eMember renewals do not include previous paid time

[avd23]

I offer 30 day premium memberships and many customers are going to the sign up and buying 2 and 3 additional months. However the plug-in is only showing 3 days from the last time they bought.

For example, say a client buys 30 days on a Monday. Then returns on the Friday and buys 30 days again. He should now have 55 days but instead it shows 30 days from Friday not 55 days from Friday. Then he returns on Monday and buys another 30 days. He should now have 82 days, but it shows 30 days from Monday.

What settings need to be changed. I have the membership level set for 30 days. It seems like the only logical choice.

Using v8.2.1 and WP 3.4.2

[admin]

Usually, users use a subscription/recurring payment button to offer a membership that will go on a continuous basis (the user cancels the subscription when he/she wants to stop). The following post should be helpful:

https://support.tipsandtricks-hq.com/forums/topic/membership-payment-difference-between-buy-now-and-subscription-buttons

However, you should still be able to do what you are after. Can you please tell me what are you using to accept the payment? Is it direct PayPal or Clickbank integration or are you using eStore?

[avd23]

I have a lot of readers who do not want automatic payments but like to renew every month. I am using PayPal NON-SUBSCRIPTION service.

PayPal apparently charges a monthly fee for automatic monthly subscriptions so I am just as glad to stay with customers who want to renew every month through paying again with my PayPal link.

It is just that some customers go to the PayPal link and buy another month, but e-member then simply starts their subscription from that point rather then adding in the remaining days.

I had a customer yesterday buy the monthly membership 3 times which should have given him 90 days. Instead he was given 30 days.

[admin]

Lets load a fresh copy of the plugin first:

https://support.tipsandtricks-hq.com/forums/topic/re-install-or-load-a-fresh-build-of-the-plugins

Please test this out after that.

Just another suggestion… you can also create more membership levels to offer 3 month, 6 month, 1 year membership options. These levels will all have the same content protection but different duration. Then you can create corresponding purchase buttons for each of these levels and place them on the payment page. This way if a user wanted to buy a membership to your site for 3 months, he/she doesn’t have to buy it 3 times.

[avd23]

Thank you. I will look into that.

[avd23]

I did a fresh install but I notice the same issue. I had a customer on Sept 26 make a payment and then on Sept 27 another payment. But the membership still shows expiry as Oct 27 2012.

This goes back to my other question recently posted, on how to manually add the extra month to their account.

I now have 5 members who have paid at various times for their membership and the accounts just reflect 30 days.

Perhaps this has something to do with my membership settings.

I have the membership set as Expires after 31 days. I thought this was the proper setting to use. These are not PayPal subscribers but are BUY NOW subscribers. They basically each month buy another 30 days through using the BUY NOW PayPal service.

Please explain further how to correct this issue. Thanks.

[avd23]

I have figured out what is the issue. It appears that these 5 members are NOT logging in to their membership accounts. They are paying again through PayPal using the Join Us button NOT the renewal button and then contacting me wondering why their membership is not being extended.

I have added a link to the join us advising people if they are renewing use the renewal button.

Just to be clear though:

1) If someone renews using the renewal button it will extend their period with an additional 30 days to their existing time remaining. This IS correct?

2) I will definitely need some way to see how much time is left on their expiry and then an easy way to manually add time to that expiry, otherwise I will have to keep a spreadsheet with users and track when I need to go in and manually change the date through the SUBSCRIPTION START field in the EDIT MEMBER panel.

Today I have received 4 more checks from members who do not want to use PayPal. So I appreciate your assistance in setting up an easy way to manually extend their subscription.

Thanks for your support!

[admin]

1) Yes, it will add more time to their account when they pay for more. You can use eMember’s section protection hide the renewal buttons so it is only accessible to logged in users. This way then can’t pay for a renewal without logging in.

2) We have added this option in the plugin. Now, when you edit a member’s profile in the dashboard, you can see the expiry date of this user under the “Additional Info” section. We have just added this in the plugin so you will need to download a new copy of the plugin to get this:

https://support.tipsandtricks-hq.com/update-request

You can manually extend a user’s expiry by simply adding the time to the current “Subscription Starts” date fields value.

i) So, lets say a member’s subscription start date field’s value is 2012-09-25

ii). For whatever reason you want to manually give another 30 days to this user (usually this is done automatically when a user purchase more time)

iii). Edit this member’s profile from the admin dashboard and set the the subscription start date field’s value to 2012-10-20

iv) Save the profile.

Now, if you look at this member’s expiry date, you will see that the extra time has been added to their profile.

[avd23]

EXCELLENT!

You have such terrific support and are responsive. Unusual for anyone today to provide this kind of support. Thank you very much.

I have downloaded it and it does everything needed.

Thank you also for the tip on the renewal. I have done that and that should fix a lot of issues.

[gxxaxx]

This posting is exactly the question I wanted to ask. So, I hope it’s okay to continue this post rather than start a new one.

I am just looking for a little extra clarity.

My understanding is that a “renewal” is simply a purchase of membership WHILE logged in.

I have not found any special code for renewal buttons (other than the new [wp_eMember_renew_membership_for_free] code).

Seems like the plugin is set to work a little magic so that purchase of the membership product (I am using eStore) will simply update the membership and that one does not have separate products.

Is this correct?

If not can you point me in the direction for the code that used on the two different buttons?

Thanks,

[admin]

Yes, you are correct.

More info on this topic here:

http://www.tipsandtricks-hq.com/wordpress-membership/how-to-create-payment-buttons-for-membership-upgrade-189

[Mdudley286]

I get the adding more time manually, what I want to know is if you are using the PayPal api for subscriptions, then changing the start date also changes when the system looks for payment from Paypal being made on a recurring subscription how do you keep the subscription from expiring then? I have also noticed that when the recurring subscriptions pay right away with PayPal but do not complete their registration for a few days sometimes a week, the subscription starts when the registration is completed not the pay date on PayPal, so the recurring subscribers are getting expired for non payment even when there is a payment. I know two different questions.

[admin]

Please read the following post so we are on the same page in terms of the membership level setup and the type of payment you are using:

https://support.tipsandtricks-hq.com/forums/topic/membership-payment-difference-between-buy-now-and-subscription-buttons

For a new member registration, the subscription start date is set to the date he/she completes the registration (meaning the account creation is complete). In most cases all of this happens at the same time like the following:

– You buy a membership

– You get an email

– You complete the registration

– You then log into the site

Now, I am not sure why the recurring subscriptions will get expired before though. If you wanted to, you can modify your membership registration scenario to the 2nd one explained here (that will guarantee that the subscription start date will start on the date of payment):

http://www.tipsandtricks-hq.com/wordpress-membership/a-typical-member-registration-flow-96

[Mdudley286]

I will take a look at the second one. I agree with you on the in most cases that it happens at the same time

You buy a membership

– You get an email

– You complete the registration

– You then log into the site – but for use sometimes they buy and either never see the “complete your registration” email or waits a few days (sometimes weeks) to complete the registration. When they wait, the the subscription date in wp and the pay date from PayPal are no longer the same day.

[admin]

Those dates necessary doesn’t have to line up exactly. Please tell me the type of button you are using with what kind of expiry setup for the level and I will be able to explain more.

[Author]

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