vBulletin subscriptions for multiple payment levels + special subscriber rates
 

We recently re-did an existing vBulletin site for a client, and he has some questions about how the usergroups and subscriptions work. Rather than "hide" this information in emails, I thought it would make for a great help post here, to share with other vBulletin owners and developers.

Background: He's actually one of our steady clients, that we met back in late 2007. We took his then-free phpBB board, and converted it to vBulletin in early 2008, creating two basic tiers of membership: free for most sub-forums, and $20 premium annual subscription access required for access to the subscriber-only forum. As of January 2011, the site had tens of thousands of posts, and several hundred members, most of which were paid subscribers.

The Goal: The plan was to re-version the forum in February 2011, and make it available to paid subscribers only. In that process, several things had to happen:

1. Current active subscribers would be locked into a new $30 rate.
2. Previous subscribers (currently free members), or non-subscribers (always free members) would be given a chance to join the locked-rate group by a certain cut-off date (about 25 days from the email announcement).
3. New subscribers would have access at the new $50 premium rate, after the cut-off date.

How vBulletin Usergroups and Subscriptions were Leveraged to Make it Happen: vB has very granular permissions, and that extends to some of the subscription management system. I had to create three basic usergroups -- two were simply re-worked (free and subscriber) with some forum/usergroup access permissions changed, and a third was created based off the permissions of the second (subscriber).

-- Note: For the purpose of this example, because I need to name usergroups, I'll go with a sports model. --

So this is what I ended up with:

• (vB default 'Registered User') ~ Free ~ Rookie
• Old Subscriber ~ Player/Offense
• New Subscriber = Player/Defense

Rookie really has no permissions beyond that of the unregistered usergroup. This person still cannot read, post or in any way participate in the forum. Indeed, the only real purpose of the Rookie group is because vB subscriptions are only available to registered members. The rookie is benched.

Offense is a current subscriber, with all available permissions to read and post on the forums, send private messages (PMs), use the calendar, etc. Subscribers in this group are moved from the 'Rookie' usergroup to the 'Player/Offense' usergroup, at the time that they paid their then-$20/now-$30 fee. When this subscription expires, he/she will become a Rookie again. The way vBulletin works is that a member will revert to his/her previous usergroup once a subscription expires. THIS IS IMPORTANT! (Will explain more below.)

Defense is also a current subscriber, with all available permissions to read and post on the forums, send private messages (PMs), use the calendar, etc. Subscribers in this group are moved from the 'Rookie' usergroup to the 'Player/Defense' usergroup, at the time that they paid their $50 fee. When it expires, again, the person is reverted to a Rookie.

-- Note: For the purpose of this example, I need a date. So 25 days from now would be April 5th. --

Now here's where the actual subscription permissions come in:

Until April 5th, the only subscription that a Rookie can see is the $30 plan. Same for the Offense.

On April 5th, I'll go into the vBulletin subscription management system, and change it to where the only usergroup capable of seeing the $30 plan are the current $30 subscribers. At this point, the subscription rate is essentially "locked" only to that group. However, members of this group MUST renew their subscriptions BEFORE the actual expiration date. If they expire, they'll revert the Rookie group, which can only see the new $50 rate for new subscribers.

Again on April 5th, I'll go into the vB subscriptions, and add the $50 plan, and set permissions so that it is only visible to the Rookie group, and subscription to this plan will move the Rookie to the Defense.

Defense and Offense are both "players" and have full permissions to read, write, etc -- only one group pays less to play. And as long as that person pays on time, before expiration hits, they'll retain the privilege of paying at the lower rate.

-- Note: And yes, Offense is better than Defense. This is my sports analogy, after all. -- :p