Difference between revisions of "Products and Services"

From WHMCS Documentation

(→‎Advanced Options)
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==Adding a New Product ==
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*Products are setup in groups - you must first create a group before being able to add a product
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We have prepared a video tutorial for this section @ http://www.whmcs.com/tutorials.php?i=4
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*Entire groups can be hidden and so too can individual products inside those groups
 +
*Products can be linked to directly from your site - the links are available on the '''Other''' tab when editing a product
 +
*See [[Linking to WHMCS]] for more info on product links and variables you can pass
 +
*A video tutorial on how to setup a product is available @ http://www.whmcs.com/tutorials.php?i=4
  
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Before adding a product, you must first add at least one product group. Once you have, then click the Add New Product link at the top of the Products/Services page in the Configuration section of WHMCS.  You will be presented with a form to first specify the name and group the product should be in.  Once you have entered these, click Continue and you will then see the product management screen.  From here you can then proceed to set your product description, pricing, prorata options, stock options, package quotas, custom fields, configurable options, auto setup options and any other details.
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==Details==
  
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==Direct Linking to a Product==
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===Product Type===
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You can find the link you need to link directly to the order page & preselecting a certain product on the "Other" tab when editing a product. The link is in the format www.yourdomain.com/cart.php?a=add&pid=ID
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4 options to choose from and used to determine only how WHMCS should handle it. This is only for system use - you use the groups to divide products into categories for your own use.
 +
*Shared Hosting - for web hosting accounts
 +
*Reseller HOsting - for web hosting reseller accounts
 +
*Dedicated/VPS Server - for servers and displays server hostname, ns & root pw fields on signup
 +
*Other - for anything else
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===Product Group===
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*the group the product belongs to for display on the order form
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===Product Name===
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*the name to display to customers and throughout the admin area
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===Product Description===
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*the detailed information displayed on the order form relating to this product
 +
===Welcome Email===
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*the email template to send when the product is activated. You can create custom email templates to use on different products - see [[Messages/Emails#Creating_Custom_Templates|Creating Custom Email Templates]] for more info
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===Require Domain===
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*to show the domain registration options on ordering. Should always be enabled for hosting and disabled for any other products that don't require a domain name.
 +
===Stock Control===
 +
*can be used if you have a specific quantity of an item available (for example servers) or a limited special offer product - tick to enable and enter a quantity remaining and WHMCS will stop orders when it reaches zero
 +
===Sort Order===
 +
*can be set to a number to overide the default product ordering of alphabetical names
 +
===Apply Tax===
 +
*tick if tax rules should be applied to this product
 +
===Hidden===
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*tick to not show the product on the order form - can still be ordered using the direct order links
  
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==Altering Display Order of Products==
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==Pricing==
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By default, products are listed on the order form in alphabetical order. You can change this by specifying a "Sort Order" for the product on the General tab when editing it.  This should be a number and the products are then displayed in ascending numerical order.
 
  
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==Hiding a Product==
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*Payment Types - consists of Free, One Time & Recurring options
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To hide a product from the order form, click the edit icon next to a product/service.  Then, from the main product options page, check the Hidden checkbox located towards the bottom of the first tab. Then simply save your changes to hide the product from the order form.
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*For One Time, enter the prices in the One Time/Monthly fields
 +
*For recurring, the setup fee in each column allows you to specify different setup fees depending on the cycle chosen, for example you may charge setup fees on monthly cycles and offer free setup if paid annually
 +
*On recurring, enter -1 into any price field to disable that cycle from being offered
  
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==Automated Provisioning==
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===Prorata Billing===
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To link the product up to a hosting control panel or provisioning system you need to assign it to a module.  This is done on the Module Settings tab of the product config where you can choose the module and then set the module specific settings for that product. Documentation is available for the various modules @ http://wiki.whmcs.com/Server_Modules
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this allows you to bill products on a specific day of the month and charge a prorata'd amount at the initial time of order. See xxx for more info.
  
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==Advanced Options==
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==Module Settings (aka Provisioning)==
  
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*'''Show Domain Options''' - Unticking this box will mean the order process does not asl the user for a domain name which is useful for non-hosting related products and services
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*This tab is where you can configure the automated setup for the product
 +
*The options you will see depend upon the module chosen, and more info specific to each module can be found in the [[Server_Modules|Provisioning Modules]] section
 +
*If a product has no specific module to be linked to then you can set it to "Autorelease" in order to have the activation simulated and therefore welcome email sent automatically
 +
*There are 4 automation settings to choose from for product activation and they are:
 +
**Automatically setup the product as soon as an order is placed - this will setup instantly usually used for free products
 +
**Automatically setup the product as soon as the first payment is received - this will perform the setup as soon as the order is paid for
 +
**Automatically setup the product when you manually accept a pending order - this will perform the setup only when an admin has manually reviewed and accepted the order
 +
**Do not automatically setup this product - never auto setup the product - admins can still initiate manually from the product details page under a clients profile
  
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*'''Stock Control''' - WHMCS will keep track of the amount of stock of a product you have, decreasing the number by one each time a product is ordered and suspending orders for that product when the quantity reaches zero. This is most commonly used by dedicated server providers. The Stock tab is where you enable and set the available quantity.
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==Custom Fields==
  
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*'''Subdomain''' - The subdomain setting allows you to offer a 4th domain option to clients - in addition to the register, transfer, use own domain options, clients can choose to use a free subdomain of the domain you enter in this field. For example you might enter .yourhostdomain.com (Great for free web hosts)
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*These can be used to request specific information required for supplying the product
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*Field types consist of text boxes, dropdown selections, yes/no checkboxes and memo boxes
 +
*Fields can be set as admin only for private data and required/optional
 +
*See [[Custom_Fields|Custom Fields]] for more info
  
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*'''Free Domain''' - The free domain settings allow you to specify if a domain name should be included free with the package. When enabled, if the user orders the product/service in one of the billing cycles you choose to allow a free domain with, with a domain name, then that domain name will be provided free of charge. There are 2 offer options:
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==Configurable Options==
  
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'''Offer a free domain registration/transfer only (renew as normal)'''
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*Configurable Options allow you to give your clients options which alter the price of the product
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The initial registration/transfer with the hosting order is free but the client will be
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*Refer to [[Addons_and_Configurable_Options|Addons & Configurable Options]] for more info
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asked to renew at regular pricing in future.
 
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'''Offer a free domain registration/transfer and free renewal (if product is renewed)'''
 
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The domain is free for the lifetime of the package and renews automatically when
 
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the associated package is paid for.
 
  
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*'''Tax Product''' - Located on the Other tab, this setting allows you to specify whether this product or service should have tax charged on it if the user falls within one of the tax zones you have setup
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==Upgrades==
  
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==Prorata Billing==
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*Upgrades/downgrades can be fully automated by WHMCS with many of the modules
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Prorata Billing allows you to bill your clients on a fixed day of the month for products/services no matter what day they were ordered.  When the client orders, they will be charged the prorated amount which is calculated by dividing the total price by the number of days in the month and then multplying by the number of days left until the day of the month you set to charge the client on subsequent payments.
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*All you need to do on this tab is select the products that the product can be upgraded or downgraded to
 +
*Use Ctrl+Click to select multiple products
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*There is also a checkbox for enabling the upgrades of configurable options if there are any on the product
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*See the [[Automated_Upgrades_and_Downgrades|Automated Upgrades and Downgrades]] article for more info on how upgrades/downgrades are calculated and processed
  
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To use prorata billing for a product, from the product management screen select the Prorata tab.  To activate it, tick the checkbox at the top of the page.
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==Free Domain==
  
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In the Prorata Date field, enter the day of the month you want to bill clients.  For example, enter 1 and clients will be charged for that product each month on the 1st of each month.
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*WHMCS lets you offer free domains with your packages when purchased with certain payment terms
 +
*For example you might want to offer a free domain when a package is purchased annually as an incentive
 +
*Refer to the [[Domains_Management#Offering_Free_Domain_Registration_with_Selected_Packages|Offering Free Domain Registration]] article for more details on how to configure it
  
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In the Charge Next Month field, you enter the day number after which point you want to charge an additional month.  This helps avoid getting small amounts.  For example, if you set the charge next month field to 20, if a client orders on the 19th of the month a product with a cost of $30 they will be billed $15 on the date of order and then $30 each month on the 1st.  However, if a client orders on the 20th of the month, they would be billed $10 to take it until the 1st of the next month and then the whole next month as the date of order is after the charge next month date so their total first payment would be $40 and they would then be billed $30 a month starting the 1st of the month in 2 months time.
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==Other==
  
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==Addons vs. Configurable Options==
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===Custom Affiliate Payout===
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Configurable Options on products allow you to give your clients options which alter the price of that product.  In this article, we will look at when you would use them and how.
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*these settings allow you to specify a custom payout rate for this specific product if using the built in affiliate system
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===When should I use configurable options instead of addons?===
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===Affiliate Pay Amount===
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*If you want to offer a choice of options for a single thing - for example Disk Space, Operating System, Location
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*based on yoru setting above to either percentage or fixed amount, this is the percentage or amount paid for a purchase of this product
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*If you want the total amount to be billed as a single item and not seperately
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===One Time Payout===
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*When you want the billing cycle of the addon to match the billing cycle of the product
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*tick this if you want to pay only a one off commission
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===When should I use addons instead of configurable options?===
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===Subdomain===
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*If the item is a one off service
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*enter a domain in the format ".yourdomain.com" if you want to offer a free subdomain option for the domain at signup
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*If it can be selected independantly of other items
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===Product Downloads===
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*If it should be billed on it's own cycle - eg. a dedicated IP might be billed annually regardless of the package cycle
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*let's you offer files to be automatically released to the customer when the product is activated
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===How do I setup Configurable Options?===
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*see [[Product Downloads Distribution]] for more information
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Configurable options are setup in groups so that 1 set of options can be applied to multiple products.  Setting up a new group of options is done in the following way:
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===Direct Shopping Cart Link===
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*this is the link you can use on your site to automatically add the product to the shopping cart and jump straight to the configuration step
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#To create a new group of configurable options, begin by going to Config > Configurable Options
 
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#Now click the Create a New Group link at the top of the page
 
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#You will then be shown a screen where you need to enter a name for the group and description (both of which are for admin viewing only)
 
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#You can also choose which products the new group will apply to but you can leave that until later
 
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#Now click Save Changes and the page will extend to show the options in this group
 
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#You can then add options by clicking the Add New Configurable Option button and add them in the same way as before - config option name, type, and the suboptions/pricing you want to offer for that configurable item
 
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#When you close the popup, the group page will refresh to show the new group you just added and you can then customise the order of the fields using the sort order box to hold a numerical position value.
 
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And then applying a group of options to a product is easy. You can do it in two ways, firstly from the configurable options group pages that you were just on, or secondly, when editing a product you can choose the groups of options you want to show for the product on the Configurable Options tab.
 
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Also note that certain modules require the configurable options to have a certain config option name. E.g The TCADMIN module requires the amount of game slots configuration to be called "Game Slots." However, you may want to call the option something else while not breaking the module (maybe to make it more clear). This can be done as follows. For example:
 
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Game Slots|Select the amount of slots you want
 
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This will communicate with the module with the section before the "|" symbol while displaying the text after the "|" symbol to the user on the actual order form.
 
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==Download Distribution==
 
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With WHMCS, you can setup products that have downloads associated with them.  This is useful if you want to offer software, templates or other files for purchasing.  With the download distribution, WHMCS will automatically handle the download permissions and only allow the items to be downloaded by customers that purchase the associated product required for the download and only when that product is active in their account.
 
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You need to begin by adding the download to the support center downloads section.  When adding the download, you need to tick the "Product Download" tick box to activate the download restrictions for that download.  This is shown in the screenshot below:
 
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[[Image:productdownloadconfig.gif]]
 
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Once the download has been added, you can then select the download to apply to a product in the Product Configuration area.  This is done from the Other tab.  You can select multiple downloads to be associated with one product purchase.  This is shown below:
 
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[[Image:productdownloadproductconfig.gif]]
 

Revision as of 15:13, 26 July 2009

  • Products are setup in groups - you must first create a group before being able to add a product
  • Entire groups can be hidden and so too can individual products inside those groups
  • Products can be linked to directly from your site - the links are available on the Other tab when editing a product
  • See Linking to WHMCS for more info on product links and variables you can pass
  • A video tutorial on how to setup a product is available @ http://www.whmcs.com/tutorials.php?i=4

Details

Product Type

4 options to choose from and used to determine only how WHMCS should handle it. This is only for system use - you use the groups to divide products into categories for your own use.

  • Shared Hosting - for web hosting accounts
  • Reseller HOsting - for web hosting reseller accounts
  • Dedicated/VPS Server - for servers and displays server hostname, ns & root pw fields on signup
  • Other - for anything else

Product Group

  • the group the product belongs to for display on the order form

Product Name

  • the name to display to customers and throughout the admin area

Product Description

  • the detailed information displayed on the order form relating to this product

Welcome Email

  • the email template to send when the product is activated. You can create custom email templates to use on different products - see Creating Custom Email Templates for more info

Require Domain

  • to show the domain registration options on ordering. Should always be enabled for hosting and disabled for any other products that don't require a domain name.

Stock Control

  • can be used if you have a specific quantity of an item available (for example servers) or a limited special offer product - tick to enable and enter a quantity remaining and WHMCS will stop orders when it reaches zero

Sort Order

  • can be set to a number to overide the default product ordering of alphabetical names

Apply Tax

  • tick if tax rules should be applied to this product

Hidden

  • tick to not show the product on the order form - can still be ordered using the direct order links

Pricing

  • Payment Types - consists of Free, One Time & Recurring options
  • For One Time, enter the prices in the One Time/Monthly fields
  • For recurring, the setup fee in each column allows you to specify different setup fees depending on the cycle chosen, for example you may charge setup fees on monthly cycles and offer free setup if paid annually
  • On recurring, enter -1 into any price field to disable that cycle from being offered

Prorata Billing

this allows you to bill products on a specific day of the month and charge a prorata'd amount at the initial time of order. See xxx for more info.

Module Settings (aka Provisioning)

  • This tab is where you can configure the automated setup for the product
  • The options you will see depend upon the module chosen, and more info specific to each module can be found in the Provisioning Modules section
  • If a product has no specific module to be linked to then you can set it to "Autorelease" in order to have the activation simulated and therefore welcome email sent automatically
  • There are 4 automation settings to choose from for product activation and they are:
    • Automatically setup the product as soon as an order is placed - this will setup instantly usually used for free products
    • Automatically setup the product as soon as the first payment is received - this will perform the setup as soon as the order is paid for
    • Automatically setup the product when you manually accept a pending order - this will perform the setup only when an admin has manually reviewed and accepted the order
    • Do not automatically setup this product - never auto setup the product - admins can still initiate manually from the product details page under a clients profile

Custom Fields

  • These can be used to request specific information required for supplying the product
  • Field types consist of text boxes, dropdown selections, yes/no checkboxes and memo boxes
  • Fields can be set as admin only for private data and required/optional
  • See Custom Fields for more info

Configurable Options

  • Configurable Options allow you to give your clients options which alter the price of the product
  • Refer to Addons & Configurable Options for more info

Upgrades

  • Upgrades/downgrades can be fully automated by WHMCS with many of the modules
  • All you need to do on this tab is select the products that the product can be upgraded or downgraded to
  • Use Ctrl+Click to select multiple products
  • There is also a checkbox for enabling the upgrades of configurable options if there are any on the product
  • See the Automated Upgrades and Downgrades article for more info on how upgrades/downgrades are calculated and processed

Free Domain

  • WHMCS lets you offer free domains with your packages when purchased with certain payment terms
  • For example you might want to offer a free domain when a package is purchased annually as an incentive
  • Refer to the Offering Free Domain Registration article for more details on how to configure it

Other

Custom Affiliate Payout

  • these settings allow you to specify a custom payout rate for this specific product if using the built in affiliate system

Affiliate Pay Amount

  • based on yoru setting above to either percentage or fixed amount, this is the percentage or amount paid for a purchase of this product

One Time Payout

  • tick this if you want to pay only a one off commission

Subdomain

  • enter a domain in the format ".yourdomain.com" if you want to offer a free subdomain option for the domain at signup

Product Downloads

  • let's you offer files to be automatically released to the customer when the product is activated
  • see Product Downloads Distribution for more information

Direct Shopping Cart Link

  • this is the link you can use on your site to automatically add the product to the shopping cart and jump straight to the configuration step
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