Free subscriber status after paid purchase

jaspud,

I have had this happen a couple of times (albeit that I don’t use authorize.net).

I don’t have a solution as such, but I use the following workaround to avoid the problem. I put this in my s2-hacks.php file:

/* Forces the default role of a new user to be set to "s2member Level 1" instead of "Subscriber" */
add_filter("ws_plugin__s2member_force_default_role", "default_role",10,1);
function default_role($role) {
	$return = 's2member_level1';
	return $return;
}

Of course, this might not be enough if you are enrolling some people to level 2 or above.

I have the same problem using PayPal.

Users are not just Subscribers after checking out and registering for the site, but also custom capabilities are not available.

This is happening for all users signing up via generated button for Level#2

Thanks for responding @kts915 (I can tell from spending some time in the forums you’re a guru on a lot of this s2member stuff)

So basically that hack, if one of these errors tried to occur, it would force the user to be an s2member level 1? We have level 2’s and 3s only. Would this just force everyone to being only one level?

@kozzmen…is your’s happening every single time or is it sporadically as well?

It would be ok if it forced all of the failed ones to go to, say level 3, that would work but I still would need some people to be able to correctly register as a level 2

@jaspud,

That hack forces everyone to be registered no lower than level 1. It shouldn’t prevent anyone being registered at level 2 or 3, because all the hack is doing is preventing subscription at level 0.

The problem is, though, that since we don’t know what’s causing the problem in the first place, it’s impossible to know whether new users will come in at the correct level or only level 1.

My experience is that this is a sporadic problem too. That’s what makes it so difficult to narrow down.

Yea I would definitely like to get to the bottom of it because it sounds like other people are having the same issue.

I’ve been corresponding back and forth with Cristian for about 2 weeks now and was actually able to catch one of these transactions in the log files but he wasn’t able to gain any information from it and what was causing it.

@jaspud – it is happening every single time. I used the s2-hack.php suggestion and users are now being registered with the desired level, but no custom capabilities are passed.
This freaks me out, we are about to launch the site and this problem just occurred…

@kozzmen,

Do you have the Pro edition? If so, please let Pro support know at s2member.com/contact. Since yours is happening every time, it should be easier to identify the problem (though they might need access to your site to do so).

@ KTS915

Yes I do have the Pro version of the plugin and already submitted a ticket in their system. Let’s see what Jason (or any of the other developers) will say and I will update you guys here.

I did dozen of tests and at least now (with the hack you provided) I am able to have the paid subscribers to the right level. However custom capabilities are needed due the diversity of the products we’ll offer.

@kozzmen
From reading the forums, when it is happening everytime, it’s usually an issue with the settings for your payment processor and the IPN. Which processor are you using for payments and can you confirm with them that test transactions are actually going through and being processed?

@kts915
Thanks again for the hack code. We actually don’t use s1s (only 2s and 3s) so I programmed s1s to operate like the s3s so at least users will be able to access content after they purchase. I tested and anyone that tries to purchase at s2 or s3 is still given the correct level. I will report back when the first error one comes through but I temporarily opened free signups and the tested one came through as an s1 ?? so I assume it’s going to work correctly.

I’ll still need to go in and add EOTs for everyone but they’ll be easy to spot since they’ll be the only s1s. Thanks again, beer on me if you’re ever in Vegas ??

I’m going to continue working with Cristian though and try and get a permanent fix for the problem so I will keep you all posted as I assume others will have the same issues.

Only a band-aid for now, but a pretty damn good one.

@kozzmen, I still think yours might be a payment processor setup issue so I’d look into my questions in the above post first before using this.

@jaspud,

You’re welcome. I’ll give you a call when I next come to Vegas!

But I do hope you and Cristian manage to get to the bottom of this. I think that, generally the WebSharks have done an excellent job of eradicating bugs, but this seems to be the one that has got away.

@jaspud,

Payments are done via PayPal.
I did many tests with $0.01 generated buttons and all worked fine – payments are received in the merchant account, the user is redirected back to the site for registration and accessing the files.
This makes me think that the IPN is set right and something else isn’t working…

To kozzmen & KTS915 .
Have you found this solution satisfactory in most cases, or perhaps you can elaborate something more of sporadic ” Free Subscribers” failures ?

I was contacting a long time ago S2member Pro support, but they could not track down problem with my logs neither.

It’s completely solved my problem, but then I only ever had an issue when users were trying to sign up for level 1.

However, I could never identify what it was that made some users come in as subscribers. There seemed to be nothing to differentiate them from the main body of users who came in at level 1.