FRH Dave

Any thoughts on the price issue? I was about to say I can live with manually importing the autorelease module, but I can't. Those products need to renew on their current dates, and from what I can tell, Blesta has no way to start a product in the future on a specific date. This would be necessary so that no charges are generated before the renewal date except as specified by the invoice settings.

After the code modification described above, the import appears mostly successful. I'm going to go through and audit the clients / services, but at first glance, it appears that anything using the WHMCS Autorelease module is not being imported. The package is created in Blesta, but it is not assigned to the customer. EDIT: Many if not all of the prices are set to $0.00. EDIT 2: The prices are correct when viewed from Packages > Browse, but not when viewed from Clients > (select client) > Manage

The highest service number is #1 in Blesta, which corresponds to #1 in WHMCS. There is only one service showing in Blesta. It appears all the clients are there, as well as all of the packages. I use Autorelease, which is their version of your Universal module. It's possible it's failing on the dedicated servers. That would explain it. But user #1 in WHMCS doesn't have any dedicated servers; only shared, IPs, SSLs, and some other things. If it's crashing on dedicated servers, wouldn't the rest of those services come over?

Sent! I'm importing the full database. Or at least, trying to.

WHMCS package #1: cPanel user account, user #1 - made it to Blesta, assigned to correct user WHMCS package #9: cPanel user account, user #4 - package created in Blesta, but not assigned to any user WHMCS package #11: cPanel user account, user #6 - package created in Blesta, but not assigned to any user ... the rest of the packages have similar results. If I sort my WHMCS packages by username, starting with user #1: WHMCS package #1: cPanel user account, user #1 - made it to Blesta, assigned to correct user WHMCS package #121: TheSSLStore module, RapidSSL, user #1 - package created in Blesta, but not assigned to any user, no module assigned WHMCS package #118: TheSSLStore module, Comodo Essential, user #1 - package created in Blesta, but not assigned to any user, no module assigned ... the rest of the packages have similar results. Does the importer process entries by username, or by the actual sequence in the database? If by username, then I'm guessing it's failing on the RapidSSL product / TheSSLStore module. I can try again using the modification you posted above, unless you want me to try troubleshooting this. All the cPanel packages were correctly assigned to the cPanel module. I haven't verified, but it looks like the hash came over correctly. All of my domains were correctly assigned to the Logicboxes module. My NetEarthOne information appears correct in this module. All of my SolusVM packages and colocation packages were assigned to the Universal module. Blesta created one product label in the Universal Module for each VPS node, which appears to also store the access keys. All of my dedicated servers were not assigned to any module.

Similar results, but without MySQL crashing: The import completed but the following errors ocurred: importServices: SQLSTATE[23000]: Integrity constraint violation: 1048 Column 'module_row_id' cannot be null on line 124 importSupportDepartments: SQLSTATE[HY093]: Invalid parameter number: number of bound variables does not match number of tokens on line 124 importSupportTickets: SQLSTATE[HY093]: Invalid parameter number: number of bound variables does not match number of tokens on line 124 importMisc: SQLSTATE[HY093]: Invalid parameter number: number of bound variables does not match number of tokens on line 124 To make absolutely certain I was starting with a clean environment, I re-imaged the VPS, performed an update, installed WHM + cPanel, set up my cPanel account, installed Blesta (re-downloaded just in case), installed the import module from the first page, installed the WHMCS plugin from the first page (may be redundant?), imported my data from WHMCS. It took only a minute. I'm on the console right now and see no immediate signs of trouble on the server. The results are the same as before except for the error messages above: Looks like all clients were imported, looks like all packages were created, but only the first client got any services (and not all services for that client carried over).

No users above user #1 have their package data imported. Maybe this is related to the fact that all the packages that were "unlimited" in WHMCS now have 0 quantity in Blesta? Like Blesta set the limit to 0, then said "no inventory left, can't add that package".

Just attempted an import, and no package data came through. The packages themselves were created, but were not assigned to customers. What info do you need? EDIT: Some came through, some did not. I'm researching to see what the difference is. EDIT 2: The only customer to get a package associated correctly is my test account, user #1 in WHMCS. And then only one package (out of maybe a dozen) came through. I do see many packages created successfully in Blesta, but any package in WHMCS that did not have a non-zero quantity is showing in Blesta with 0 quantity. If the package quantity in WHMCS was either "unlimited" or "0", it's now "0" in Blesta.

Then the simple solution is, of course, not to use it. If you're not interested in doing an upsell at the POP, then you certainly don't have to. That doesn't mean that nobody else will want to use it, nor does it mean that your experiences are universal. On the other hand, upselling and impulse marketing does drive sales across the board -- be it e-commerce, retail, B2B, or anything in between. Frustrating or not, GoDaddy sells. Hence my suggestion of having the option to present it either before or after checkout, with or without the ability to postpone payment processing until an upsell is selected or until a timeout is reached. Creating a table of rules based on order / account conditions with a "Present via: Checkout / Post-Checkout / Email" option would work wonders for the UI and ease of implementation, and would be supremely powerful.

Yes, I'd like to see email-based upselling as well. Having both of these tools available is ideal, and lets the host choose whether to sell up front, after the sale, or both. Having both makes it easy to sell VPS management at the point of sale, then 3 days later, if the user has a VPS and still does not have management, they get an email offering an initial hardening / service optimization combo for $20. It's also possible to structure the logic so that the upsell is presented after payment. I wouldn't mind the additional 2% + $.30 hit, or the logic can even be written to not finalize the payment before the upsell is chosen. However, I disagree that upselling at the POP is going to significantly harm the closure rate (and as a host with monthly signups in the single digit rate, I'm saying this as someone to whom a single customer is significant). Off the top of my head, both GoDaddy and Vistaprint do upselling at the point of purchase, and given their revenue, it doesn't seem to hurt them at all. That being said, both have the potential to annoy, and some customers will be turned off by either. A host who gets a shared hosting order, then tries to upsell them to VPS, then tries to upsell them (either at POS or via email) to dedi, then tries to upsell colo, then tries to upsell a SSL, then tries to upsell a new domain, then tries to upsell VPS management (for their shared hosting, remember), then tries to upsell them on a dedicated IP ... That host is going to thoroughly irritate the customer and lose the sale, and with good reason. It's up to the host to implement them in a non-irritating way.

Absolutely - keep me posted!

I realize you're already working on this. But yesterday's sloppy WHMCS exploit, combined with the fact that the patch appears to only prevent one attack vector without actually fixing the root cause, makes this a much higher priority for us. It's very likely that more exploits are coming in the very near future. We need to move off WHMCS as soon as possible.

Thanks - that makes two of us!

Ah - that's right, I KNEW there was a reason why I hadn't imported yet. This is a deal breaker for me. I can't move forward with Blesta until I have time to run and test the WHMCS import. Everything else is moot until then.

I'm in the middle of reloading my Blesta VPS right now to make another import run, so I can't answer this for myself: Does Blesta maintain the service renewal date on an import? If a customer's next invoice is due 11/15 in WHMCS, will it be 11/15 in Blesta?

Definitely. The logic should be able to accomodate a reasonable number of levels (maybe up to "cart contains x AND y AND not a AND not b"), but even a simple "if cart contains x AND not y THEN present offer z" would work wonders. There are a few scenarios, but it always boils down to offer a product, with or without a discount. We might offer a massive discount on cPanel if the customer is buying a $100 / month VPS, but a tiny discount if they're buying our $20 / month VPS. If cart contains x, offer discount y on product z for # months If cart contains x, offer discount y on product z for life If cart contains x, suggest product z (full price) If you want to make this REALLY powerful, give it the ability to adjust the promotion by day. Tomorrow might be "Free Domain Friday", and anybody who buys a VPS gets a free domain. Then it's "SSL Saturday", and anybody who buys a managed VPS or managed dedicated server gets a SSL certificate for only $.99. This is a feature that's incredibly powerful whether implemented in its most basic form (if cart contains x, and doesn't already contain y, then offer y with a discount) or in a powerful conditional branch (if the customer buys a SSL cert AND the customer already has a VPS AND the current VPS is unmanaged AND it's Saturday THEN (IF the customer has cPanel THEN offer SSL certificate installation for $9.99, else IF the customer has no panel THEN offer SSL installation for $19.99, else IF the customer has Webmin offer SSL installation for $999.99)). I don't believe anyone else has this -- certainly not WHMCS. It would be a huge selling point.

This is why I like Blesta. Someone comes up with an idea, and the response from the dev team is "that's a great idea - added to the list" instead of "lol".

Very nice! Can't wait to play.

When a user places an order, I'd like the ability to conditionally upsell the customer on relevant services. For example: User orders a VPS User declines management User proceeds to checkout Because the user declined management, Blesta throws a special offer (defined by the host) their way at the checkout screen. "We want to help keep your VPS secure - try our management at 50% off for the first three months, then cancel any time", etc. If the user accepts the offer, it's added to the cart. If not, the cart remains as-is. An alternative and slightly less obnoxious method would be to automatically send off an email after the order is placed instead of presenting the offer at the checkout screen.

This is definitely an area of needed improvement. Let's face it: domains are always a critical part of shared hosting. Although it's possible to use shared hosting without a domain, chances are that's not the customer we want (as they're probably using us as a file drop or remote backup site -- something we'd rather have them on a VPS or FTP plan for). Domain association should be an integral part of the shared hosting ordering process. The way it's currently structured is somewhat awkward. It's definitely going to be confusing for an average customer.

That's an interesting approach. I'll have to take a closer look at how many identical prices are in there. We're talking around 50 active services with "out of band" pricing, so this won't be ideal. But it's nice to know it could work. If I had my dream solution, Blesta would ask me what to do with every package it didn't recognize. Similar in layout to the "import / don't import" package list now, but change the dropdown to "Import as: (Don't Import, VPS Plan A, VPS Plan B, etc) ... at $___.__ per __ (months / years)". That's a small hurdle to manually set each one, but we're talking a one-time thing here. The catch is that in order to function properly, Blesta would have to see "Imported VPS Plan A at $99.99 / mo" as a unique plan from "Imported VPS Plan A at $84.79 / mo". I've been mulling logic to make it work perfectly for everyone all the time, and I don't think there is such a thing. There's always going to be some level of effort involved on the host.

I might be able to use recurring coupons, but it gets messy becuase of all the custom scenarios I have. Customer A has VPS Plan A at $89.99 / mo with no control panel, Customer B has the same package at $89.99 but gets a free cPanel license, Customer C has the same package at $89.99 but has an extra IP, Customer D has the same package at $89.99 + $19.99 for cPanel minus a 25% discount on the whole thing ($82.49 total), Customer E has the same package at $99.99 because of an old price structure, Customer F has the same package at $99.99 + $14.99 for cPanel minus a 20% discount ($91.98 total), and so on. Then there's also the fact that some customers signed up with a package was $79.99, others signed up when it was $89.99, still others at $99.99. The best possible outcome from my perspective is to create "Legacy VPS A", "Legacy VPS B", etc for each of my VPS plans. I'd create them as SolusVM packages with the corresponding SolusVM plan (that way the SolusVM module options are available to the user). Then I'd just manually override the price of each individual customer. It would take an afternoon of effort, but it wouldn't be that bad.

The problem we run into here is that if we have a developer with the email address awesomewebdevguy@example.com, and he's listed as the tech contact on each account that he's responsible for, our current billing platform can't handle that. It either won't allow multiple accounts with the same address, or it will route the ticket to the first account listed (can't remember which, too lazy to test). At any rate, it's a valid problem: how do you know which account it should route the email to? A workaround would have to be built into any such functionality.

Don't stress yourself over it! Just know that lots of us are really looking forward to it.

I ran into a small hiccup on the import (posted in the cPanel thread), but so far all works as designed. I manually added a package to one of my clients so I could see how best to handle my pricing dilemma, and it looks like it's going to be a major pain. If I have a customer in WHMCS on a $50 VPS with a $20 cPanel add-on and a $30 management add-on, then a 25% discount, their WHMCS invoice would be $75. In Blesta, I will be discounting only the base hosting package, so the same product with 25% off will be $87.50. It looks like I have to create a "legacy" package for any existing packages that I need to move over. If the situation was reversed, and I was importing INTO WHMCS (hah!), I could create a single package called "Grandfathered Package", import all the special customers into that, and then manually set the recurring price for each customer. I don't see any functionality in Blesta that give a similar result. Is there any way similar "price override" functionality could be brought into the import routine, or even into Blesta itself? I'm sure I can dig in and edit the SQL data by hand, but this opens up a giant can of worms that I'd just as soon stay away from. I'm sure I won't be the only one in this situation.