Buy now post access

I’m having some problems with the Pro Form Generator For Specific Post/Page Forms. My client is selling videos on posts. So I create the posts with the video using Amazon S3 Cloudfront and JW Player, then protected them via s2Member -> Restriction Options -> Specific Post/Page Access, then generated the shortcode under the PayPal Specific Post (buy now) forms.

When a customer pays for post access it rarely gives them access to the video and the majority of the time they will get the “Sorry, you do NOT have access to this file.” (from the else statement in the JW Player PHP code).

I also have a question about how this works; I’ve set each Buy Now link to be good for 1 year, according to documentation the user doesn’t have to be logged in to buy these posts, and s2member will send them expiring links.

So to test this I went under the Specific Post/Page Link Generator ( for Customer Service ) and generated a link to a post and tried to access it from incognito mode in Google chrome and was denied.

I’m under the impression that the link (to the purchased post) the buyer is sent should work for one year (because I set it to expire in one year) and should also work w/o having to be logged into an account. Are these accurate assumptions?

Can someone assist me with this? We have been struggling with this for over a week now. I posted something similar in the community forums, but never got a reply.

Thx

• This topic was modified 4 years, 3 months ago by  Jeremy Pigg.

Hi Jeremy.

When a customer pays for post access it rarely gives them access to the video and the majority of the time they will get the “Sorry, you do NOT have access to this file.” (from the else statement in the JW Player PHP code).

The file will be protected at some level or with a custom capability, which a user not logged in won’t have, thus no access to the file. When you have files to download from a page/post with the Specific Post/Page restriction, you need to add a download key to the file’s URL. [hilite path]Dashboard -› s2Member® -› Download Options -› Advanced Download Restrictions[/hilite]

I’m under the impression that the link (to the purchased post) the buyer is sent should work for one year (because I set it to expire in one year) and should also work w/o having to be logged into an account. Are these accurate assumptions?

Yes, that’s correct.

I don’t know how the Chrome Incognito mode works, but you could try with another browser you aren’t logged in with to test the link to the page.

I hope it helps. :)

I’m under the impression that the link (to the purchased post) the buyer is sent should work for one year (because I set it to expire in one year) and should also work w/o having to be logged into an account. Are these accurate assumptions?

Yes, that’s correct.

What is stopping that customer from sharing the link to the paid post page if you don’t have to be logged in? At this point I don’t even care if it is sharable, I just want it to work.

The file will be protected at some level or with a custom capability, which a user not logged in won’t have, thus no access to the file.

The above statement contradicts the one below it, does it not? I’m not trying to be difficult here, just trying to understand this so my client will be happy. If the file will be protected at some level or with a custom capability, which a user not logged in won’t have, thus no access to the file, how is my assumption correct when my assumption was the link (to the purchased post) the buyer is sent should work for one year (because I set it to expire in one year) and should also work w/o having to be logged into an account. Are these accurate assumptions?

Google Chrome Incognito mode is like Private mode in Firefox. It will open up a new browser window, keeps chrome from storing information about the websites you’ve visited. So when I open in incognito mode and visit the site I am not logged in.

Jeremy,

There are two important things to understand here:

1. Access to files protected by s2Member can be given in two ways: First, by specifying the level of access that is required. For this, a member must be logged in to gain access to the file. The second way is by generating a download key (see Dashboard -› s2Member® -› Download Options -› Advanced Download Restrictions) and including that key in the URL to the file. With this method, the person accessing the file does not need to be a member and does not need to be logged in to your site… as long as the URL contains the download key, access will be provided.

2. The Specific Post/Page feature of s2Member is designed to sell things on a one-time basis, in a way that does not require a membership account. For this to work, s2Member generates a unique URL to the post or page that the person purchased. This URL contains a special key that tells s2Member things like how long access to the post/page should be given and which page/post the access is for.

It’s important to understand that these URLs are different: One is for accessing protected files, the other is for accessing protected pages/posts.

When you sell access to a post/page using the Specific Post/Page feature, the person accessing the page will not be logging into your site. So, if the page they’re accessing contains a protected video, the video must not be protected using membership-type restrictions. (See my two descriptions of protected files above.)

If you want to protect your video files with s2Member and sell access to the pages where those videos are loaded using a URL generated by the Specific Post/Page feature, then you must point your Video Player to video URLs that contain a special download key (again, you can read more about this on Dashboard -› s2Member® -› Download Options -› Advanced Download Restrictions).

If the URL to the video doesn’t have the special file download key, then when one of your Specific Post/Page buyers gains access to the page, they won’t have permission to view the video (because using the default download restrictions, access is determined by membership-level, which requires being logged in).