vB subscription importer?

[trizz]

Does this type of addon exist?

This would seal the deal for the big boards that leverage subscriptions to move over to xF.

Does anyone with deep knowledge of the subscription process on vB know if this would even be possible?

Id prefer not wacking a bunch of subs in my quest to migrate to xF from vB. We can migrate users, passwords, PMs, even iTrader type info. I hope subscriptions would be migrateable as well???

 

[0ptima]

If you mean paid subscriptions, then XF 1.2 will import them from VB.
iTrader data can be imported with this addon

Users, passwords and PMs will be imported as well.

 

[Alpha1]

But not recurring subscriptions, which can mean a financial loss of many thousands or even tens of thousands.

 

[trizz]

But not recurring subscriptions, which can mean a financial loss of many thousands or even tens of thousands.

exactly... recurring subs is the challenge here.

 

[Slavik]

But not recurring subscriptions, which can mean a financial loss of many thousands or even tens of thousands.

How much would a system that allows you to maintain your vBulletin recurring subscriptions be worth to you?

It can be done, but the cost, would be nothing short of 4 figures as a baseline.

The issue is, how many subs do you think you would lose by asking users to re-sign up? Or do you rely on people who have "set it and forget it" and may not even be aware they are paying monthly?

To me its a none issue anyway. If they're active and aware they are paying monthly, asking for a re-signup is not an issue.

 

[Alpha1]

I'm using AWCoding donation system and subscription system and will need an importer for it.
But to answer your question: A significant part of recurring payments are indeed set and forget. Some have not visited for years and are still paying weekly, monthly, bimonthly or even yearly. If they are active, then they will need to re-evaluate if they do want the recurring payment to proceed. That will result in loss as well.
4 figures is indeed tricky as it would not be worth it for one website, but this is an issue that everyone with vb subscriptions runs into.

 

[trizz]

indeed, even active users dont want to go thru the sales cycle again of signing up. you are definitely at a risk of losing a % of those members, and significant risk of losing a majority, if not all of the set-and-forget. think of a gym membership, thats how they make money, set-and-forget. if everyone who had a membership used the facility, it would be a disaster!

id like to understand what the thought process was behind the statement "the cost would be nothing short of 4 figures as a baseline."

the market for this type of tool is quite large, with the amount of big board owners that are looking to abandon vB. more often than not, recurring subscription revenue tends to be an important revenue factor for big board owners and what community platforms they continue to invest in, even if forced. if these types of tools are available to incent the big board owners to migrate, it really benefits the entire xF ecosystem.

i would be game for fractionally funding the creation of such a tool(similar to what we are doing with the reviews addon), under the vision that some of the risk would be shared by the developer so that they can sell it as a resource here and generate a decent income stream.

this would likely be the single most important tool outside of the actual migration tools inside xF. if i cant preserve my revenue by migrating to xF, what incentive is there to not explore IPS? i see wonderful things happening with xF, especially with support, execution, development, and the community built around the platform. if its going to cost me $50kUSD to migrate due to lost subscription revenue, im almost forced to stick with the ****e that is vB, or explore IPS which ive been trying very hard to steer away from.

@Slavik if you are interested in building such a tool, ping me privately and lets talk. im sure we can round up some funding to make this worth your while. im sure this can be too difficult, if the daft folks @ IPS have solved this. ;-)

 

[Slavik]

id like to understand what the thought process was behind the statement "the cost would be nothing short of 4 figures as a baseline."

Simple thought process, I have no need for this functionality, thus implementing and testing it would be at my full consultancy rates (yes every addon I have otherwise released or part-funded was subsidised by P8ntballer to provide it to the community as we needed the functionality). Given my working knowledge of both the vB and xF system, and the crossover required, it is not a small job.

 

[Alpha1]

What is that consultancy rate?

 

[Slavik]

What is that consultancy rate?

PM me with your budget and I can tell you if id be able to accomodate. I don't publish my rates publicly.