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Import of existing membership list - and Authorize.net questions

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Joe

08 Jan, 2011 11:36 PM

I couldn't find any information on your site regarding the importing of an existing membership base.

I currently have 600 members who have a variety of annual billing dates. However, I don't have any automated recurring billing setup, they are simply emailed a reminder to pay every year (not ideal I know!).

Is there an easy way to import them such that their annual recurring billing dates are retained? In other words, what I want to do is a mass import of the existing membership base and have your system simply wait to contact/bill the customer until their annual billing date rolls around. Is that possible? How easy is it to do?

Related question: I currently use authorize.net but I'm not using their Automated Recurring Billing or CIM. Am I correct that I'll need to sign up for the CIM in order to use CheddarGetter?

Also, I'm wondering also if you can outline what advantages CheddarGetter has over using Authorize.net Automated Recurring Billing?

Thanks!

1. Support Staff 1 Posted by Marc Guyer on 09 Jan, 2011 12:39 AM

   

   Hi Joe -- You can use the open API to import all of your existing customers. Checkout the docs here: http://cheddargetter.com/developers. You'll be able to set their next bill date in the import.
   

   Am I correct that I'll need to sign up for the CIM in order to use CheddarGetter?

   Yes, if you're using Authorize.Net, the CIM is required.
   

   Also, I'm wondering also if you can outline what advantages CheddarGetter has over using Authorize.net Automated Recurring Billing?

   Well, there are several. Too many to list here... For starters, pricing plan management (upgrade/downgrade), prorating, grandfathering, fully customizable email communication via html templates, "dunning" management, etc. To put it simply, CG is a refined tool for managing recurring subscriptions. The ARB is a blunt instrument.

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2. 2 Posted by Joe on 09 Jan, 2011 01:05 AM

   

   Thanks for the quick response Mark. That means a lot in my book.

   But I think you must have mistaken me for a programmer. :) When I see documentation related to API's my eyes gloss over. It's all Greek to me.

   What I was hoping for was a way I could simply format my existing membership data in a spreadsheet/CSV file and have it imported somehow into CheddarGetter. The data would include name, email, subscription amount, billing date and whatever other data would be required.

   My hope would be that these existing members would AUTOMATICALLY be emailed to renew their subscription this year when their billing date rolls around (so that the CIM could capture their credit card information) and all subsequent annual payments would be recurring on an ongoing basis.

   (Of course, NEW members would simply pay their membership fee when they joined and get put on the recurring payment plan.)

   Is something like that possible? If not, do you guys provide some technical help to do the import?

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3. Support Staff 3 Posted by Marc Guyer on 09 Jan, 2011 10:59 PM

   

   CG doesn't contain support for a CSV upload but using the API for that purpose is fairly straightforward.
   

   Is something like that possible? If not, do you guys provide some technical help to do the import?

   Everything is possible as you describe via the API. If you need help, we can arrange something.

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4. Dean closed this discussion on 16 Jan, 2013 04:02 PM.