WP Emember – make upgrade starting at end of current subscription

[futuremakers]

Hello lovely eMember gurus,

A quick question: is it possible to force upgrades to only start at the end of the current subscription period?

I ask because my client launched her new business with a special membership package that we called Adult + Bonus – this is a 12 month membership with 3 free months, so 15 months total.

This option was only available to people signing up in a specific time-frame, and all other people have a normal 12 month membership.

One of the people on the Adult + Bonus membership tried to renew early, and paid successfully etc., but because the Bonus package is no longer available, she signed up for the 12 month package. Instead of adding an additional 12 months to her subscription, the new subscription started immediately, essentially making her lose the last couple of months of her membership.

I think that this happens because the system thinks she is upgrading, not renewing.

Is there a way for me to force new subscriptions, that are purchased before the old subscription expires, to only start at the end of the old subscription instead of starting immediately?

Or is there something else that I can do so that a simple membership can go from a 15 month membership to a 12 month membership on renewal?

I am not sure if I have explained myself very well, but I hope you understand and hope you can help.

Best as always,

Suzanne

[admin]

Hi Suzanne, Normally, when a member re-pays for an one time membership access, it adds the time to the end of that member’s previous expiry time.

I need a little more info about your setup so I can understand your scenario better. So I have couple of questions for you:

What value are you using for the “Subscription Duration” field in the membership access level in question?

Are you using an one time payment button or a recurring subscription payment button?

Are you using it with eStore, Clickbank, PayPal?

What version of the membership plugin are you using?

[futuremakers]

Hello,

Thanks for the reply.

The subscription duration for the promotional subscription is 456 Days (odd number, I know, but +- 15 months).

We’re using it with eStore, and people are making a one-time payment.

Version is v8.6.6, as far as I can see.

More information:

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I think that I know what the problem is. These people are all a membership subscription called Adult + Bonus. If people renew early, they aren’t renewing that membership (as it was a special offer), but are instead purchasing a subscription called “Annual”.

This means, I think, that the system is moving them from Adult+ Bonus to Annual, and starting the Annual membership from the date they buy the subscription.

I think that this isn’t starting at the end of the existing subscription because it’s not a renewal, but the purchase of a new type of membership (as far as the system is concerned).

Does this make sense and does this sound like it might be the problem?

If so, I don’t think that there is an automatic way to get around this, do you?

Best as always,

Suzanne

[admin]

Hi Suzanne, Yes what you explained makes perfect sense. If it is a renewal then the plugin adds the time at the end of the previous expiry. Since it is a new membership, it is starting it fresh.

Your setup is a little different though. The only way to do this would be the way you explained it but you will need to tell the users to purchase that membership extension close to when their original one is expiring.

Given your current setup, I would recommend the following:

Use the auto account expiry notification email to communicate to your members (just a few days before their membership level expires). In that email you can tell them that their account will expire soon and they can buy the annual pass from the renewal/upgrade page (link to the page where you have the purchase button). This way your users will upgrade when their other level is about to expire or has expired.

You can also setup an auto email notification for after the account expires.

[futuremakers]

Thank you so much for your help. Really appreciated, especially given my incoherent rambling in my first note!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Sx.

[Author]

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