Ambra Subscriptions
Version
3.4.4 (last update on Sep 10, 2011)
Rating
Compatibility
Votes
Favoured
28
License
GPLv2 or later
Commercial
Type
Views
64428
Date Added
4 February 2009
Editor's Note
- This extension requires registration to download.
* Subscription / Membership / Payment Manager
* File Downloads Manager
We wrote AMBRA Subscriptions for our own use on Dioscouri.com, so if you've purchased a support subscription from us in 2009 or 2010 or downloaded any of our extensions, then you've seen AMBRA Subscriptions in action.
AMBRA Subscriptions (AS) has an integrated File Manager, so if you're selling digital downloads with your subscriptions, then you no longer need a separate download manager with a complicated integration. Some of the features of our download manager include download logging with user id and IP, assigning files to multiple categories (without having to make multiple copies of the file), and assigning content articles as the descriptions of both categories and files.
If you're like us, then you are often selling memberships and subscriptions to other businesses. In many cases, multiple employees from that business will need access to the subscription you've just sold to the business. AMBRA Subscriptions (AS) allows you to assign multiple users to each payment. AS even allows you to create separate expiration dates for each of the users in case you want to grant only limited-time access for one of the employees...
The AMBRA Subscriptions (AS) code is filled with various plugin events, which allows you to make it do nearly anything you want at any time. One simple example is the onAfterStorePayment event. With this plugin event in the AS code, you can write a plugin that will do anything you want after a payment (whether a new one or otherwise), such as assign the user to a JUGA Group, attribute the payment to a specific affiliate, email the user a special note, or make any other kind of database/URL query. The options are limitless.
As of the current version, Ambra Subscriptions supports unregistered users purchasing a subscription.
For a quick demo of how AMBRA Subscriptions works, stop by Dioscouri.com. And don't forget that for an online business, you absolutely must have a Support Center, so check out BILLETS.
Images
What I always look for is great features and very important, good support from developers. Support for customers really doesn't get better then from these guys, they included some features I suggested so they are native now.
As far as new component, for being as new as it is and because I am using it with another product they have JUGA, it really is a very good blend. Offers me maximum fleksibility what to restrict to whome and to set content so that it shows different for each different subsribers or usergroups.
There are still some small issues that sometimes come up, but when they do developers do their best to help you and solve them.
As far as new component, for being as new as it is and because I am using it with another product they have JUGA, it really is a very good blend. Offers me maximum fleksibility what to restrict to whome and to set content so that it shows different for each different subsribers or usergroups.
There are still some small issues that sometimes come up, but when they do developers do their best to help you and solve them.
I am using this component now for my site which has only one membership plan for downloadable files and only using paypal. And for that use-case it is perfect.
But I wouldnt say that the version now is recommendable for other use-cases since there is still a lot of stuff missing. I know you may enhance its functionality by implementing some plugins for it, but not everyone is a programmer and for that price it should ship with some more built in stuff. But dont get me wrong, it's still awesome!
My biggest concerns are just about the user experience: A user needs to be logged in order pay for a membership and leave the plan list for that, having no visible paypal button.
You really should work on that issue, since one may loose some people who are interested in purchasing but get lost in registering, logging in and finally AGAIN visting the page for subscription but this time with visible paypal button.
Except that it's great. Thumbs up!
But I wouldnt say that the version now is recommendable for other use-cases since there is still a lot of stuff missing. I know you may enhance its functionality by implementing some plugins for it, but not everyone is a programmer and for that price it should ship with some more built in stuff. But dont get me wrong, it's still awesome!
My biggest concerns are just about the user experience: A user needs to be logged in order pay for a membership and leave the plan list for that, having no visible paypal button.
You really should work on that issue, since one may loose some people who are interested in purchasing but get lost in registering, logging in and finally AGAIN visting the page for subscription but this time with visible paypal button.
Except that it's great. Thumbs up!
Owner's reply
Thanks for the review! Please note that Registration-&-Login-prior-to-Payment are not required -- that's only how we wrote the default Paypal & Authorize.net payment plugins. If you want, you could quickly & easily modify them so that they at least capture an email address from the user before payment. Then, once the payment is completed, you can make the plugin automatically create a new user record. If you need any help with this, let us know! Thanks!
After looking for hours at all the options I finally picked AMBRA for my paid subscriptions. I must admit I was very disappointed at first. The instructions were limited in detail and I had to wait until tech support was available to help the next morning. It took several hours of tech support working with me to get it all worked out (turns out you can not run AMBRA code in articles that are using page breaks. In the nice people at AMBRA helped fix the problems and it is up and running now. I would like to see coupons added, but overall it is a good component and does what it says.
First of all, I have to mention that It wasn't the easiest installation I have done of a component. But that does not had to do with the component itself but with misconfiguration of my apache server as well as joomla itself. The support team corrected all the problems on my joomla installation. Actually what they did is that they corrected my mistakes and helped me to overcome the problems that were arising due to misconfiguration.
Now regarding whether the component actually does what it says. The best way to check it is through their site!! Actually their site is a live demo of their products in production. If you like it buy it. For me, this is what I was looking for.
Now regarding whether the component actually does what it says. The best way to check it is through their site!! Actually their site is a live demo of their products in production. If you like it buy it. For me, this is what I was looking for.
They have excellent support via their own ticket system. I had issues setting it up as I found the navigation of the component to be a bit confusing, but I contacted them and they went into my site and started to set it up for me. Once I saw how it worked, it was easy to set up the rest of the component.
good support is everything :)
good support is everything :)
This is the solution our company has been looking for. Easy installation and I was able to create subscriptions in minutes.
There was a minor hiccup with my server configuration, however the support was outstanding and quickly answered (and solved) my issue.
Highly recommended.
There was a minor hiccup with my server configuration, however the support was outstanding and quickly answered (and solved) my issue.
Highly recommended.
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