eStore- refund click if used before product available

[ryan.taylor]

Is there a way, a php function to call, preferably, to refund a click to a ticket that was used prior to the product being available?

Customers to the site [http://mfeo.tv/] are clicking the links emailed to them before the streams they’ve purchased, and we need to find a solution.

[wzp]

Refunds are a process that should be handled manually, for the simple reason that (your) human judgement needs to occur.

What exactly is the work flow, that you are trying to accomplish?

What do you mean by “refund a click”? are you selling a click?

[ryan.taylor]

I’m sorry, I don’t mean to refund their purchase. I would like to refund the use of their download link, under specific date conditions which are controlled by the page template.

We are selling live stream and on-demand streaming video. Because customers can purchase videos prior to the live stream broadcast, I have created the template to embed the video only if it is on or after the air date, using the eStore shortcode and some php in the template.

If the link is used prior to the embedded video being available, the template tells the customer to come back in X days to watch the video live or on-demand, afterwards. For these cases, I would like return the link use so it will not count against their total number of allowed uses per link prior to the embedded video being available.

Is this possible?

[wzp]

Well, what you can do is, on the page that has the “come back later” message, if the conditions are right for a “refresh” of their links; use the [wp_eStore_download_link_sender] shortcode to resend their link(s). I say “link(s)” because it will resend ALL of their links; even the ones for events in the past that they paid for.

You will need to use the extra shortcodes plugin to get this shortcode. You can find the extra shortcodes plugin here:

http://www.tipsandtricks-hq.com/ecommerce/wp-estore-shortcodes-and-functions-reference-460

Of course, if you’re a hotshot PHP ninja, we can probably take this to “the next level,” and have the template actually serve up a new link on the fly.

[ryan.taylor]

Ideally, we can continue to work with the same link that the customer has already been issued. Is there a way to identify the download link that was used on page load? If so, then I can find the corresponding record in the database and set the access_count back to 0 if the product is not yet available.

[wzp]

I think it’s better to just issue a new link for these reasons:

1. They paid for the content, at the end of the link; not the link itself
2. It’s easier, after you’ve verified they are entitled to a “reset,” to just issue a new link; instead of scanning and updating the link table.
3. If they shared the link; used it and then you reset it; you invite trouble.
4. You’re not going to “run out” of links.

[ryan.taylor]

Thank you. I think that I will make an addon to do this because it is a very specific scenario and your solution is not viable in our sales environment.

[wzp]

Hint: Look inside the download.php file for the code you need to manipulate the link table.

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