Hello All,

Quick question regarding the ability to process credit card payments thru our site. We use the site for our car club, and charge yearly dues for full, active member status. Right now we use PayPal (members go directly to P/P site to pay) and good old paper checks as payment forms.

We want to add the ability to use credit card now and have considered adding the 'Commerce' package with 'Stripe' as a way to do this. Turns out our Club's bank also offers a way to link directly to the site and process cards as well.

We used to use an outfit called 'Group Spaces' years ago as a 'membership' database, but they folded. Since then we've been keeping track of active members, due dates, etc with Excel spreadsheets. We also send out 3 payment reminders (month before due, month of, and month past due) that the members seem to like.

So, all things considered, is Commerce really necessary, as we wouldn't really need that function to send out reminders (though it does take some manual labor the way we do it now)? As far as paper checks, we'd have to log those payments into Commerce manually anyways.

Any thoughts, suggestions as to the benefits of Commerce, or just go with the Club's bank offering to keep it simple.

Thank you!

There isnt really any way we can answer that question for you, unfortunately. It would be your own preference. I guess really it depends on whether or not you want to be the one in charge of the payments rather than your club

 

Any thoughts, suggestions as to the benefits of Commerce, or just go with the Club's bank offering to keep it simple.

The advantage would be that the process would be mostly automated and you can offer a variety of payments options at the same time, handled all in one place. And you can tie the payment directly to the functionality within the community suite. A payment changes the member group and with that, gives access to certain areas or the entire site, while not paying automatically removes benefits.

The downside might be that the subscriptions in Commerce can only run from the day the are being purchases. If your club uses memberships based on a calendar year (which it sounds like), that is not supported at all in Commerce.

So, long story short, don’t use Commerce just a way to make a payment. It really only makes sense if Commerce is the only place to handle all membership fees and if the site makes direct use of the membership status in terms of the functionality offered.

 

So, long story short, don’t use Commerce just a way to make a payment. It really only makes sense if Commerce is the only place to handle all membership fees and if the site makes direct use of the membership status in terms of the functionality offered.

Thank you, that is certainly helpful information!

We already have separate groups setup for 'non-member', full member, 5-year, 10-year, etc. All that is kept track of with the spreadsheets, and updated on site as well when the members reach those particular milestones. All have different start dates, etc as you mention too.

 

There isnt really any way we can answer that question for you, unfortunately. It would be your own preference. I guess really it depends on whether or not you want to be the one in charge of the payments rather than your club

Hi Marc,

I'm the club President and the only one that handles all the money/payments/member status, right now anyways.

Thank you!

Edited March 4Mar 4 by Andreas Kwetkus

 

We already have separate groups setup for 'non-member', full member, 5-year, 10-year, etc. All that is kept track of with the spreadsheets, and updated on site as well when the members reach those particular milestones. All have different start dates, etc as you mention too.

If you took payment for those items using commerce, you could automatically move people through groups, and remove the need for your spreadsheets there. Of course providing thats all you need them for

 

If you took payment for those items using commerce, you could automatically move people through groups, and remove the need for your spreadsheets there. Of course providing thats all you need them for

We'd have to update the sheets manually anyway. We send out physical awards for 5,10,15,20,25 year milestones, and also use the sheets for various other things like generation rosters for attendance at physical car shows we attend around the country, communications, and as a general backup of all member info.

When 'GroupSpaces' stopped, it lost a lot of our member data and the last President had a heck of a time piecing together info. After that, it was always safe to maintain the sheets, plus we have a couple redundant ones we update and store separately. Once bitten.... (not that we expect Invision to fail, lol)

Edited March 4Mar 4 by Andreas Kwetkus

I did setup a 'Stripe' account a while back, with the intention of using it with the Commerce package, so that's also an option to use, by itself on the site. But again, if the physical bank we have can basically do the same thing, without the added layer/middleman, it may be the way to go. I was poking around the Stripe account & offerings, it does appear to be a pretty powerful setup, with a bunch of different payment options.

I have a meeting with the bank's people that deal with that stuff tomorrow, so we'll see if they have similar capabilities as Stripe.