members only question

[spitalnic]

Hello. Is there a way to restrict the purchase of some products either to members (subscribers, not just registered users) or to restict a product to someone who has purchased a different product already - like cant buy refils until you have bought the unit, though could have bought the unit at any time in the past.

Thanks,
Stuart

[Ajeh]

What distinguishes a "member" vs a regular customer?

You could customize the Add to Cart/Buy Now buttons to change the button to a link to become a member ... but how are you identifying a member?

[spitalnic]

Thanks for looking at the question.

The problem was posed to me by someone who wants to offer a virtual product (customized documents) to members. She wants to use zen cart to sell the memberships, and then have members be able to order customized goods - she would customize them offline and email them to her customers. The idea was to have the memberships be the "featured items" that people would purchase, have anyone be able to browse the items in general, but only allow those who have previously purchased subscriptions to actually complete an order.

Let me know if you have any ideas/solutions - in the end, I think she will not be swamped with orders and can compare any rogue orders against the customer list, but that's hardly "hi-tech"

thanks,
Stuart

[Ajeh]

Do you wanted to make it where there is the "whole store" of Products "displayed" to everyone, but only available for purchase to members, with the exception of the "memberships" ... which would more or less "tease" guest into wanting to become members so that they can purchase things ...

This could be done by using the Group Pricing as a method to flag the customer as a "member" or "not a member" ...

Now, if you need Group Pricing for something else, this could still be designed based on another flag of some sort on the customers table ...

The function zen_get_buy_now_button manages what button or link is displayed ... this can be customized to manage whether or not a customer gets the Add to Cart/Buy now or a link to the membership ...

Is there one kind of Membership or multiple Membership types?

If multiple types of memberships are they based on "what products" can be purchased or a time period for purchasing "anything" on the site?