Should I use amember...what else?

Discussion in 'Pre-Sales Questions' started by sclark, Oct 3, 2008.

  1. sclark

    sclark New Member

    Joined:
    Oct 1, 2008
    Messages:
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    Firstly, thanks for any help and suggestions anyone can give me as I consider how to set this up. :)

    I am selling a service that is billed either annually or monthly(customer choice).
    There are 4 levels of service and each level has a base level, and an optional add-on. The add-on can only be purchased if the customer is purchasing a base subscription with it, *OR* has purchased a base level in the past. When the customer decides to purchase a base + addon at the same time, I would like it to happen in one transaction. What I mean is, the customer should be able to check the options they want on one page, then checkout the total of the 2 subscriptions.

    All subscriptions are indefinite until the customer cancels. It would be nice to have a customer area where they can review their account, subscribe to add-ons, or upgrade to a different service.

    From what I understand, some of this depends on the payor as well...suggestions on that would be helpful.

    Customer should be able to submit tickets and I was thinking Kayako maybe?

    I also have independent agents with different levels of commissions based on gross sales, so I need to be able to associate customers with agents, track and pay commissions monthly.

    I have been working in Joomla, so I am fine with using that, however I am open to any and all suggestions on a single or multiple package integration that would make this an efficient site.

    Thanks again for any suggestions, comments, or advice! :)
  2. davidm1

    davidm1 aMember User & Partner

    Joined:
    May 16, 2006
    Messages:
    4,437
    I think you are gonna need to use amember in combination with a shopping cart/affiliate service like 1 shopping cart. This will allow you to set different commision levels for different affiliates.

    To handle help desk, Larry at jlogica.com has developed a plugin for trellis desk.

    David
  3. sclark

    sclark New Member

    Joined:
    Oct 1, 2008
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    In your example, is the only point in using 1shopping cart to handle the affiliate functions?

    If so, what about using something that is designed specifically for affiliate/agent commission handling? Assuming that there is something that integrates.

    Ill take a look at trellis desk...thanks for the suggestion.

    Shawn
  4. tomfra

    tomfra Member

    Joined:
    Dec 21, 2006
    Messages:
    199
    I personally use Post Affiliate Pro for the affiliate program and it works well with aMember. There is no integration necessary if you don't want to have all members join as affiliates automatically. Although it would be possible to create such a plugin, I personally see no reason for it.

    So in other words, if someone wants to be an affiliate, they need to fill out the affiliate sign-up form even if they are members. No problem for me...

    And I also have the Trellis Desk integrated, it works well. The automatic login does not work in my installation (yet), although the newest version should have this working. But I don't think that's too important.

    Tomas
  5. sclark

    sclark New Member

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    Oct 1, 2008
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    If amember and your affiliate program are not integrated, how does the affiliate program track memberships that were signed up under the affiliates?
  6. tomfra

    tomfra Member

    Joined:
    Dec 21, 2006
    Messages:
    199
    With PAP (and most other affiliate programs), you add a small JavaScript to the "Thank you for your order page". In the case of aMember, you add it to the thanks.html template. Then when someone orders the product/service/membership from you, they are redirected to that page and the affiliate program records the sale commission for the appropriate affiliate whose cookie (PAP uses Flash cookies beside the standard ones) is found on the computer.

    This is how it works with most affiliate programs. In the PAP forums you will also find information specific to aMember from several forum members as PAP+aMember seems to be a popular combination. And I can assure you it works.

    Tomas

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