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Please forgive me. I have spent many hours trying to connect the dots on how to make WP eMember work for us.
The “WP eMember Creating Membership Levels” video says at 3:20 minute that we can have a subscription expire after a fixed amount of time as the mouse goes over “Expire After A Fixed Date” button. (https://youtu.be/1vpMw0Rzl1I?t=192)
That’s where we went wrong, and now I’m trying to recover.
[No paid staff for 300 members, 75 web pages (10 protected).]
__Problem__
Our memberships expire on December 31st of each year. We are using eMember without eStore.
These are our membership levels: Member, Family Member, Lifetime Member, and Family Member (Pending). The first 2 levels were created to expire on Dec 31, 2019. The Lifetime & Pending levels never expire.
We are starting to get renewals for 2020, but we cannot manually modify the member’s account to show that their expiration date should be Dec 31, 2020! We don’t know what happens when someone tries to renew with PayPal online.
As I read the support forums, apparently the the fixed expiration date is exactly that: the date when that subscription level ends. Period. (https://support.tipsandtricks-hq.com/forums/topic/emember-how-do-i-manually-extend-the-subscription-of-a-member-via-admin-interf#post-58525 and https://support.tipsandtricks-hq.com/forums/topic/how-to-manually-set-emember-expiry-date)
I have spent several hours trying to make sense of unconnected forum posts, and this is what I came up with:
___Possible Solution___
* I think we need to create Member(2019), Member(2020), Member(2022), Member(2023), etc.
* I can manually update the protected pages to permit access by all those accounts.
* I can edit the join-us page to add the subsequent years, and maybe even hide a level once someone has bought it.
* Probably need to add accounts, update pages and settings every 2-3 years
___Question___
Before I spend hours of time to implement, test and document that solution, is this the correct and best path to pursue? Is there an easier way to accomplish this?
I’ve really tried to do my homework:
___These are the forum topics I’ve read___
https://www.tipsandtricks-hq.com/wordpress-membership/how-to-add-a-membership-level-in-wp-emember-13
https://support.tipsandtricks-hq.com/forums/topic/renewal-or-double-pay-questions#post-28934
√ https://support.tipsandtricks-hq.com/forums/topic/how-to-manually-set-emember-expiry-date
https://support.tipsandtricks-hq.com/forums/topic/renew-member-through-dashboard#post-60781
https://support.tipsandtricks-hq.com/forums/topic/emember-track-account-renewals#post-81720
https://support.tipsandtricks-hq.com/forums/topic/membership-upgrade-renewal-and-cancellation
I am impressed with the hundreds of YouTube videos on your channel! I have watched or started watching the following videos, and none of them help me:
(Jan 2019) How to Passsword Protect a WordPress Post/Page
(Jun 2018) WP eMember Registration Scenario 2 Tutorial
(Jun 2018) WP eMember Registration Scenario 1
(Feb 2017) How to Setup a Premium Membership Site using PayPal
(Feb 2017) WP eMember – Basic Configuration and Setting up a Free Membership Site
(Feb 2017) How to Install the WP eMember Plugin
(Apr 2016) How to Directly Integrate eMember with a PayPal button
(Apr 2016) How to Use Google reCAPTCHA on Member Registration Form
* (Apr 2016) Multiple Membership Levels Per User Feature in WP eMember
(Apr 2016) How to configure auto upgrade in WP eMember plugin
(Dec 2015) WP eMember Protection Methods
(Dec 2015) Registration Form For a Specific Level
(Dec 2015) How to Manually Approve Your Members
(Oct 2015) WP eMember Section Protection Tutorial
(Oct 2015) WP eMember Sitewide Protection Tutorial
(Oct 2015) WP eMember Easy Post/Page Protection Tutorial
(Aug 2015) WP eMember Form Builder Addon Usage
(Aug 2014) Redirect Members to a Page After Login
(Aug 2013) WP eMember Creating Membership Levels
(Dec 2013) WP eMember Plugin Features Overvie
(Nov 2013) WP eStore eMember Integration Troubleshooting 1
(Nov 2013) WP eStore eMember Integration Troubleshooting 2
I am not fully clear as to what kind of setup you want. If you want the membership to expire on a specific date, then you need to pick that option in the membership level.
Then for next year, you can create a NEW membership level that will expire on the specific date of the following year. Create a payment button for this new level. When the members are renewing, they will get put into this new level which gives them access until the expiry date of the following year. You can then repeat this process once every year.
My apologies for any confusion.
Our membership schema was put in place 5 months ago, and we added 300 members to a plan that ends on a specific date (Dec 31st). New members have already signed up online, and their expiration date is also Dec 31st.
__Here are our current membership levels__
Level Name: | Subscription Valid for:
Member | 2019-12-31
Family Member | 2019-12-31
Lifetime | No Expiry or Until Cancelled
Family Pending | No Expiry or Until Cancelled
Here are the pages that are already built and working:
[Join Us] pinellasgenealogysociety.com/member-login/join-us/
[Renew] pinellasgenealogysociety.com/member-login/renew/
All of this was built on wrong assumptions. Now I’m trying to recover.
The solution I was trying to describe is this:
_______________|___________________________
Member | 2019-12-31
Family Member | 2019-12-31
Member (2020) | 2020-12-31
Family Member (2020) | 2020-12-31
Member (2021) | 2021-12-31
Family Member (2021) | 2021-12-31
Lifetime | No Expiry or Until Cancelled
Family Pending | No Expiry or Until Cancelled
I will have to rewrite the “Join Us” and “Renew” pages so that only the current membership is shown, and short codes are the only tool I have for that.
Before I start making those changes I would like reassurance that is that BEST way for me to proceed.
* Do I have the correct understanding of how to do this?
* Are these multiple levels the easiest way to go?
— Rick
_____
PS: I cannot see how to use the existing eMember dashboard tools to do what you suggest: “When the members are renewing, they will get put into this new level which gives them access until the expiry date of the following year.” That needs to be automated and not repeated manually 300 times. I’m off to read about that…
The setup you have now looks fine to me.
The following process is automated. When the payment for the NEW level comes in, the get put into that level (no manual intervention is needed for it):
“When the members are renewing, they will get put into this new level which gives them access until the expiry date of the following year.”
Only do multiple membership level option, if you want them to have access to BOTH Member and Member (2020) levels. I don’t really think you need that since the “Member (2020)” level can be configured to give access to everything from the previous year and this new year. So at any given time, a member is always paying for the Latest year and they get put into that years membership. You update the payment buttons on the renewal page when a year is over so when they are renewing, they get put into the new year’s membership level. You can create as many payment buttons as you need to cover the different scenarios.
You answer is confusing because the setup “I have now” does not have any NEW levels.
Is this the setup that “looks fine?”
__________|___________________________
1. Member | 2019-12-31
2. Family Member | 2019-12-31
3. Member (2020) | 2020-12-31
4. Family Member (2020) | 2020-12-31
5. Member (2021) | 2021-12-31
6. Family Member (2021) | 2021-12-31
7. Lifetime | No Expiry or Until Cancelled
Family Pending | No Expiry or Until Cancelled
WE DON’T HAVE THAT SETUP. It’s what I’m proposing as a solution.
I *think* you are saying that my next step should be to add those levels: 3-4-5-6.
I *think* the step after that would be to set up PayPal buttons to match each of the 4 new levels, then rotate those “Buy Now” buttons at the end of the year.
Yes? No?
Yes, I was trying to say that what you have come up with (the new level scheme) look good to me. So yes setup those new levels and connect the payment buttons to those levels.
Thank you!
FYI, I had to do only a few things to recover from my early misconceptions about the fixed expiry date:
* Rename & add membership levels
* Rename & add PayPal payment buttons
* Edit one page (“Renew”) to change shortcodes
That was done once. Future changes:
* Annually: Edit PayPal payment buttons for new membership levels (everything else falls into place)
* By 2022, add new membership levels for 2023, 2024, etc.
___Details___
__Here are the specific steps I’ve taken in Membership Levels:__
Renamed level “Member” to “2019 Member” (Expire date remains 12/31/2019)
Renamed level “Family Member” to “2019 Family Member” (Expired date remains 12/31/2-19)
Added “2020 Member” (expiration date 12/31/2020)
Added “2020 Family Member” (expiration date 12/31/2020)
Added “2021 Member” (expiration date 12/31/2021)
Added “2021 Family Member” (expiration date 12/31/2021)
The membership levels now look like this:
2021 Member
2021 Family Member
2020 Member
2020 Family Member
2019 Member
2019 Family Member
Lifetime
Family Member (Pending)
Our Membership Director can choose only ONE of those from the pull-down menu. Obviously, if a member is paid through Dec 31, 2020, then their membership level will be “2020 Member.”
__I modified the payment buttons__
Renamed button “Family” to “Family Join”
Renamed button “Individual” to “Individual Join”
Added button “Family Renew”
Added button “Individual Renew”
We now have 4 paypal buttons:
Individual Join (pays 2019 Membership)
Individual Renew (pays 2020 Membership)
Family Join (pays 2019 Membership)
Family Renew (pays 2020 Membership)
__Page edits__
The “Join” page is unchanged and new members will have the 2019 membership
The “Renew” page now has PayPal “renew” buttons to pay for 2020 memberships
__Scheduled (Future) actions__
Jan 1, 2020: Change the “Join” PayPal buttons to pay for 2020 memberships
Fall (TBD), 2020: Change the 2 “renew” PayPal buttons to pay for 2021 memberships
Rick Jaggers (MyWP2.com)
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