Thinking of scrapping S2

Hi,

I think I am going to have to ditch S2 as I am having too many problems managing my database and I’m tired of al the manual effort I have to put in… I am using paypal forms for all my signups but get inconsistent results; like

EOT field left blank
EOT field has subscription date showing
expired members cannot buy new products because ’email in use’ (NB not renewing for previous service)
Paypal transaction codes often missing…

I would prefer not to hve to find an alternative but feel I have little choice!

regards,
Nick

I think I am going to have to ditch S2 as I am having too many problems managing my database and I’m tired of al the manual effort I have to put in… I am using paypal forms for all my signups but get inconsistent results; like

I’m very sorry to hear that. I’ll see if I can help you sort out some of these issues.

EOT field left blank
EOT field has subscription date showing

Paypal transaction codes often missing…

All three of these problems all (usually) are to do with an improper IPN setup, or a problem with IPN responses coming in. I’d recommend that you temporarily turn on s2Member’s Logging Routines and see if s2Member:

1. Is receiving IPN responses (i.e. the paypal-ipn.log file is being generated during transactions)

and

2. Is validating the IPN responses correctly. Make sure that s2Member is not throwing any errors when it receives data (if it is receiving data).

See: Dashboard -› s2Member® -› PayPal® Options -› PayPal® IPN Integration

If you’re not comfortable looking into your logs, let me know and I’ll take a look at them for you. :-)

expired members cannot buy new products because ‘email in use’ (NB not renewing for previous service)

Users should be logged in when they attempt to complete a transaction. You should also be giving Users that are logged in Modification Buttons/Pro Forms instead of regular Buy Now Buttons, or you should make sure that your modify attribute is set up accordingly. Could you provide an example of a Shortcode that causes this error to happen?

Hi Bruce,

Thanks for the offer of help…

I have checked in Paypal and the IPN appears to be set up OK, but I do not have an S2 member >> log files option showing in my dashboard so cant see what is happening. I have now switched OFF my Auto-EOT option to demote/delete so does that make the IPN irrelevant? (which suits me as I want to control this manually).

Re my ’email in use’ problem. This is not subscribers modifying there status, they are receiving an email with a link in that takes them to a sign up page (paypal pro form), if they then have to go and login, then go back to the mail and click on the link I will lose sales through the cracks….

Nick

I have checked in Paypal and the IPN appears to be set up OK, but I do not have an S2 member >> log files option showing in my dashboard so cant see what is happening. I have now switched OFF my Auto-EOT option to demote/delete so does that make the IPN irrelevant? (which suits me as I want to control this manually).

Not totally irrelevant (even if you disable EOT handling);
because it still controls post-processing for new transactions.

Re my ‘email in use’ problem. This is not subscribers modifying there status, they are receiving an email with a link in that takes them to a sign up page (paypal pro form), if they then have to go and login, then go back to the mail and click on the link I will lose sales through the cracks…

Is that email coming from s2Member, or from something else? I’d like to understand the flow here better, and I think we can help you out. Is this an email that comes after checkout, or is this part of a marketing effort of your own?

Hi Mike,

Even though I switched EOT off the field is still being populated. Need to know how I can access the logs as no link on the dashboard for S2logging.

Emails are sent out by affiliate partners promoting new products with a link to the subscription page. Their databases also contain people who have signed up in our S2 in the past, and are now at Subscriber status

Hope that helps

Nick

What version of s2Member® are you running please?

Here are some screenshots of the logging area of the Dashboard in the latest release.

---

Re my ‘email in use’ problem. This is not subscribers modifying there status, they are receiving an email with a link in that takes them to a sign up page (paypal pro form), if they then have to go and login, then go back to the mail and click on the link I will lose sales through the cracks….

It sounds like you are sending emails out to folks, who may or may not be existing users on your site and inviting them to signup. If they are already an existing user, they will get an error during checkout (if cases where they are NOT logged into your site yet); because they may attempt to signup again under the same email address.

Do I have this correct?

If so, I would suggest using the modify=”1″ Shortcode Attribute on your Pro Forms where there is an expectation for an existing user to upgrade their existing account. That attribute will force them to login before completing checkout. This way their existing account can be upgraded and you won’t have redundant accounts and/or some of the confusion you mentioned.

Please see: Dashboard -› s2Member® -› PayPal® Pro Forms -› Shortcode Attributes (Explained)
See also: Dashboard -› s2Member® -› PayPal® Pro Forms -› Billing Modification Forms

Hi Mike

S2 Version: 121204

My dashboard goes

Other intergrations
S2 member info

Here is an example of my sign up code, could you show me where to insert the modify paramater

[s2Member-Pro-PayPal-Form level="6" ccaps="" desc="This is a one-off payment of £14.99 for Cleeve Racing's 2013 Glorious Goodwood package" ps="paypal" lc="" cc="GBP" dg="0" ns="1" custom="www.cleeveracing.com" ta="0" tp="0" tt="D" ra="14.99" rp="4" rt="M" rr="BN" rrt="" rra="2" accept="paypal" accept_via_paypal="paypal" coupon="" accept_coupons="0" default_country_code="" captcha="0"/]

many thanks again

Nick

S2 Version: 121204

This explains the lack of log files in the Dashboard. This came out after that release. I suggest updating to the latest release to be sure we’re all on the same page when it comes to support. Otherwise, please take a look inside this directory on the server for your log files: /wp-content/plugins/s2member-logs/

---

[s2Member-Pro-PayPal-Form level="6" ccaps="" desc="This is a one-off payment of £14.99 for Cleeve Racing's 2013 Glorious Goodwood package" ps="paypal" lc="" cc="GBP" dg="0" ns="1" custom="www.cleeveracing.com" ta="0" tp="0" tt="D" ra="14.99" rp="4" rt="M" rr="BN" rrt="" rra="2" accept="paypal" accept_via_paypal="paypal" coupon="" accept_coupons="0" default_country_code="" captcha="0" modify="1" /]

Thanks for that Mike,

At the risk of sounding stupid, should I leave the version update to my webmaster or is it simple enough for me to do?

With the modify tag applied to the forms, does this mean if someone is already in the DB they will be prompted to login and automatically returned to the sign up page?

At the risk of sounding stupid, should I leave the version update to my webmaster or is it simple enough for me to do?

You should be able to do this yourself. Just update s2Member through the Dashboard as you would normally (through the Plugins Menu), and then you should be prompted with a log in box afterward. Put in your s2Member.com Credentials and the s2Member Pro module should update automatically.

With the modify tag applied to the forms, does this mean if someone is already in the DB they will be prompted to login and automatically returned to the sign up page?

Not exactly. With the modify attribute set to 1, the User will be asked to log in before they complete their purchase. If they are logged in, then they will be able to complete the transaction with the current account they are logged in on. :-)

Hi Bruce,

Have upgraded OK and following is current IPN log

— Log removed by Mike (Volunteer Moderator) —

Nick. Please submit log files via Private Contact Form.
Please use this instead: s2Member® » Private Contact Form