Subscriptions are finally here!
This is by far the biggest and most complex update yet, so to keep this article short let's just discuss the changes and the rules.
Subscriptions
The pricing options for the site have been completely migrated over to a subscription-based payment process (no more one-time payments). The entire process is hosted by Stripe, however, this site has been programmed in such a way that you will never have to access Stripe to make any changes. The backbone of Stripe's API consists of a few variables that get passed between this site and the API. The root of the Stripe transaction is a product, which in this case is the Canary Jones Media Subscription. This one product can have as many pricing plans as you wish. The back-end of this site uses the API to create and edit pricing plans for this product, but there are some rules that come with it (see below). On the user's end, when one of these plans are selected, the user is taken to a checkout screen. Once they enter their card information, Stripe will create a token based off of their card information and attach it to a customer (which in this case is their email address). Lastly, Stripe will sign this customer (with their credit card token attached) up for a subscription based on the plan they have selected. On the website's end, their Canary Jones account is upgraded to a subscriber and they can access premium content as long as they are a subscriber. Subscribers can cancel there subscription anytime from the profile page. However, as soon as they cancel, they will immediately lose access to subscription content without getting the rest of their billing cycle in (Still need to sort this out).
Rules and Guidelines for Pricing Plans
The rules are very simple and must be taken into consideration for the well-being of the site's users and cash flow.
- Once a pricing plan has been created, the price and time interval (monthly/yearly) can not be changed.
- There should be only 1 of each plan (monthly and yearly), although you can make as many as you want.
- Pricing plans can not be deleted! They can be disabled so no new subscribers sign up for them.
- Keep in mind, different priced can be offered at different times, but you will never change the price of an active plan. If a lower priced plan is made available, older subscribers will still be on the same higher priced plan.
In regards to number one, the descriptions and trial periods of each plan can be changed at any point in time. Changing the trial period will not effect currently subscribed members. In regards to rule number two, it is possible to create plans with more complex time intervals (i.e. pay every quarter or every 2 years), but those functions have not been implemented yet.
Pricing Plans
Right now there are two available pricing plans, both of which are test plans. To create a new price plan, go to the admin dashboard and click on the "Edit Subscriptions" tab. Once you click on "New Subscription Plan" an alert will appear and ask "are you sure." Fill out the form and pay close attention to the price (which will automatically format itself to 0.00) and the time interval (monthly/yearly) because those are the only things you will not be able to change. If something does go wrong with the price or interval, it is possible to disable the plan and have it not available to new subscribers. To edit a subscription plan, click on the table of current subscription plans. The plan you clicked on will appear in the form below. If something is not correct with the plan, you can edit the description, title, and trial period. If you no longer to want this plan to be available at all, click on the "active" checkbox at the bottom of the form to disable the current pricing plan. To re-enable it, click on the plan from the table above and re-submit the form with the checkbox enabled.
Stripe + Canary Jones Media Database
The process of cross referencing the subscribers logged in this site's database with Stripe's database is still a work in progress. As of right now it works, but it can be a little behind. This site's database houses a lot more of each subscriber's personal information, however, Stripe's database/API is dong most of the work. To make sure that subscribers' invoices are paid functions are in place on every page to check the status of their subscription via Stripe every 10 minutes. Each of these checks updates this site's database as well so it is easier and faster to access subscription information. The one downfall of every API is the request limits. Stripe does not explicitly detail their request limits, but if it is like any other API it is most likely 2 requests per second. Everything involving the new subscription infrastructure is not finalized yet. It is possible to make it faster and more efficient, but it must be tested thoroughly to find its limits.
Next Update
The next update will include Google Ads across the entire site. This will be the last step before the site can be responsive for mobile devices. At this point, all of the filler posts except the website update post may be deleted.
