Simple Machines Community Forum

SMF Support => SMF 2.0.x Support => Topic started by: Kimmie on July 11, 2012, 09:07:14 PM

Title: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Kimmie on July 11, 2012, 09:07:14 PM
Is it possible to set up a subscription that is more than "monthly"? what I would like to do is set up "30 days, 90 days, etc), but I need to make sure that this can be done so that if someone sets this up their sub knows not to expire for that long since they will be recurring.
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Arantor on July 11, 2012, 10:12:32 PM
Sure you can, when you set up the subscription you can set the number and the type, type being days, weeks, months or years.
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Kimmie on July 16, 2012, 02:35:04 AM
Awesome! I have another question :)

I have someone who does not like the idea of having their card charged every month automatically. I know that with the host I use, I have it set up as a sub so that I do not have to worry about it, but they still automatically send me an invoice every month.

Will this service do that as well? It would make it much easier on those so that they can simply pay the invoice when it comes due instead of having to purchase a sub, cancel it before their next due date, purchase another one, cancel it, etc.


And if they cancel it before their next due date, they still have the access for that period right? like if they purchased a 30 day sub and cancelled it 15 days in, they would still have that other 15 days before it booted them out of that membergroup right?



I also have some who can not always pay the same amount every month. Not sure what I can do for them other than tell them to purchase a sub, cancel it some time before the due date, and then when it runs out, they can purchase a different one, cancel it, etc.

Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Arantor on July 16, 2012, 08:12:33 AM
Paid subs can also be used in a non-recurring way, so people can sign up as and when and not necessarily have it automatically renew at the end of the subscription. There aren't very many good ways to handle this with PayPal so ultimately some of this is going to be down to the user to be a little proactive.

IIRC if they do cancel the auto renewal, yes it should continue to be in force for the remainder of the period they bought it for.
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Mark S on July 16, 2012, 11:13:49 AM
Is there an option to NOT auto-renew?  I didn't see any but, maybe I'm missing it.
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Arantor on July 16, 2012, 11:38:10 AM
Sure there is, when taking out the subscription the user can elect not to have it automatically renew... I do this all the time.
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Kimmie on July 16, 2012, 06:29:59 PM
Quote from: Arantor on July 16, 2012, 11:38:10 AM
Sure there is, when taking out the subscription the user can elect not to have it automatically renew... I do this all the time.

Oh so when they are in the process of getting the subscription, they have the option of telling it to not renew? Ok.. that makes things for me a little easier...:).

And I assume at this point, the forum does not send them any sort of invoice or anything. The reason why I bring this up is because just as with my website hosting, I am not paying for a product, I am paying for a service but they still send me invoices every month so I have that paper trail.

With that being said, I think I have another question..lol. Is there a way to pull up some sort of report that shows me who has what subscriptions, when they expire, if they are recurring, etc?

Will they have any way of pulling any sort of report up showing what sub they have, the payments they have made, etc?
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Arantor on July 16, 2012, 06:39:50 PM
No, no sort of invoice is handled. But if they do auto-renew, there is still a paper trail because it's all managed at PayPal's end, not SMF's - when subscribing, PayPal is told that it is a 'subscription' and sets up billing appropriately.

Sure you can get a list, it's in the subscriptions area...
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Kimmie on July 16, 2012, 06:42:51 PM
SMF really should have made a How To or a Faq on this, it would have made it a lot easier...lol.


I think that is all the questions I have for now. I am setting these up to start August 1st so I am trying to get all the information I can on them without having to shut the site down and going through everything myself since there is no way to set all this stuff up without it being turned on and active.

If I have more ?'s I will be back  lol
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Kimmie on July 16, 2012, 07:20:40 PM
ok I have another question..lol

This part:

Send Reminder Email:
Days before subscription is due to expire to send reminder. (In days, 0 to disable)

Email to Send upon Completion:
Where {NAME} is members name; {FORUM} is community name. Email subject should be on first line. Blank for no email notification


do I need to do anything on my servers end to set this up since that is where the emails will be coming from? Or is this just a pm it sends and not an actual email? What does it mean by "Completion"? Is this the reminder email they get from the site, or will this be an email they get once they purchase the sub?


Another question: What happens when paypal denies the payment due to them not having the money? How does the site know paypal denied it? How does the site know their credit card was declined if it is? Do they still get the access anyways?


And what is this setting for?  Subscription price varies on duration ordered
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Kimmie on July 16, 2012, 07:49:28 PM
Didnt want to keep editing my post so I will put my next question here.


If I set a reminder to be sent 5 days before their sub expires and they renew it on that same day (5 days before their current one expires), does the forum know to wait until the current one expires before the new one kicks in? Or will they lose that 5 days
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Arantor on July 16, 2012, 08:00:04 PM
Quotedo I need to do anything on my servers end to set this up since that is where the emails will be coming from?

Nope, it just uses the forum standard email to send this. If your server is set up to send other emails (registration, notifications etc.) this will be sent the same way.

QuoteWhat happens when paypal denies the payment due to them not having the money? How does the site know paypal denied it? How does the site know their credit card was declined if it is? Do they still get the access anyways?

PayPal notifies the forum in the event of successful payment and until that notification is received, nothing happens.

QuoteAnd what is this setting for?  Subscription price varies on duration ordered

Normally a subscription is for one duration and one price for that duration. This allows you to set up one subscription with multiple prices depending on how long it is purchased for.

QuoteIf I set a reminder to be sent 5 days before their sub expires and they renew it on that same day (5 days before their current one expires), does the forum know to wait until the current one expires before the new one kicks in? Or will they lose that 5 days

It depends. If it's a renewal of the *same* subscription, it will extend it. However, if you set it up so that each duration of subscription is a different subscription type, it won't extend it because it won't know that the two are supposed to be the same thing, if that makes sense. That's really what the 'price varies depending on duration' setup is for, so that you set up 'one' subscription.

(What happens is that the subscription type is sent as a number to PayPal, and that's how it knows to call your forum and tell SMF what's been signed up for. If the number is the same, it updates, if not it adds the subscription to the user's account. One subscription with multiple price points is still one subscription.)
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Kimmie on July 16, 2012, 08:08:40 PM
ok one more question, and I want to THANK you for all your help on this :)

Email to Send upon Completion:
Where {NAME} is members name; {FORUM} is community name. Email subject should be on first line. Blank for no email notification


Is this the "reminder" email they get x amount of days before their sub expires, or is this an email they get after they have completed purchasing this subscription (like a thank you email).
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Arantor on July 16, 2012, 08:12:09 PM
IIRC that's the email they get once they subscribe.
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Kimmie on July 16, 2012, 08:15:59 PM
ok so do we know what that email says, or do we have any way of controlling what the reminder email says?

Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Arantor on July 16, 2012, 08:19:39 PM
Um... it says whatever you write in it. If you don't write anything, no email is sent.

I can't remember about the remainder email, that might be one of the standard email templates (see either THemes/default/EmailTemplates.english.php or the Email Template Editor mod)
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Kimmie on July 17, 2012, 09:58:44 PM
Quote from: Arantor on July 16, 2012, 08:19:39 PM
Um... it says whatever you write in it. If you don't write anything, no email is sent.

I can't remember about the remainder email, that might be one of the standard email templates (see either THemes/default/EmailTemplates.english.php or the Email Template Editor mod)


The reminder email was the one i was referring to since it is not the one you can do yourself on the sub page.


"do we have any way of controlling what the reminder email says"
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Arantor on July 17, 2012, 10:00:28 PM
Yes, and I provided the details: either edit Themes/default/EmailTemplates.english.php where the text is, or use the Email Template Editor mod to do that.
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Kimmie on July 17, 2012, 10:02:00 PM
oh ok I will have to go look.


You would think whoever thought this thing up, and came up with the idea about the "completion" email would have thought "hey we have the setting right here for how many days on a reminder and since it sends an email too, why not let them do that one as well"  lol

Someone did not have their thinking cap on that day :)
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Arantor on July 17, 2012, 10:03:02 PM
Thing is, most of the time, the general reminder email is fine, I don't know anyone who wanted to modify it before, while the completion email would be useful to modify because it can be used to tell people what they can now do having subscribed (and of course, personalises the thank-you as well)
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Kimmie on July 17, 2012, 11:02:08 PM
Yeah it probably is ok, I am just weird about that stuff and i like to personalize it :)

I have a dilemma. I posted it in my other sub thread but I want to post it here since i know you are watching this thread.


I just set up a sub (to test out). i had someone buy it. It is not showing up in my admin area, it is not showing up in their profile, and it did not give them the added permissions of the 2ndary group I made (titled subscribers). Now, I think I may know why, I need you to confirm it first.. if this is the problem, I hav since changed it but I still show no "pending" or "purchased subs.


Initially I had this set to "primary on subscription" to the subscriber group and then just did not set any additional group. (this should have been set to the way you see it now in the image right?)

(http://i47.tinypic.com/35k7ddt.png)


I have since changed this, but her sub is still not showing up. She also has not gotten the conformation email from the site
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Arantor on July 17, 2012, 11:14:10 PM
Have you had any emails from PayPal regarding this? Have you got any errors in the error log?
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Kimmie on July 17, 2012, 11:26:33 PM
She got her conformation from paypal let me go check and see if it sent me her 1.00. I will also check the logs. Be back in a jiffy
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Kimmie on July 17, 2012, 11:29:42 PM
ok I have her 1.00 in my paypal

No errors in the log

and still nothing showing up in my admin area, her profile, etc.


Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Kimmie on July 19, 2012, 08:12:40 AM
Any ideas yet why this isn't working?  I have checked what I know to do on my end but there may be something I am missing since I am new to these.


1. Turned on IPN's in paypal and set the return url like it said
2. Put her in a post count group with the limited access.
3. 2ndary group is set up with access to all boards
4. Settings on sub page are:

Primary Group upon Subscription: Set to Don't Change
Additional Groups upon Subscription: Set to the 2ndary group that will give full access



We know the money part works, I got her 1.00 in my paypal
She got the confirmation email from paypal but not from the site
I got the confirmation email from paypal

Her sub is not showing up in my admin area
Her sub is not showing up under her profile.
It did not add the 2ndary account to her profile so she does not have access to those boards it permits.

Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Sir Osis of Liver on July 19, 2012, 03:12:47 PM

Turned on IPN's in paypal and set the return url like it said

- Not necessary, your forum will receive IPN regardless of these settings.

Put her in a post count group with the limited access.

- Initial membergroup doesn't matter.

2ndary group is set up with access to all boards

- This would be the subscrber group.

Primary Group upon Subscription: Set to Don't Change
Additional Groups upon Subscription: Set to the 2ndary group that will give full access


- Make Primary Group the subscriber group.

Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Arantor on July 19, 2012, 04:10:19 PM
That would imply you can't ever add a group as a secondary group from the subscription?
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Sir Osis of Liver on July 19, 2012, 04:21:39 PM

Never tried it, but have always used primary group for subscriber group.  OP is not getting an error, which would indicate IPN is either not being received, or is being processed successfully but subscription is not being applied.

Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Kimmie on July 19, 2012, 07:58:38 PM
Quote from: Krash. on July 19, 2012, 03:12:47 PM

Turned on IPN's in paypal and set the return url like it said

- Not necessary, your forum will receive IPN regardless of these settings.

Put her in a post count group with the limited access.

- Initial membergroup doesn't matter.

2ndary group is set up with access to all boards

- This would be the subscrber group.

Primary Group upon Subscription: Set to Don't Change
Additional Groups upon Subscription: Set to the 2ndary group that will give full access


- Make Primary Group the subscriber group.


Looks like the only thing different are the last two - and if you look up a few posts to where I posted a screenshot, the way you say to do it is exactly how I did it "initially" and I only changed it to the "dont change" and "secondary" after it did not work thinking that was the problem. I just changed it back but it is still not showing up.

Also, I only had the sub active long enough to receive her payment and then turned it off because it is merely for test at this point and I did not want anyone else to use it. I simply unchecked the "active" button. Could there be an issue there perhaps? Since it says "A subscription must be active for new members to join". I didn't think that applied to people who already bought one.
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Arantor on July 19, 2012, 08:04:16 PM
It needs to be on long enough for the IPN also to function - the IPN is not necessarily instant.
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Kimmie on July 19, 2012, 08:25:28 PM
Quote from: Arantor on July 19, 2012, 08:04:16 PM
It needs to be on long enough for the IPN also to function - the IPN is not necessarily instant.

ok so maybe if I turn it back on it will update? Let me try that. I may have to change the # of days. I only set it up on 5 because I want this to be live on Aug 1st and that would give me time to test it.


Would that also be why she never got the email from the site?


Also, do we know what the average time is it takes to update? like 1 hour, 24 hours, etc.. this would be good to know when people start getting angry that they have paid but still have no access
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Sir Osis of Liver on July 20, 2012, 03:07:48 PM

Just set up a 1 day sub for $.10, and use a test member to test it yourself.  IPNs are usually sent immediately, but I suppose there could be a delay if server loads on either end are high.  Member update is immediate, soon as the IPN is received.

Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Kimmie on July 21, 2012, 12:14:42 PM
Update: I have had it turned on for the last two days now, and it still has not updated anything. If the member update is immediate once the IPN is received then it should have worked because I waited to turn it off until I received the 1.00. Server load on my end is never high, and I would assume as big a company as paypal is, they would have the necessary resources in place to keep server loads to a minimum.


As for the test, I wanted to test every aspect of it which is why I selected a 5 day one. That way I could test the confirmation email when the sub is first gotten, as well as the reminder email the site is supposed to send x amount of days before the sub expires. I need to know all of it works, and so far none of it does :(.

The only other things I can think of is there is something else I am supposed to be doing in terms of paypal other than that IPN setting so it knows to shoot that info back to my site... OR there is a setting on the site such as with permissions that is stopping it from happening. I haven't had to mess with permissions since I used 1.0 so I wouldn't even know where to start looking.

I am going to make a new test member, make a completely new subscription and delete this one...  do another test myself, and leave it active and see what happens. If it doesn't work this time there is definitely something wrong somewhere.

Will keep you updated.
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Kimmie on July 21, 2012, 12:52:16 PM
Question: On my subscriber group.. which of these is it supposed to be?

Private (Membership must be assigned)
Protected (Only administrators can manage and assign)
Requestable (User may request membership)
Free (User may leave and join group at will)
Post Based (Membership based on post count) - I already know it cant be this one



Is this still a problem? If so I don't need to use recurring right?

http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=477461.20
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Sir Osis of Liver on July 21, 2012, 03:32:40 PM
Subscriber group should be Private.

The PayPal IPN is one of the few things in Paid Subs that is pretty much idiotproof.  Your forum sends a notify_url to PayPal with the subscription info, and that overrides IPN settings.  You can put any valid PayPal account in subscription settings, and it will post an IPN to your forum, regardless of account settings.  That's not your problem.

Recurring payments is problematic, but won't prevent the subscription from being successfully applied.

What's puzzling is that you're not logging an error.  There are many situations in which the forum receives an IPN but doesn't know what to do with it, but this usually throws an error, and emails a notification to admins.

If you can set up a temporary admin account and pm the info, I'll take a look.

Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Kimmie on July 22, 2012, 03:30:50 AM
Quote from: Krash. on July 21, 2012, 03:32:40 PM
Subscriber group should be Private.

The PayPal IPN is one of the few things in Paid Subs that is pretty much idiotproof.  Your forum sends a notify_url to PayPal with the subscription info, and that overrides IPN settings.  You can put any valid PayPal account in subscription settings, and it will post an IPN to your forum, regardless of account settings.  That's not your problem.

Recurring payments is problematic, but won't prevent the subscription from being successfully applied.

What's puzzling is that you're not logging an error.  There are many situations in which the forum receives an IPN but doesn't know what to do with it, but this usually throws an error, and emails a notification to admins.

If you can set up a temporary admin account and pm the info, I'll take a look.



nope, not one single error on the site, in my email, nothing.


Ok I have completely deleted everything (test sub, test member group, etc). I will pm you the temp admin account info and you can work your magic :). I appreciate this, it was about to be my next request  lol.
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Sir Osis of Liver on July 22, 2012, 10:22:13 PM

Works for me.  Registered new member (SubTest) in 0 post count group (Before the Storm), created new subscription (TestSub) that moves member to your Subscriber group (as Primary), made payment to your PayPal account from mine.  By the time I got back to your forum, subscription was successfully applied.  Did not make any changes to either membergroup, or to your subscription settings.

Try it.
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Kimmie on July 23, 2012, 01:41:52 AM
Thanks for the help with this Krash, I REALLY appreciate it. After looking at how you set things up. about the only thing I can figure is...

I turned the sub off once I got her money. Apparently if you do this before Paypal has had time to shoot that info back to the site, the sub goes poof and turning it back on will not resolve it. I left it back on for over 2 days and her sub never appeared. I just hope that if I ever decide to get rid of any particular sub, this won't cause me problems in the future. I know that I couldn't delete one until every last subscriber was done with that sub, if I turn it off, I just wouldn't want it to cause problems with anyones current sub, etc. 

The only other thing different is that you listed no email. I wouldn't think that would be a problem, just wished I knew if it (and the reminder email)  worked or not. Now that I know the main part of the subs work, I can just tell people to give me feedback on these two things as time goes on.

I notice this at the top when modifying the sub:

"Note that as this group has existing subscribers the group settings cannot be changed!:"


Is this referring to the "Subscriber" group, the specific sub settings, or the main subscription settings?



You want a refund? ;)  (about how long were you away from the forum before you checked it? I am trying to get a timeline so I can let folks know an average time to expect).
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Sir Osis of Liver on July 23, 2012, 02:31:17 PM

I've never seen a subscription take more than a few seconds to activate after PayPal payment is successful.

The email notification is sent when subscription expires - has no effect on new sub.

You can deactivate an existing subscription, which prevents new members from subscribing, without deleting it. 

As for deleting a subscription with active subscribers, this is what it says:

"If you delete this subscription all users currently subscribed will lose any access rights granted by the subscription. Unless you are sure you want to do this it is recommended that you simply deactivate a subscription rather than delete it."

I deleted the test sub and ran Paid Subscriptions Checks, and Subtest is still a Subscrber, so don't know what's up with that.  Will have to tinker with it later when I have time.

Don't worry about the $.10 - buy yourself something nice.  ;)

Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Kimmie on July 24, 2012, 12:56:12 AM
Quote from: Krash. on July 23, 2012, 02:31:17 PM

I've never seen a subscription take more than a few seconds to activate after PayPal payment is successful.

Well that is what I would have thought as well and is why I deactivated it after I got her payment. I didn't want any other members messing with it. Who knows at this point.

QuoteThe email notification is sent when subscription expires - has no effect on new sub.

I plan on ticking the setting that sends them an email x amount of days before it expires. I hope it sends it.

QuoteI deleted the test sub and ran Paid Subscriptions Checks, and Subtest is still a Subscrber, so don't know what's up with that.  Will have to tinker with it later when I have time.

Not sure what that is... is it a report or something you ran? I will leave you access until you have had time to tinker with it. There is still about 7 days before I take this live.


QuoteDon't worry about the $.10 - buy yourself something nice.  ;)



Hehehe cute! :)


Ok so, the rest of the member groups other than the one your test member was in, all have full access to the site right now. I am planning on throwing the site into MAintenance Mode on the night of the 31st and removing their access. All I should have to do is go to Permissions > Board Permissions > Go into each board and uncheck those groups, and then set up my 3 subs I plan on having right?
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Sir Osis of Liver on July 24, 2012, 03:53:52 PM

Paid Subscription Checks is a scheduled task (Admin -> Scheduled Tasks) that updates expired subscriptions once a day by default.  You can change the frequency, or run it manually at any time.

I usually set Visible Boards in Membergroups, then cross check them against Allowed Groups in Boards.  They're linked, so changing one changes the other, but it's a good idea to confirm both ends.
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Kimmie on July 30, 2012, 01:54:17 PM
Any news on this, the deadline is near lol


EDIT" Oops didnt see your other posts. Sorry..lol.

Just checked your test member and they are still in the subscriber group. Am I to assume this isn't working right? Do I need to set that to "Don't Change" and then have it give them "secondary access" to the subscriber group?
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Sir Osis of Liver on July 30, 2012, 02:41:24 PM

For reasons unknown, member Subtest is still in Subscriber group, which should have expired after a day.  Profile shows no subscriptions, which is correct.  This may be because the test subscription was deleted while still active.  You should be ok if you don't delete any subs with active users - inactivate them instead.  That will prevent members from subscribing, but shouldn't affect active subscribers.

May be another bug.  Will try to duplicate it on a test install soon as I have time.

Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Kimmie on July 30, 2012, 02:46:58 PM
ok thanks. I can always push my start time for the subs out a day or so if I need to so that another test can be made. I was going to use the 1st since it starts a new month. It's not a real big deal.


What I was thinking is that since you told it to "change" their primary group completely, it can't change them back to a post count group because as the site now sees it, that IS their primary group regardless
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Sir Osis of Liver on July 30, 2012, 11:23:32 PM

The database contains the member's new (subscriber) group and old group.  When sub expires, member should be returned to their old group.  It appears that deleting the sub removes it from the member's profile (or it's removed when the sub expires), but does not revert the membergroup.  Looks like it will remain active indefinitely, until cancelled by admin.  If so, that would be a bug.  If I can duplicate it, I'll post a bug report.

It should work fine for you as long as you remember not to delete subs that have active subscribers.


Edit:  Ok, took another look, and admin cannot manually cancel the subscription because it no longer exists.  The subscription membergroup is no longer linked to a subscription, so subscriber must be moved back to their original group in Profile -> Account Settings.

Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Kimmie on July 31, 2012, 04:38:51 PM
ok, sounds good. That makes a lot of sense really because its the sub "expiring" that tells the site to revert them back to their original group. If the sub is not there, it cannot "expire" so that remaining process cannot carry out what it needs to.

I want to THANK YOU for all the help you have given me on this!!!!!! I really REALLY appreciate it Krash. You are a great asset to the SMF team and I hope they know that :)

We go live tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed!!! LOL
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Sir Osis of Liver on July 31, 2012, 04:45:13 PM

Good luck! (http://www.thekrashsite.com/pics/thu.gif)

Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Kimmie on July 31, 2012, 11:32:30 PM
Just started working on this, and just wanted you to know that adjusting the visible boards under membergroups changed nothing. I am still going to have to go into  each boards permissions and uncheck each group. Not sure why. Maybe you can tell me?  LOL



EDIT: NEvermind, Its late and I am stupid...lol. I was looking at the wrong board. HA.
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Kimmie on August 02, 2012, 12:24:16 PM
Ok I have a question. Under subscriptions I have this:

(http://i49.tinypic.com/2jfywdi.png)


I assume the "finished" category means someone has actually finished an entire subscription. I am confused about this because nobody has had time to finish one yet because the shortest one I have is 7 days and they have only been live for 2 days. When I go into that sub, there are no names showing up.


Now, with that being said if you remember back to when "I tried" to run a test, that sub was for 7 days. Could this be hers showing up as finished after all this time even though I deleted that sub?
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Sir Osis of Liver on August 02, 2012, 03:17:13 PM

Probably, yes.  One of the problems with paid subs is it doesn't always clean up after itself.  If you go to your database and look in smf_log_subscribed you should see two subs, the inactive one, and the current active sub.  If you convert start_time and end_time from unix to plain english, you can see when the sub occurred.  No idea what happened to the test sub I did - apparently was removed from the log at some point.  You can delete the inactive record if you wish.

Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Kimmie on August 02, 2012, 05:30:42 PM
k thanks :).


So far things are working good. They are receiving the confirmation emails from both paypal and the site and things are working as expected thus far. The next hurdle will be them getting the reminder emails close to the end of their subs, and them being moved back into their post count group once their sub expires. So  far we only have 1 "60 day" sub going so it may be a little while before I can confirm that part. I may use your test account on the 7 day sub just so I can make sure it works  lol.


Once again, THANKS for all the help!!
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Kimmie on August 05, 2012, 11:26:32 PM
ok so I am confused again  lol


I keep having numbers pop up in the finished category and I am not seeing how since those have only just started and they have not had time to expire.


(http://i49.tinypic.com/2z3oy6h.png)


1st group: 1 week subs: shows 2 active and 2 finished. Only 2 are listed when I pull it up. One doesn't expire until the 11th and the other does not expire until the 12th. Why are  they showing finished?

2nd group: 30 days shows 0 active and 2 finished (with no listings)

3rd group: 60 days shows 3 active, 0 finished and 3 people listed.


I thought perhaps it could be that this list will not show the names of the ones that are finished already, only the active ones but then I thought well no that cant be it either because we have not even had a sub live long enough TO expire yet. 
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Sir Osis of Liver on August 06, 2012, 02:57:59 PM

Don't know what's causing those finished subs.  You have two 1 week and four 60 day subs, and those members are all in Subscriber group.  Check payments in your PayPal account and confirm that all paid members are in Subscriber group.  If you look in smf_log_subscribed it should show you the finished subs (status = 0) and which member each belonged to (id_member).

Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Kimmie on August 06, 2012, 05:21:42 PM
k I will do that later today and let you know what I find
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Kimmie on August 09, 2012, 04:21:47 PM
before I had a chance to check it, the "finished" category dropped down to all 0's. If it happens again, I will be sure and check it right away.

==================


I am getting an error on someone who tried to purchase a subscription but it didn't go through. Not sure what the error means.

http://****/subscriptions.phpPaid subscription handler could not find subscription log entry for member ID: 8780, subscription ID: 5


They used an "eCheck" to pay for it. I received an email on the 7th with the error, and then another email on the 8th telling me the eCheck had cleared but their subscription never updated.


Any ideas?


The email I received only had the error. My log shows more information (listed below).


Quotehttp://****/subscriptions.phpPaid subscription handler could not find subscription log entry for member ID: 8780, subscription ID: 5
mc_gross: 1.00
protection_eligibility: Ineligible
payer_id: EJVYN59CRRGYE
tax: 0.00
payment_date: 00:26:09 Aug 05, 2012 PDT
payment_status: Completed
charset: windows-1252
first_name: Kelly
mc_fee: 0.33
notify_version: 3.5
echeck_time_processed: 11:13:52 Aug 08, 2012 PDT
custom:
payer_status: verified
business: ****
quantity: 1
verify_sign: APfKQNxTnnF4X2YZHHlq-DE-2kVSAUCMIoOcyzbnZgUhHdo2USHM4HQp
payer_email:****
txn_id: 3A347837812922747
payment_type: echeck
payer_business_name: NeonGlowFX
last_name: Eastes
receiver_email: ****
payment_fee: 0.33
receiver_id: 84UJRJ33GHQUA
txn_type: web_accept
item_name: 1 Week Preview (7 days) Subscription
mc_currency: USD
item_number: 5+8780
residence_country: US
handling_amount: 0.00
transaction_subject: 1 Week Preview (7 days) Subscription
payment_gross: 1.00
shipping: 0.00
ipn_track_id: d6cade8538d8e
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Sir Osis of Liver on August 09, 2012, 04:58:33 PM

Not a clue how the 'finished' subs could zero out. (http://www.thekrashsite.com/pics/idk.gif)

I've never seen an eCheck payment, so not sure how it works, but the IPN in the logged error has a recognized transaction type (web_accept), so the problem seems to have occurred when payment was initially made.  Looks like your error log has been cleared, so I can't see what happened before this error.  Can you do a test sub with an eCheck?

I'm a little concerned that you've had two different problems that both appear to involve the subscription log.  Have you been messing around in the database?

Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Kimmie on August 09, 2012, 05:18:50 PM
The error is still in the log. I left it so you could see it. The only other items that were in there were "password incorrect" errors (5 pages of them and I went through every entry - I always do). I get tons of those every day and have since I started using SMF way back when it was 1.0. That is a problem I have been complaining about since it started but nobody seems to know how to fix it.

And no I have not been in the database for anything accept backups in months.


Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Kimmie on August 09, 2012, 05:24:49 PM
you want access to my DB so you can have a looksie?  lol
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Kimmie on August 11, 2012, 09:04:44 PM
ok now I have them showing up as finished - even under the 60 day field  lol

(http://i49.tinypic.com/p8uc0.png)


When I go under 7 days I actually have "5" subs showing - 4 active and 1 finished
(http://i49.tinypic.com/kmans.png)

30 days - Shows 1 active
(http://i45.tinypic.com/jgthf6.png)


60 days shows 7 active and 0 finished
(http://i50.tinypic.com/yku9c.png)


I am getting ready to go see if I can pull it up on the database

EDIT: Since I am new to looking at this, here is what I see in my log (its all of the entries). the image is a lot bigger than that so just open it in a new tab

(http://i48.tinypic.com/2gtxo4x.png)


Going by Status = "0"
1st finished entry is yours (I think) 07/23/2012 2:08am GMT to 07/24/2012 2:09am GMT.
2nd finished entry is a legit sub that expired
3rd one, id is this person http://patriotgames2.info/index.php?action=profile;u=485 and "begin" time stamp is 08/11/2012 11:21pm GMT No sub every showing up for this person and nothing showing as pending
4th one  id is this person http://patriotgames2.info/index.php?action=profile;u=6259 and "begin" time stamp is 08/11/2012 4:33am GMT. No sub ever showing up for this person and nothing showing as pending
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Sir Osis of Liver on August 12, 2012, 04:06:59 PM

There are 16 subs in your screenshot of smf_log_subscribed.  I'm seeing 17 finished + active subs listed on your forum, which is about right if another sub was added since you posted the ss.  When I look at the stats for individual subs, a couple of the finished subs are missing.  That's odd, because afaik all of the stats come from the same subs table, which appears to be complete.  (Don't know why there are two subs with end_time = 0.)

When Paid Subscription Checks runs every day, it does not remove any records from the table, it just updates status from 1 to 0 for any sub that has expired.  All subs, active or finished, remain in the log indefinitely, or until you manually delete them from the db.

It's possible one of your mods may be causing a glitch with paid subs, but don't see any likely suspects in your package manager.  Best thing would be to track each sub from PayPal payment to finish, to confirm that members are subscribing successfully and the subs are expiring on schedule.  If that's working, the tracking stats are not a major problem, and could be just a minor bug.

Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Kimmie on August 12, 2012, 08:43:51 PM
Why are there two in the log with weird data on them?


And yeah I figured that and is why I went by the "0" status when looking to see which ones were finished.


The one I had a problem with (echeck) finally showed up 4 days later. SMF probably needs to try and address this if they can. She was one pissed off camper because I got the money on day 2 from paypal but it took the site 2 more days to update it lol. I came really close to manually giving her that same sub which may have caused a problem when it updated.

I will see if I can start tracking them. I work 10 hours a day 6 days a week so I am not always on the site or have the energy to even mess with it. So far, the one with the echeck is the only one who has sent through any sort of complaint.
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Sir Osis of Liver on August 13, 2012, 10:10:15 PM

Don't know how SMF handles echecks, but it might help if you increase the frequency of Paid Subscription Checks to more than once daily.

Admin -> Scheduled Tasks -> Paid Subscription Checks -> Interval

Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Kimmie on August 16, 2012, 06:37:57 AM
well the echeck one never actually updated. She ended up paying for it again with a credit card 2 days later. Its almost impossible to tell by the emails since it applies the exact same number to everyone. Only thing I can do is take her word for it and refund the other money i guess.

SMF needs to look into the echeck method because there is obviously a problem with it and I am venturing to guess it is because there is a delay. It never even showed up on the site as "pending" and it should have.
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Kimmie on October 04, 2012, 09:23:52 PM
Ok I have had another error. Summary of email says Paid subscription handler could not find subscription log entry for member ID: 4354, subscription ID: 6. (full error is in log if you want to see it).


I think the problem may be that someone who is in a non post count group already (Supporter), tried to purchase one, and it couldn't move them to Subscriber.


Either that, or this problem here is affecting me

http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=487522.msg3414651#msg3414651

Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Sir Osis of Liver on October 05, 2012, 02:23:17 PM

That looks like a subscription renewal that failed.  The member appears to have had a subscription, and either selected recurring payment, or tried to renew manually.

Post the error.

Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Kimmie on October 05, 2012, 05:14:03 PM
No this isn't a renewal. She has never had one before. I have recurring turned off so they don't even see that option.


The "Supporter group" you see her in is not the Subscription Group. That one is called 'Subscriber'. The Supporter group is group I set up last year when I was taking straight donations and they got manually inserted into that group - and I think this is the problem. I think the sub service is expecting her to be in a post count group and she isn't. All she did was try to purchase a sub normally just like everyone else does.


Full error that is in my log  - their payment was verified by paypal on Sep 29, 2012

Paid subscription handler could not find subscription log entry for member ID: 4354, subscription ID: 6
transaction_subject: 30 Days Access Subscription
payment_date: 12:40:02 Sep 29, 2012 PDT
txn_type: web_accept
last_name: Lekkerkerker
residence_country: NL
item_name: 30 Days Access Subscription
payment_gross: 5.00
mc_currency: USD
business: [email protected]
payment_type: instant
protection_eligibility: Ineligible
verify_sign: AJl4KKzVXkcLClg4XT6PGa-XyJzgAxw67OqnLhT5DK3DlTWLR2.vCjX8
payer_status: verified
tax: 0.00
payer_email: [email protected]
txn_id: 0TK47262KJ372733B
quantity: 1
receiver_email: [email protected]
first_name: Amy
payer_id: Z3CQMMFKQW27A
receiver_id: 84UJRJ33GHQUA
item_number: 6+4354
handling_amount: 0.00
payment_status: Completed
payment_fee: 0.50
mc_fee: 0.50
shipping: 0.00
mc_gross: 5.00
custom:
charset: windows-1252
notify_version: 3.7
ipn_track_id: 571ce09f569b0
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Sir Osis of Liver on October 05, 2012, 10:23:36 PM

Has nothing to do with the Supporter group.  Paid Subs thinks this is a renewal, and looks for the sub in the subscriptions log, but it's not there.  The subscription and membergroups are set up correctly.  The member has no active or finished subs in Profile, and txn_type is valid.  (This is the same error you got earlier when echeck payment failed.)

The function that does the lookup is in Subscriptions-PayPal.php -



// A private function to find out the subscription details.
private function _findSubscription()
{
global $smcFunc;

// Assume we have this?
if (empty($_POST['subscr_id']))
return false;

// Do we have this in the database?
$request = $smcFunc['db_query']('', '
SELECT id_member, id_subscribe
FROM {db_prefix}log_subscribed
WHERE vendor_ref = {string:vendor_ref}
LIMIT 1',
array(
'vendor_ref' => $_POST['subscr_id'],
)
);
// No joy?
if ($smcFunc['db_num_rows']($request) == 0)
{
// Can we identify them by email?
if (!empty($_POST['payer_email']))
{
$smcFunc['db_free_result']($request);
$request = $smcFunc['db_query']('', '
SELECT ls.id_member, ls.id_subscribe
FROM {db_prefix}log_subscribed AS ls
INNER JOIN {db_prefix}members AS mem ON (mem.id_member = ls.id_member)
WHERE mem.email_address = {string:payer_email}
LIMIT 1',
array(
'payer_email' => $_POST['payer_email'],
)
);
if ($smcFunc['db_num_rows']($request) == 0)
return false;
}
else
return false;
}
list ($member_id, $subscription_id) = $smcFunc['db_fetch_row']($request);
$_POST['item_number'] = $member_id . '+' . $subscription_id;
$smcFunc['db_free_result']($request);
}



In this case it should return 'false', but don't know where it goes after that.  Will have to poke around a bit.

Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Kimmie on October 09, 2012, 08:11:21 PM
Why does the site think this is a renewal when it isn't? This person has never ever had a subscription and they are purchasing it just like anyone else would.  That part needs to be checked into as well.

The payment type on this one is "instant" - that is the normal type of payment everyone else uses. The only difference between this person and anyone else who has purchased one (outside of that one using echeck which SMF obviously does not recognize as a legit method) is that they are in a non post count group.


I just don't see that part as being a coincidence since that is the only real difference. I think once it is figured out why the site is treating this as an renewal you will find those things are related. "I" think  (lol), that the reason why it failed is because non post count groups can only be changed by Admin. Meaning I am the only one that can move them from that group.
Title: Re: Question about Subscriptions
Post by: Sir Osis of Liver on October 10, 2012, 07:50:31 PM

Paid Subs just changes the group number. It doesn't know or care if the starting group is post-based or not.  Look in your PayPal account and see if there are any recurring payments.

I believe the posted error contains all the info in the IPN, and I don't see anything that would flag this as a renewal.  Am unable to duplicate the problem.