XenForo Wallet & Purchasable Features

[Alpha1]

It would be very useful if XenForo would have a Wallet for members.
Members would be able to fund their XenForo Wallet with through their PayPal account or credit card.
The balance in their XenForo Wallet could then be used to buy purchasable items, transfer amounts to other members or buy an account upgrade for other members.

The admin should be able to set purchasable items. For example:
- use feature X for Y amount.
- post content in node X for Y amount.
- download/access content in node X for Y amount.
- display custom field X for Y time for Z amount.

An important benefit of having this in the core is that addon developers can expand this in a lot of ways.
It would give the XenForo addon ecosystem an important boost.
As it's a financial feature that needs to be trusted and expanded by addon developers it's best to have this functionality in the core.
This function would make XenForo more profitable for webmasters as it would open a wide array of monetizing avenues.


Please note that I am not proposing a conventional credits system to reward users, but a financial wallet instead.

 

[Martok]

The admin should be able to set purchasable items. For example:
- use feature X for Y amount.
- post content in node X for Y amount.
- download/access content in node X for Y amount.
- display custom field X for Y time for Z amount.

Surely these things can already be done using User Upgrades? All with the benefit of no extra code nor the ability for unscrupulous admins to 'fiddle' things either directly in the ACP or in the database.

 

[Alpha1]

No I am afraid these cannot be done with user upgrades. User upgrades are severely limiting and not designed for this. You cannot sell one time functionality through user upgrades. And if you would be able to shoehorn usergroup upgrades to do this for a large array of purchasable items then you would end up with as many user groups as the number of functions you want to sell.

There are way too many shortcomings if you want to use the user upgrades function for something that it was never intended to do.

Thinking that user upgrades can do this is akin of thinking that you can replace xen product manager with user upgrades.

Basically what this will allow webmasters to do is:
- let members advertise
- let members buy content
- let members buy features & functions
- let members buy user upgrades for others
- let member pay to post and pay per post
etc, etc.

Addon developers can then easily apply this to their content types, or add invoicing, expand to a shop, donations, etc.
The possibilities that this would open are quite wide.

Unscrupulous admins can fiddle in any kind of software that has payments. That's a non-argument. If you follow that line of thought there should not be e-commerce or donations.

 

[Ernest L. Defoe]

My personal opinion on this is that this would be better suited as an addon rather than in the core of the software as its only going to benefit a smaller group of forum owners. Again just my opinion.

 

[Robust]

You want IPS' 'commerce'? Kinda too advanced for core

 

[Alpha1]

I want a basic financial layer of functionality that addon developers can expand on. XenForo is great because its easy to enhance with addons. It would be great if it would provide a basic financial feature set so that it could be expanded in this direction as well.

Generating income is a vital part of growing a community. Community hosting costs need to be covered somehow. Providing tools to generate income will be appealing to quite a few people. Whether its through donations, paid content, paid features, gifting or whatever.

 

[Martok]

No I am afraid these cannot be done with user upgrades. User upgrades are severely limiting and not designed for this. You cannot sell one time functionality through user upgrades.

Yes you can. User Upgrades can be permanent

Unscrupulous admins can fiddle in any kind of software that has payments. That's a non-argument.

Not in the same way as your suggestion. Wallet data for 'money' would be stored in the database. This could be manipulated by unscrupulous admins. PayPal money can't be manipulated in this way.

My personal opinion on this is that this would be better suited as an addon rather than in the core of the software as its only going to benefit a smaller group of forum owners. Again just my opinion.

I totally agree. This is niche functionality that most people won't need. The current user upgrades are generally sufficient. Therefore an add-on would be a better option.

 

[Alpha1]

Yes you can. User Upgrades can be permanent

Which is the opposite of a one time event. For example if posting a new thread in node X, costs Y and the user posts 100 threads over time then how could that work with user upgrades? Can you explain you you think this would work with user upgrades?

 

[Martok]

I think you need to be clearer about what you want. Does one time mean they only post one thread and that's it far their 'purchase'?

This is sounding more and more niche to me...

 

[Chris D]

FWIW yes it is potentially niche but ultimately it is a valid suggestion. If there was overwhelming support for it then it is something we could consider or at least understand what kind of framework would be required to support such a system.

 

[Alpha1]

Does one time mean they only post one thread and that's it far their 'purchase'?

A one time purchase can be for anything. But as stated above:

pay per post

So yes indeed. One time purchases are 1 item for 1 amount. For another item another amount is charged. it doesn't matter if the item is a post, a username change, a featured thread, a one time download, or whatever.

One specific example of how the concept of purchasable items can be applied may sound niche to you, but the possibilities are fairly extensive.

Please mind that one time purchases are just one example and that there are many above. There are various ways such a flexible framework could be used to allow admins to make money in ways they prefer.

 

[Robust]

I mean, I could easily make an add-on to allow users to have a wallet and allow other add-ons to extend it, but really it wouldn't have much purpose. I think it'd need to be part of a bigger system for it to be worth it for the developer and just generally make sense.

 

[Freelancer]

Ummm.... @Alfa1 isn't this sufficient? https://xenforo.com/community/resou...s-20-events-paypal-integration-and-more.4017/

 

[Alpha1]

That's a credits system were users earn points. Provided by a third party. My suggestion is to be able to sell content, adds and features for money. Provided by 1st party. There is a significant difference.

 

[Freelancer]

As far as I read it you have a Wallet, can purchase Credit packages and take and give based on events...

Other Features

• Credit Withdrawals

Events
Choose amount (whether it takes or gives) for any number of currencies, assign to certain usergroups, and revert actions automatically.

Maybe I am lost in translation but I thought taking is the opposite concept of giving... But this is an example of lacking more infos to clarify. @Mike Creuzer.

I see the 1st vs 3rd party approach though.

 

[Alpha1]

Its something different. You cannot sell content or adds with it. And it adds a points system which is not whats wanted here.
But even if it was the same its still irrelevant, because the main point is that it needs to be in the core. Practically no developer will create addons that rely upon another developers addons.

 

[Dadparvar]

One of the most important thing that @Alfa1 said is:

Practically no developer will create addons that rely upon another developers addons.

Its really important.
So although I have all these features by using [bd] banking, but I voted it. Hope to see it in core.

 

[Biker]

As an admin, I don't want to be responsible for storing/securing payment information for users. This opens up a whole new can of worms that most sites are totally unprepared to deal with.

 

[Ernest L. Defoe]

As an admin, I don't want to be responsible for storing/securing payment information for users. This opens up a whole new can of worms that most sites are totally unprepared to deal with.

Which adds another reason I don't think this should be a core feature and is more in line as a 3rd party addon or maybe a 1st party addon that is a separate purchase like RM and ES and MG.

 

[RDR]

As an admin, I don't want to be responsible for storing/securing payment information for users. This opens up a whole new can of worms that most sites are totally unprepared to deal with.

Is that a concern with what was suggested here? I don't read anything about storing payment info.