Why does a free subscription require paypal registration?

[jcb]

I have set up a free subscription on my site (commercialbiotechnology.com). It is a short 7 day trial -- I have other paid subscriptions.

1) When trying to sign up for a free trial, OJS sends me to paypal, where I am charged $0. Is there a way to streamline this and avoid sending free subscriptions to paypal?
2) I can't seem to find a way to subscribe once I've aborted the subscription process mid-stream. I.e. if I don't complete the paypal payment on the first pass, I can't seem to ever find a way to complete the payment later. Clicking on 'purchase individual subscription' takes me to the user home, where there is no way to pay.

[michael]

Hi jcb,

1) When trying to sign up for a free trial, OJS sends me to paypal, where I am charged $0. Is there a way to streamline this and avoid sending free subscriptions to paypal?

Unfortunately there's no way to change this without making modifications to the OJS code.

2) I can't seem to find a way to subscribe once I've aborted the subscription process mid-stream. I.e. if I don't complete the paypal payment on the first pass, I can't seem to ever find a way to complete the payment later. Clicking on 'purchase individual subscription' takes me to the user home, where there is no way to pay

To clarify, which page are you clicking on 'purchase individual subscription'? Are you logged in when doing so? Into an admin account or a standard reader account?

Thanks,
Michael

[kimo]

Hello,

I am not an ojs expert but what about the payment options in your journal? How they are configured?
Did you check if those options are selected for a payment, at 0 $ ?
Check under Journal Management > Payment > Author Fees & Reader Fees, and verify if fee options are selected at 0$:




Maybe some fees are selected that you are directed to paypal ! If so, try to deselect them or put attractive amount of money, other than 0 !

Regards,
Kimo

[jcb]

Thank you both for your responses.

Kimo,
What I was doing was setting up a 48h trial account with a $0 subscription cost. The problem with sending registrants to paypal likely arises because there are other fee-based subscriptions.

Michael,
It would be handy to implement a quick check in the code to see if there is an actual amount being billed to the client before forwarding to PayPal. I realize this is a rare use case, but it could be a quick fix.

Regarding the aborted subscription, I was logged in as a new user. It would be very useful for OJS to a) automagically email users who have aborted subscriptions (they might not even know that they didn't succeed), and b) make the link to pay for the aborted subscription more clear (e.g. bold red text at the user's home). I still not even certain at this point how a user should go about paying for an aborted subscription. The path I'll take as editor is to manually bill them and then activate the subscription on my own.

To close the loop on my trial account script (there's another thread querying how to do this), I put together a pretty crude hack that I think actually works quite well.

1) I have a trial button on my site that leads to http://commercialbiotechnology.com/trial.php (this link may be down if I've disabled trials -- that's an easy way to control access to the trials).
2) The trial.php form asks the user for the minimal set of information -- first name, last name, and email (less information = higher conversion rate)
3) The user's info, along with IP address are added to a database. The user is then sent a confirmation request email to ensure that they've got a real email address
4) Once the user confirms, a PHP script uses curl to automagically tap OJS' user registration form and send the appropriate POST variables to autogenerate a password and have OJS notify the user of the account
5) The same script emails the editor informing them that a new user wants a trial subscription.
6) The editor clicks a link, and is taken to a page that has the entire subscription manager create-subscription form pre-filled in hidden input fields (along with a 48h duration subscription, which isn't coded into OJS' form). A submit button then creates the subscription by tapping OJS's native subscription manager script and emails the user that their account has been created.

It's a pretty crude hack, but it creates a very streamlined process for users (crucial if you want to have people actually complete the process), and enables the editor to review all trial subscriptions. Through the use of IP tracking, email confirmation, and editor's manual activation it should be difficult for users or robots to request more than one trial (preventing abuse). Using the native OJS scripts also enhances flexibility -- it's straightforward to amend the process should OJS's processes change.

[michael]

Hi jcb,

Regarding the aborted subscription, I was logged in as a new user. It would be very useful for OJS to a) automagically email users who have aborted subscriptions (they might not even know that they didn't succeed), and b) make the link to pay for the aborted subscription more clear (e.g. bold red text at the user's home). I still not even certain at this point how a user should go about paying for an aborted subscription. The path I'll take as editor is to manually bill them and then activate the subscription on my own.

Thanks for the additional details. If a user aborts a subscription payment, they should be able to initiate another, new attempt simply by clicking on one of the subscription purchase links (i.e. no change from initial attempt).

To clarify, which specific page/block link did you try when attempting a second purchase following an aborted one?

Cheers,
Michael

[jcb]

Thanks for following up.

I was using the 'log in as user' function when trying to continue an aborted subscription -- I think that's why I wasn't able to proceed.

FWIW, I hacked together quick script to grab the first name, last name, and email of users with subscription status of 5 (incomplete) from the day prior to the script run (i.e. yesterday) and send them a quick note letting them know that I'm ready to help them with their payment. On another site (drugpatentwatch.com) I found that this greatly enhances recovery of failed subscriptions. It would make a good addition for figure OJS versions, but I don't know how to code it into a formal plugin -- I'd appreciate any guidance on how I can elevate myself from being a PHP hacker to understanding how to program a plugin.

[michael]

Hi jcb,

I was using the 'log in as user' function when trying to continue an aborted subscription -- I think that's why I wasn't able to proceed.

Thanks for following-up on this. Yes, that could be the source of the problem.

It would make a good addition for figure OJS versions, but I don't know how to code it into a formal plugin -- I'd appreciate any guidance on how I can elevate myself from being a PHP hacker to understanding how to program a plugin.

As a start, you may want to have a look at the OJS technical reference, and the Plugins section in particular.

I would also recommend having a look at other functionality within OJS that relies on scheduled tasks (e.g. review reminders) and some of the existing plugins that ship by default with OJS. You may be able to re-use a good portion of an existing plugin's structure and core elements.

Cheers,
Michael

[jcb]

As a start, you may want to have a look at the OJS technical reference, and the Plugins section in particular.

I would also recommend having a look at other functionality within OJS that relies on scheduled tasks (e.g. review reminders) and some of the existing plugins that ship by default with OJS. You may be able to re-use a good portion of an existing plugin's structure and core elements.

I've looked at these sources, but I don't find them accessible. A someone who's very comfortable with the PHP website, stackoverflow, and other mid- to advanced-level resources, I just can't understand the technical reference -- it's too technical.

[newone]

To close the loop on my trial account script (there's another thread querying how to do this), I put together a pretty crude hack that I think actually works quite well.

1) I have a trial button on my site that leads to http://commercialbiotechnology.com/trial.php (this link may be down if I've disabled trials -- that's an easy way to control access to the trials).
2) The trial.php form asks the user for the minimal set of information -- first name, last name, and email (less information = higher conversion rate)
3) The user's info, along with IP address are added to a database. The user is then sent a confirmation request email to ensure that they've got a real email address
4) Once the user confirms, a PHP script uses curl to automagically tap OJS' user registration form and send the appropriate POST variables to autogenerate a password and have OJS notify the user of the account
5) The same script emails the editor informing them that a new user wants a trial subscription.
6) The editor clicks a link, and is taken to a page that has the entire subscription manager create-subscription form pre-filled in hidden input fields (along with a 48h duration subscription, which isn't coded into OJS' form). A submit button then creates the subscription by tapping OJS's native subscription manager script and emails the user that their account has been created.

It's a pretty crude hack, but it creates a very streamlined process for users (crucial if you want to have people actually complete the process), and enables the editor to review all trial subscriptions. Through the use of IP tracking, email confirmation, and editor's manual activation it should be difficult for users or robots to request more than one trial (preventing abuse). Using the native OJS scripts also enhances flexibility -- it's straightforward to amend the process should OJS's processes change.

I think this is great.

Could you share your code for the trial and abandoned subscription?

Users do not know they can login and complete their abandoned subscription. If there is a way to prompt them with a direct link for them to finish subscription, that is great.

If you can provide the codes for trial and abandoned subscription, I will try to see if I can get them turned into a plugin.