to help support the site by donating an unset amount of money. This money is 99% of the time used for site costs to help keep it alive as well as providing the community with new upgrades to the site that would otherwise cost more money. Donations are not required by members but very helpful and the owner appreciates the help.
The next way of using paid subscriptions is buying physical goods that can be shipped to a paying member. For instance on XenFans the current support a member can purchase is a XenFans mug which is shipped to the paying member upon payment completion. Usually in this case the paying member will have to provide their address but it is kept confidential.
Support services is another use of paid subscriptions, this allows the member priority support for products or services provided by a site such as XenFans, hire XenFans for a XenForo import and you are provided services in turn are given support as well for the service provided.
So we have no discussed a few ways to use paid subscriptions. The setup process is simple on your own XenForo powered site. Just login to the admin control panel and on the top navigation click on 'Users', once that pages loads look to the left navigation and find 'List User Upgrads'.
Now the new page displays a list of user upgrades if any exist otherwise find the button in the upper right hand corner 'Create New User Upgrade'. The new page is simple to understand but I will explain below each field and what to do.
The ease of use for this feature is not hard at all. Follow the steps above to start setting them up. The screenshot below is how it is displayed to the users. This is how the member will see it with a purchase button. Not only is the use of this feature wide, the feature has been used for hosting, enabling members to have larger inboxes or bigger avatars, or posting permissions to say an auction forum or bidding add-on.
The uses are limitless and can benefit any site greatly. The only feature not available in version 1.0 of XenForo is the option to present a new member at registration the option to sign up for a free, cheap, or yearly subscription. I do hope that it will be available in a future release of XenForo.
Oh before I close this article, don't forget this important detail, not all user upgrades have to be recurring. They can be set to a one time fee by unchecking the recurring checkbox when setting up or editing user upgrades.
XenFans thanks you for reading and we hope this has given ideas to current XenForo owners to make the paid subscription feature work for them in more ways.
Copyright (c) 2010-2011 http://xenfans.com, author: Steven Moore @ Mythotical's Blog
This article is diving into the subscription feature of XenForo. Explaining where to find it, how it works. And how it's expected to operate.
Subscriptions are a very useful feature whether it is used for account upgrades, creating threads or posts, buying products, etc. There are many useful ways to use the feature, an admin is only limited by their imagination. In this article we will take a look at a few uses of paid subscriptions by using XenFans as the example.
First and foremost, account upgrades, these are handy when wanting to allow a member access to otherwise private information or products such as unique downloads only available to someone who has a paid subscription. On XenFans when paid subscriptions was available, members could pay a subscription fee to gain access to premium member only forums that provided unique add-ons only available from XenFans or premium documentation.
Moving on from account upgrades, donations are a great help for a site. If a member likes a site or the content, they want to help support the site by donating an unset amount of money. This money is 99% of the time used for site costs to help keep it alive as well as providing the community with new upgrades to the site that would otherwise cost more money. Donations are not required by members but very helpful and the owner appreciates the help.
The next way of using paid subscriptions is buying physical goods that can be shipped to a paying member. For instance on XenFans the current support a member can purchase is a XenFans mug which is shipped to the paying member upon payment completion. Usually in this case the paying member will have to provide their address but it is kept confidential.
Support services is another use of paid subscriptions, this allows the member priority support for products or services provided by a site such as XenFans, hire XenFans for a XenForo import and you are provided services in turn are given support as well for the service provided.
So we have no discussed a few ways to use paid subscriptions. The setup process is simple on your own XenForo powered site. Just login to the admin control panel and on the top navigation click on 'Users', once that pages loads look to the left navigation and find 'List User Upgrads'.
Now the new page displays a list of user upgrades if any exist otherwise find the button in the upper right hand corner 'Create New User Upgrade'. The new page is simple to understand but I will explain below each field and what to do.
- Title - Enter a title for the upgrade so it is easily recognizable by yourself and those wishing to purchase it.
- Description - Describe what the upgrade is for so members viewing it will know.
- Display Order - If you plan to only use 1 upgrade then ignore this, otherwise you can have your upgrades display in a certain order.
- Cost - Enter a dollar amount minus the symbol for example: 19.99 and the drop down is for the choice of current currency.
- Length - If selling monthly memberships then you can choose 1 month length or permanent if it will be a permanent upgrade such as it was once used on XenFans.
- Additional User Groups - Using this will add the member to an additional user group usually for access to a private forum.
- Disabled User Upgrades - This option is a means to disable other user upgrades when this user upgrade is purchased.
- Can be purchased - This is used as an active checkbox. Checked is active, unchecked is disabled.
The ease of use for this feature is not hard at all. Follow the steps above to start setting them up. The screenshot below is how it is displayed to the users. This is how the member will see it with a purchase button. Not only is the use of this feature wide, the feature has been used for hosting, enabling members to have larger inboxes or bigger avatars, or posting permissions to say an auction forum or bidding add-on.
The uses are limitless and can benefit any site greatly. The only feature not available in version 1.0 of XenForo is the option to present a new member at registration the option to sign up for a free, cheap, or yearly subscription. I do hope that it will be available in a future release of XenForo.
Oh before I close this article, don't forget this important detail, not all user upgrades have to be recurring. They can be set to a one time fee by unchecking the recurring checkbox when setting up or editing user upgrades.
XenFans thanks you for reading and we hope this has given ideas to current XenForo owners to make the paid subscription feature work for them in more ways.