Converting from Wishlist, pre sales

Hi guys,

We’re currently running Wishlist Member and to be honest it doesn’t do everything it’s cracked up to do… We’re looking for a good solution to replace it with and have been recommended s2 from a few directions, but have a few questions first that I can’t find clear answers to. Here’s some background on what we’re doing to help give some context…

We sell educational music textbooks. Purchasing the physical book entitles you to a free download of the .pdf/eBook as well as access to online supporting resources. There are about 5 different books so far with this capability, and of course we need to restrict members to accessing only the materials for the book they have purchased. Each physical book has a unique code printed in – this is the only thing we can call to verify the purchase (since they often purchase through third-party bookstores both online and physical). Our customer base is mainly music teachers, so average technical savvy is very low!

1. Can we force new members to use email as username? (with a non-kludgy solution – best we could do with Wishlist was rename the Username field “Email”…)

2. Can we have distinct access rather than tiered access? (as mentioned, buying the Level 3 book shouldn’t give you access to Levels 1 and 2, unless you can verify ownership of them as well)

3. Can we store a database of qualifying codes (from the printed books) that s2 can reference to automatically validate the membership? Currently we are doing this manually and it’s getting very frustrating and causing lots of issues. We would also need some way to verify multiple codes and apply appropriate memberships, although this could happen after signup potentially.

4. If we can’t automatically verify codes, can we have the system send an email upon admin approval of new membership? (Wishlist currently allows membership to require admin approval but has no notification to the user when the registration has been approved which is frankly a baffling deal-breaker)

5. Can I ask more questions when I think of them later (as I’m sure I will!)?

I would appreciate any help you can give me on this!

Thanks!

– Andrew

1. Can we force new members to use email as username? (with a non-kludgy solution – best we could do with Wishlist was rename the Username field “Email”…)

Sorry, no. At least, not without a hacked solution. This issue affects most plugins interfacing to WordPress, because other plugins and WP itself rely on both a Username field, and an Email field. That being said, there have been some workarounds introduced that you’re most welcome to try. See: http://www.primothemes.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=14806&p=33812#p33812

I don’t recommend doing this though. The benefits do NOT outweigh the problems this introduces for other plugins ( in my opinion).

2. Can we have distinct access rather than tiered access? (as mentioned, buying the Level 3 book shouldn’t give you access to Levels 1 and 2, unless you can verify ownership of them as well)

By default, s2Member uses Membership Levels, and these provide incremental access. So you’ll be dealing with the same issues. However, s2Member also makes it possible to use Custom Capabilities, which would certainly accomplish what you need. Please see this video tutorial (kinda old now, but still applies).

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3. Can we store a database of qualifying codes (from the printed books) that s2 can reference to automatically validate the membership? Currently we are doing this manually and it’s getting very frustrating and causing lots of issues. We would also need some way to verify multiple codes and apply appropriate memberships, although this could happen after signup potentially.

I would suggest that you make use of s2Member’s API Notifications for this. These are available even in the free version. A developer can write a short script that receives details from s2Member’s event-driven API Notifications, which are configured from your Dashboard, under: s2Member -> API Notifications.

4. If we can’t automatically verify codes, can we have the system send an email upon admin approval of new membership? (Wishlist currently allows membership to require admin approval but has no notification to the user when the registration has been approved which is frankly a baffling deal-breaker)

Yes, but may require a short custom file that attaches to one of s2Member’s many Hooks/Filters. I recommend that you write into our Customer Support Forums for assistance with this. We’ll be happy to provide a sample code snippet to help you accomplish this.

5. Can I ask more questions when I think of them later (as I’m sure I will!)?

Ask away :-)