How they work: BYOND Subscriptions

ID:1431305
 
Nov 27 2013, 6:16 am (Edited by moderator on Nov 27 2013, 12:55 pm)
What my current situation is:
I'm not entirely clear as to how it works. Currently I am selling subscriptions on a monthly basis. I have been working on an IPN through PayPal and it seems to work fine. All I'd need to do is set it so the game will read the data it sends and then apply it to the user. I configured my PHP code properly to create files containing the users purchase information and also prevent others from viewing it. The server itself though can still view it. But only the server.

The part that I don't want to do is setting it up so people who only buy a nonrenewable subscription will lose their subscription after 30 days have passed. I just don't feel like setting up a secure way. It seems complicated to me since I have never done something like this before.

My current understanding of BYOND Subscriptions:
I don't have much of an understanding of it because, well, I never used it. I don't know where the money goes and how it will benefit me either. Can it be sent to my PayPal account? Does it convert in to BYOND Memberships for my BYOND key? Does it go to my PayPal account while also giving BYOND a portion of it? How much of it does BYOND take?

Why I want to switch to BYOND Subscriptions:
Well, I'm not entirely sure about it. But, I think using BYOND instead to setup and manage my subscriptions would be easier.

I recently read a part of "Cash Shops and Game Subscriptions" and I think the reason why I previously didn't take the route of doing subscriptions on BYOND was because of the way it was set up.

I currently sell my subscriptions in the following fashion:

<table>
    <tr><td><input type="hidden" name="on0" value="Server Type">Server Type</td></tr><tr><td><select name="os0">
        <option value="1 Server 15% CPU Limit : $2.50 USD">1 Server 15% CPU Limit : $2.50 USD</option>
        <option value="1 Server 25% CPU Limit : $5.00 USD">1 Server 25% CPU Limit : $5.00 USD</option>
        <option value="1 Server 45% CPU Limit : $10.00 USD">1 Server 45% CPU Limit : $10.00 USD</option>
        <option value="2 Servers 50% CPU Limit (Per Server) : $15.00 USD">2 Servers 50% CPU Limit (Per Server) : $15.00 USD</option>
        <option value="2 Servers 55% CPU Limit (Per Server) : $20.00 USD">2 Servers 55% CPU Limit (Per Server) : $20.00 USD</option>
        <option value="2 Servers 65% CPU Limit (Per Server) : $50.00 USD">2 Servers 65% CPU Limit (Per Server) : $50.00 USD</option>
        <option value="Upgradable Desktop Server (Comes with Upgrades)* : $100.00 USD">Upgradable Desktop Server (Comes with Upgrades)* : $100.00 USD</option>
    </select> </td></tr>
    <tr><td><input type="hidden" name="on1" value="BYOND Key">BYOND Key</td></tr><tr><td><input class="byondkey" type="text" name="os1" maxlength="30" <?php if(isset($_GET['key'])) { echo"value = " . urldecode($_GET['key']); }?>></td></tr>
</table>


And it can be automatically renewed monthly or manually renewed monthly. Prices are the same either way.

If a user clicks the "Subscribe" verb then it opens a browser and passes ?key=[src.key] to it. PHP reads the query and changes the BYOND Key value to the passed key.

<?php if(isset($_GET['key'])) { echo"value = " . urldecode($_GET['key']); }?>


What I'm wondering is, if I switch to BYOND Subscriptions

A) Will I be able to customize how users can pay? Instead of Monthly, Yearly, Lifetime subscriptions, can I set it up so they can purchase a certain item? Or is this exactly what SuperAntx's post, Cash Shops and Game Subscriptions, is referring to?

B) Will I be able to delete subscriptions(if a person were to violate an agreement)? Can I change subscription lengths?
Nov 27 2013, 9:31 am
Our subscriber system now uses a model where you provide your Paypal email and all of the transactions go to directly to you; a cut of 20% is then transferred to us. In this way you get your payments in realtime. You process refunds & chargebacks & pay the Paypal fee (if any). If you refund a customer, you'll get the 20% back too.

Regarding your questions:

A) At the moment we only support time-based subscriptions, but we'll be adding a "currency" option pretty soon so that you'll be able to directly take money and use it in-exchange for in-game goods.

B) Yes, you can delete and alter subscriptions at anytime. You can do this through via the BYOND website, or you can directly issue refunds through your Paypal account.

The other planned change is to make it so that the 20% cut goes towards keeping your game ad-free by crediting it at a rate of $5/1000 plays. So this gives another incentive to use our model over direct integration.
Nov 27 2013, 2:49 pm
Okay. Awesome, Tom. I can't wait for A). I'll be using it ASAP because I really don't feel like handling the IPN's myself. Especially since I have no experience with it there may be security flaws.

Can there also be an option to toggle whether or not that 20% will turn on or off ads? There may be some instances where I'd like to keep it on just for the sake of BYOND. I'm looking to find all possible ways of donating after everything is set up for me.
Nov 29 2013, 1:27 am
In response to Xirre
The $5/1000 plays is more than they get from the Ads, focus on keeping your players happy, BYOND would be getting more than what the ads give them.

^ I'm sure I saw Tom write something about how that is more than they get from the ads anyway.. :O
Nov 29 2013, 5:58 pm
I'm sure I posted a reply.. Hmm. Must've not went through. But I wanted to say that some games may not be needing all that much attention and the creator may see that it may be okay to still show ads as an extra donation to BYOND. So, BYOND keeps the $5.00 as well as the money it gains from advertisements. Popular games should be expected to be ad free while small games like chats and small games that were made as a hobby.
Nov 30 2013, 1:33 pm
So basically a toggle on the hub or something?
Nov 30 2013, 2:27 pm
Yep.
Nov 30 2013, 2:30 pm
A recurring payment option where the user can enter 0 for inf cycles until they cancel it themselves or the payment is declined or -1 to not repeat or 1+ for a defined amount. This would also be nice for the new "quantity" method. I'm thinking of making a feature request for it so it gains proper recognition. But I don't know if I should wait or what. Lol. Because they haven't even finished the quantity method yet.
Nov 30 2013, 11:43 pm
In response to Xirre
Following BYOND's format for looping would make 0 a non-recurring and -1 a infinitely recurring.
Dec 1 2013, 6:49 am
Agh, yes. True. Sorry.
Dec 13 2013, 7:07 am
In response to Tom
Tom wrote:
Our subscriber system now uses a model where you provide your Paypal email and all of the transactions go to directly to you; a cut of 20% is then transferred to us. In this way you get your payments in realtime. You process refunds & chargebacks & pay the Paypal fee (if any). If you refund a customer, you'll get the 20% back too.

Regarding your questions:

A) At the moment we only support time-based subscriptions, but we'll be adding a "currency" option pretty soon so that you'll be able to directly take money and use it in-exchange for in-game goods.

B) Yes, you can delete and alter subscriptions at anytime. You can do this through via the BYOND website, or you can directly issue refunds through your Paypal account.

The other planned change is to make it so that the 20% cut goes towards keeping your game ad-free by crediting it at a rate of $5/1000 plays. So this gives another incentive to use our model over direct integration.

Thank you for such an informative post. I also love what you intend to do with the ads. That'll make things a lot nicer for the new project I'm working on.