Paid Subscription Site Options?

[Bill Thomas]

OK, so I have been reseraching options for a while now and am just about to pull the trigger on Invision Power to host our paid access forum. And then I stumble across xenForo, so slick it makes IP look like my grandma's forum.
So, are there any integrations out there that would let me manage member access and payments? And how long till the software is ready for prime time production?
I want this to work sooooo bad!

 

[Paul B]

Account Upgrades are already included in the software.
They let you define amounts, durations and additional user groups and permissions.

RC3 has just been released today and the stable release is targeted as the next one.

 

[Deepmartini]

Can we make it so people have to pay before they can register? How does the payment system work? Can someone cancel or renew their membership in their control panel?

 

[Paul B]

Can we make it so people have to pay before they can register?

That's not possible.

How does the payment system work? Can someone cancel or renew their membership in their control panel?

Once purchased, members can not cancel a permanent uprade. They can however cancel their subscription for any recurring upgrades at any time. If they do so before the upgrade expires, they will not automatically receive a refund, either whole or partial, for the remainder of the term.

 

[Floris]

They can contact you via 'contact us' or perhaps a cancel-board you make for them, and request to cancel it.. Admins CAN undo an upgrade.

 

[Deepmartini]

It would be nice to have the option to run a paid members only forum. Seems like a simple feature request which would add a LOT OF VALUE. Imagine running a full private membership site on XenForo. Why make people join as a guest first then try to convince them to upgrade? Why not make it a paid members only, right from the start?

Also, we need more payment gateways like Authorize.net and not just paypal. Why do none of the forum solutions out there let you use Authorize.net and insist on paypal?

 

[Floris]

Having a core engine support a payment method, and introducing the most used one: paypal
opens up the doors to additional engines in 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, etc.

I support the paid-only community. Where if the user is a guest, they place a payment and an optional username field. their paypal email and that username field becomes their account details. They can then receive an email with a link to confirm membership, after which they get presented with a request to change their password. The 'current' pass could be their activateid for their account, pre-filled in.

 

[Deepmartini]

I think the next payment option should be Authorize.net as that is the most popular gateway.

 

[Digital Doctor]

An integrated payment system for Xenforo should be a priority.

I want this to work sooooo bad!

What was your final decision ?

 

[Bill Thomas]

An integrated payment system for Xenforo should be a priority.

What was your final decision ?

XenForo - I have a few reservations, (would love a hosted solution, the lawsuit stuff, the newness of the community) but the software is too dang nice to ignore. I think it will really increase engagement and that is key for my community to be successful.

 

[User]

Bill's sig nicely demonstrates that there needs to be the option to control sig behavior in the admincp.

 

[Panupat]

And then I stumble across xenForo, so slick it makes IP look like my grandma's forum.

c'mon, I like Xenforo better too but IPB isn't that bad xD http://www.all-final.com/forum/

 

[Deepmartini]

Would it be easy for a developer to create a custom plugin to enable Authorize.net for payments instead of Paypal? I would also like to be able to have users checkout and pay BEFORE creating an account and accessing content. Not sure how much time and effort this would involve. Do you?

 

[Deepmartini]

Would it be easy for a developer to create a custom plugin to enable Authorize.net for payments instead of Paypal? I would also like to be able to have users checkout and pay BEFORE creating an account and accessing content. Not sure how much time and effort this would involve. Do you?

Any developers currently working on something like this?

 

[Slavik]

Any developers currently working on something like this?

Authorize.net integration is not difficult in itself, and I imagine it would take at most a day for the guys at XF to implement it. However paypal probably covers 99% of forum owners at the moment, so that time investment is much better spent on other features.

That said, I think any payment methods should be a core development and not an addon for obvious reasons.