Hello all,

I'm thinking about installing amember software for a membership site. Does anyone here have any experience with it? And if so, who else besides PayPal will work well with it?

Thanks in advance,
Rachel

Hey Rachel,

You'll find a list of all the processors they work with here:

aMember Pro - PHP membership software

Rachel,

Mike Humphreys has been having dreadful experiences with amember. I think you should PM him before you make a final decision on using it.

I operate a site specializing in using aMember.

My personal preference is using paypal, but you can also use clickbank, and 2checkout (although there are always complaints about each...)

I may be able to help you out.

I'm happy with Amember. It's a little clumsy at times but works okay for what I'm doing. I've recently started using MemberSpeed as well and it's very user friendly and a great all in one solution.

I use it in conjunction with Joomla for my Catalog Copywriting Secrets membership site. A bit of a learning curve, but once it's set up, it's not that hard to maintain.

I used aMember on two sites before I sold them off. A+ for product support and fast response to security threats. But definitely NOT the product for anyone new to ecommerce. Requires a bit of time to setup.

Also, since it is so popular, there are bots that constantly hammer the script trying to give themselves admin access to your member's data and your products. You might lose your PayPal money if your password is present in the script and the bot gets access to send money to the thief

Fortunately, the aMember folks are quick to send security notices and workarounds for folks too much in a hurry to upgrade to newer versions. Best support of probably any software I've purchased.

I only can recommend the out of the box installation of aMember if someone plans to promote a single membership program or related niche products.

Some online marketers want one shopping cart system to handle all of their products and programs, regardless of niche. This is not the shopping cart or membership program for that. At least not without a bit of additional customization.

That's because all products and affiliate programs become visible once folks become members or affiliates. Your buyers and affiliates will get confused by product listings for dissimilar niches.

It is possible to hide products fairly easily, but last I checked, hiding affiliate programs and membership types requires changes to the script. The fee is just a few bucks but still, if you are expecting something that shows only what people initially bought or signed up for, you may get surprised to learn this doesn't do that. At least not without customization.

Andre

I know this is an old thread, but I figured I'd write here so the SEs can pick it up.

Complaint about Membership software - aMember Pro

Amember has THE worst customer service I've ever encountered besides File Open.

Similarities? Both are run by programmers who have no tech support or customer support.

Alex NEVER responds back to our tickets within 24 hours, sometimes it takes him up to 5 days & we have to keep harassing him just to get any kind of response.

Now he just released an add-on which I paid more money for, & it's not even working properly, not to mention there's no real documentation on it.

He doesn't even apologize when he's late in responding & my assistant is freaking out & he's one of the most patient people I know.

My question is, why do some people say he's great, & others can barely run their business?

I've been unable to launch my site properly because we are waiting on him.

Even when it came to adding on USAepay to his processors, (something that would take 20 minutes), he strung us along for 6 months before he finally installed it.

If anyone knows of another alternative in that price range, pls. let us know.

Thank you


Michelle

Ouch!

Sorry to hear of your bad experience, Michelle.

I've no experience with USAepay and probably will never need them. As far as aMember itself goes, I've (temporarily) abandoned it. Too many exploits and attacks on a daily basis to deal with. Alex says is not an issue if aMember is configured properly.

I do know in the past he responded quickly to every issue I've ever brought to his attention. Longest was one day. Most replies were like in an hour or so.

Still, if it wasn't for spammers constantly looking for new ways to exploit the admin privileges I'd still have the software sitting on my domain. I guess next time I need the software I will just pay the $15 or $50 or whatever it is to have it installed and pre-configured for me. Until then it's deleted. No more risk of spammers exploiting aMember.

Another nice membership program is LFM2. Lots of similar function plus oto and some other internet features not part of the default installation of aMember. You can check it out here: Launch Formula marketing membership management script

Hope your issues are resolved soon.

Andre

Hi Andre,

Thank you for your quick response Nice suite btw.

Well I'm not sure that even a techie can figure some of his stuff out. I can tell you we aren't getting spammers, but we haven't had it launched that long. I hope we never do

I'm glad you got quick responses , at least someone has.

Now re: what you recommended, are you using that now?

Does Robert provide quick tech support & help one to install it?

For us it's a higher price, & I want to make sure it would be easy to install & has all the features we need before we even take one step further.

What does oto mean?

USAepay is a GREAT company. I know you don't need them, but I highly recommend them to anyone. Friendly, great customer service the majority of the time.

Thanks


Michelle