Charging for member access

[fortunefanfest]

I want to create a set of pages available only to those who pay for access. Can I list the membership like it's a regular item, then upload the info for those who paid it? Those who pay for membership will be listed on a CSV sheet which I then can import into the member area. I don't think I'll have more than 20 or so members. Is that the best way to allow paid access to a specific section of my website?

[TheRealChipA · Accepted solution]

Hi @fortunefanfest.  Currently you can’t do exactly what you want with either Square Online or Weebly.  But, you can get close depending on how comfortable you are with compromise.  I’ll give you two options that I use for control to “private” web pages in my shop (Square Online), as well as in another business that I use Weebly for website hosting.

Square Online

Square Online allows you to password-protect pages with a site-wide password.  You would add the password to the page(s) that you want to protect and then give that password to all who have access.  This is where this compromise comes in, since all members would share the same password and would be on the honor system not to share it with anyone else.  You can mitigate the risk by change the password regularly (every month or so), but that would not be foolproof, of course.  I use this in my shop to protect employee information pages for things like my Employee Manual and various new hire forms.

Weebly

Weebly has a membership list control, complete with userids/passwords.  Since you have a low-volume membership this might be ideal.  You’d add new members to the list, which would send them an email to allow them to create a password for access.  When people are no longer members, you can delete them from that list.  The compromise here (if you already have a Square online website for “yourbusiness.com” is that you’d need to obtain a new URL to create your members-only website (“yourbusinessmembers.com”).  Also, you couldn’t do things like offer members-only direct pricing, if you wanted to do that.  You’d have to display a members-only coupon code they could use for ordering to give them discounts.  I use this for a small apartment building I own to offer tenant portals.

One More Thing

This is definitely something that I think would be a great addition to Square Online — members-only page access, members-only pricing, etc.  If you’re up for suggesting it, you should go here and submit a feature request.  When you do, be very specific about your use case, your ultimate goal for functionality, etc, and make your case for how beneficial this could be to a variety of sellers.  Also, when you do, post a link here to your feature request and I’ll definitely upvote it and add my own thoughts.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

[fortunefanfest]

Thank you so much for your insight. 

I have a couple of questions, if you don't mind. 

Square Online allows you to password-protect pages with a site-wide password. My concern with doing it this way is that there is only 1 password for the entire site, right? So theoretically anyone who has the password for the "members only section" could use it to change random pages throughout the site.  I don't think this would happen, but it still makes me uncomfortable to give out the site password.

Also, the tutorial on this page https://square.online/app/help/us/en/topics/user-registration says you can create members. I thought if I made "membership" an item for sale, I would then upload those who paid for it and they could access the member only pages. Would that not work?

Thanks again.

[TheRealChipA]

To answer your first question, yes that was why I said that this would be a compromise in my original post.

Secondly, that link is not a valid link for some reason.  When I click on it it just takes me to the main Square Help screen.  Can you tell me what the exact name of the tutorial is so I can look it up another way?  Or screen shot the first page of it and post that screen shot here?  Regardless, I know of no such capability in Square Online to have members-only pages.  Only Weebly.

[fortunefanfest]

Yes, I apologize. Providing the site wide password isn't a compromise I'm willing to make. Thanks.

The members only info should be here:

https://square.online/app/help/us/en/sections/settings

Limiting Page Visibility to Members  

https://square.online/app/help/us/en/topics/limiting-page-visibility-to-members

Thank you for your help and your patience.

[TheRealChipA]

Found it.  First, that help document is for Weebly specifically.  See the first screen shot below.  Also, note that to use Members you must first be a Pro or Business subscriber.  Anyway, this is exactly what I was describing in my second suggestion above — use Weebly to build a subscriber-only site, if you can.  And (see circled area in second screen shot) Weebly Members does have a way to upload a CSV.  So depending on exactly what kind of information and functionality you plan to have for members-only, this could work for you.

It seems like your website might already be a Weebly site, since that is the only place the help you referenced is available.  If so, you should be good to go after you upgrade to Pro or Business level.