Epoch
Article Topics: Billers, Cross Sales, Up Sales, One Click Systems
Warning: Usernames and passwords that begin with any of the following characters will stop the signup process through Epoch and NATS will instead cascade to the next biller: ; = ? ~ - [ ] ^ _ ` } ! # $ % \ ( ) * + , . / : " & < > { |
Set up on Epoch Website
Before you can begin configuring Epoch as a biller in NATS, you must first register a merchant account with them. This can be done through their website at https://www.epoch.com/. Make sure to record your Company Account Code, Master Code, and Salt String while registering.
Set up your site on Epoch's website or send them an e-mail using their support form. In either case, you must give Epoch the following information:
Site Name: Your site name.
Pricing Options: List all pricing options you want Epoch to set up. They will send you product codes for each one.
Postback URL: https://linkdomain/signup/process_epoch.php
Please note to use 'https' if using SSL on your linkdomains
Replace linkdomain in the above example with your linkdomain. Record your Epoch Product Code for each site.
If you use an .htaccess password file and need Epoch to add and remove logins to it, you also need to give them the following information:
Password File Path: The path to your password file on the server.
Password Script URL: The URL of the epoch password script located on the same server as the site.
If you use mod_auth_dbd for access verification, you also need to give them the following information. (Please use this method if possible.)
Password File Path: Tell them to set this to your NATS site ID number
Password Script URL: https://linkdomain/signup/passwd_epoch.php
Please ask Epoch to enable x_* variables for CHECK command. (This needs to be done for check username to work.)
Replace linkdomain with your linkdomain.
Set up DataPlus
You MUST set up DataPlus. If you don't, Epoch can't tell NATS about rebills, credits, or chargebacks.
Database Permissions
There are two tables in the NATS database for Epoch's DataPlus: EpochTransStats and MemberCancelStats. You need to create a user in MySQL coming from Epoch's IP range and grant that user insert and select privileges on the above two tables. Do that by logging into MySQL with root privileges and executing the following commands:
grant insert, select on <database>.EpochTransStats to <username>@'<IP Address Range>' identified by '<password>';
grant insert, select on <database>.MemberCancelStats to <username>@'<IP Address Range>' identified by '<password>';
flush privileges;Replace <database> with the name of your NATS database. Replace <username> is the username for the Epoch user you are creating. Replace <password> with the password for the Epoch user you are creating. Ask Epoch for their IP address range and replace <IP Address Range> with that range.
Email the username and password you created, along with the NATS database name and IP address to Epoch, and ask them to turn on DataPlus on both tables.
NATS EpochTransStats table has the following optional database columns. If Epoch is not already writing data for these columns, please contact Epoch and request that Epoch populate these fields as part of the Data Plus integration:
ets_initial_member
ets_return_type
ets_test
ets_prepaid
ets_subscription_passthrough1
ets_subscription_passthrough2
ets_subscription_passthrough3
ets_subscription_passthrough4
ets_subscription_passthrough5
Setting Up Epoch in NATS
Billers Admin
To begin setting up Epoch as a biller in NATS, go to the Billers Admin. Click the "Add a Biller" button at the top right of the page and select "Epoch Systems" from the drop-down menu, and click "Add."
When prompted, fill in the Company Code that was provided to you by Epoch under the "Account Info" section. If you were not provided with this information, please contact your biller to receive it.
Learn more about adding Billers in our Setting up a Biller in NATS article.
Sites Admin
Next, go to the Sites Admin, create or select a site, select a tour, and navigate to the Billers Tab. Edit any of the optional "EPOCH" settings available here -- these affect how certain elements on the Epoch join form appear to your members.
The settings on this page include:
No UserPass - Disables Epoch password management @CHECK
EmailPlus Template - The template to display for Email Plus
Retry Count - The Number of times a surfer can retry the Epoch join form before being denied.
Text Color - The HTML Color for the main text on the Epoch join form. This should be in hex format.
Background Color - The HTML Color for the main background on the Epoch join form. This should be in hex format.
Link Color - The HTML Color for links on the Epoch join form. This should be in hex format.
Error Text Color - The HTML color for links on the Epoch join form. This should be in hex format.
EZClick Background Color - The HTML Color for the main background of the EZClick Table if present. This should be in hex format.
EZClick Text Color - The HTML Color for the main text of the EZClick Table if present. This should be in hex format.
EZClick Title Background Color - The HTML Color for the header background of the EZClick Table (if present). This should be in hex format.
EZClick Title Text Color - The HTML Color for the header text of the EZClick Table (if present). This should be in hex format.
Top Images - Used when a client would like to personalize their join forms a bit more. These cannot contain images of models or any other copyrighted material. They're usually just the site logo.
EmailPlus Template
No UserPass
Enable Test or Staging Mode - Enable Epoch Test or Staging Mode
Test Mode Allow IPS - Restrict Epoch Test Mode to specific IP address(es)
Display All options - Display all NATS configured options on the Epoch join page
Join Options
Once you have done this, navigate back to the Site Overview and select the Join Option Tab. Edit or create a new Join Option.
In the "Biller Codes" section, locate the EPOCH Product Code and EPOCH List (optional) fields and enter your Product Code and List (optional).
Additionally, you may wish to edit/add any additional rules to allow this option to show on your join page.
For a more in-depth guide on setting up a site in NATS, view our Basic Site Setup article.
Cross Sales
Epoch also supports cross-sale transactions through NATS. In order to process cross-sale transactions, however, you will first have to set them up with Epoch. Please contact Epoch for assistance with this.
To set up cross-sales in NATS, go to the Cross/Up Sales Admin and click Incoming or Outgoing cross-sales from the navigation tabs at the top of the page (depending on whether you are receiving or sending the cross-sale).
Sending Cross-Sale
If you are sending a cross-sale to another site, go to the "Outgoing Cross Sales" page. Add "EPOCH" from the "Biller" drop-down menu, and then click Add New Option. On the next page, you will be prompted to fill in the Title, Description, and Disclaimer for your cross-sale option.
You will then need to fill out the Biller Info for your cross-sale, which should have been provided to you by Epoch. Fill in your Offer Code, Offer Ref 1, and Offer Ref 2 here, where the Offer Code is the PO Code provided by Epoch and the Offer Ref 1 is the default NATS code provided by another affiliate program. Choose whether you want the option to be "Tangible" or not, and save your changes.
Receiving Cross Sale
If you are receiving the cross-sale, go to the "Incoming Cross Sales" page. Add "EPOCH" from the "Biller" drop-down menu and click Add New Option. When prompted, choose the site and program you want to associate with the cross-sale.
Under "Details," fill in the title of your cross-sale option, the initial membership fee and length, and the recurring fee and length. Finally, fill in your Offer Code and Product Code that you received from Epoch/Paycom in the "Biller Info" section, where the Offer Code is the PO Code from Epoch and the Product Code is the PI Code from Epoch. Finally, click Save Changes.
Bundle Cross Sale
If you want to set up Cross Sale like a bundle Cross Sale options, you will need to enable the "Epoch shopping cart api" checkbox, and you will be required to enter the "Product Code for Offer Ref 1" or "Product Code for Offer Ref 2" in order to use this feature.
EZClick
Epoch's EZClick lets you add special offers to your epoch join forms which can make you extra money. NATS lets you to put EZClicks on your join forms and also lets you let others use EZClicks on their join forms to cross-sell one of your products.
To add an EZClick to one of your join forms, you must click the cross-sells icon in the option's code row the EZClick should appear on. There, you can simply add EZClicks you have setup previously.
To set up new EZClicks, use the same icon located on the very bottom of each page (Cross Sell Admin) with all the other Admin icons. There, you can add and edit cross-sells for all supported billers.
To offer one or more of your products to others as EZClicks, contact [email protected] and tell them to set up a new EZClick. Give them the product code or codes (you may set up an EZClick with 2 offers) and tell them to pre-check them or not.
Now you have to set up Incoming Cross-Sells via the Cross-Sell Admin. This is explained on the Cross-Sell Admin page directly.
One Click Systems
Package Plus
The Epoch Flexgrade functionality has been added to NATS after version 4.1.4.1.
Within NATS, this is called Package Plus integration. This feature allows you to offer your members incentives to upgrade their memberships to a higher tier in your Members Area.
For more information on Package Plus, see our "Package Plus" page.
NATS uses the option level field "Package TI Code" (Epoch: ti_code) that correlates to the specific package on Epoch's side.
The "Package Amount" (Epoch: upgrade_charge) field is available depending on your setup (refer to Epoch)
Upgrade Plus
Epoch UpgradePlus lets you shorten a Member's Trial by offering them incentives to upgrade in your Members Area. Most users do this by offering them two separate Members Areas. One for members who are only in their Trial Phase, giving them only a limited amount of content, and a separate one that gives access to the full content for people who paid for the full month.
There are two ways to use this system:
MySQL Auth: If you use MySQL Auth in your Server to authenticate members using the NATS members table you can add an additional check to see if a member is in their trial or full membership and give them the right access, respectively.
Your own System: You could also use the Site's Upgrade Post URL you can set up via the NATS Site Admin to receive upgrade notifications to your own scripts. Your scripts would then mark the member in a way that you can figure out what to give them access to. We can not help you with setting up such a script.
To use Upgrade Plus on your site, you give the following link to your users in order to upgrade them:
https://<linkdomain>/signup/upgradeplus.php?site=<siteid>&username=<username>While the returnurl variable needs to be set to the following URL:
https://<linkdomain>/signup/returnurl_epoch_upgradeplus.phpSimply replace <linkdomain> with the site's linkdomain. Replace <siteid> with the site's number and replace <username> with the upgrading user's username.
To learn more, see the Upgrade Plus article.
Token Plus
Epoch now offers support for the Token Plus feature in NATS. This feature allows members of your Token Sites to purchase additional tokens for their account, without requiring them to re-enter their payment information to do so. This allows your members to easily buy additional tokens without having to go through any extra steps.
Before you can begin configuring Epoch to work with the Token Plus feature, you must first enable it for the sites you want to offer it on in the Sites Admin. Go to the Sites Admin, locate the Token Site that you want to enable this feature on, and click the "Set Join Options" action icon. Edit the join option that you want to enable Token Plus for, then check the "Token Rebuy Allowed" setting here.
For more information on this process, please see our "Token Plus" page.
Up Sales
NATS supports Upsells with Epoch through the MemberPlus system.
To learn more about setting up Up Sales, see our "Up Sales" page.
Epoch-specific data is listed below:
The following fields are required for an outgoing upsell:
Product Code - the Epoch pi code that you want to upsell
Partner Company Code - the company code of the receiving end of the upsell. This will be the same as your company code if you are sending and receiving the cross-sale under the same Epoch account.
Ref Code - the Nats ref code that is required to track the upsell.
The following fields are required for an incoming upsell:
Product Code - the product code that is assigned to this up sale.
Up Sales Plus
Epoch supports passing custom variables by adding the member_extra field to the UpsellPlus request. Ex. (&member_extra[<upsellid>][<customvariable>]=<customvalue>). This will allow you to send a custom variable to be stored on Epoch's end. This variable will not get recorded in NATS via the postback from Epoch.
If you would like to record additional information on the Upsell member record, we suggest using the subscription_passthrough 1-5 variables. An example of what would be added to your UpsellPlus URL:
&member_extra[0][subscription_passthrough1]=<customvalue>
Processing with PayPal via EPOCH
To process sales via the Epoch PayPal integration, you will want to create a PayPal cascade. Then, you need to add an Epoch biller cascade step by selecting Epoch from the Biller dropdown. Once selected, click the Add button. Once you have saved the first cascade step, NATS will display the cascade step in edit mode. From the processing Types dropdown, select PayPal. Then, click the Save button. Once the step is completely configured, you can edit the cascade description, which is used to display the payment option on your join forms. Finally, you will need to configure rule(s) for displaying this cascade to surfers.
Optional Epoch Configuration Settings
Epoch Expire Pad
NATS gives you the ability to set an expire padding specific to EPOCH. This can be set up in the Configuration Admin -> Biller tab.
Upgrading from No Cost Registration
If you are allowing No Cost Registration (NCR) members to upgrade to full memberships with Epoch, there is a configuration you will need to change. When setting up with Epoch, you must disable the "Check" username post with Epoch to prevent this check from occurring, or the surfer will not be able to submit the Epoch join form.
EPOCH ALLOW ALL CO CODE
This setting will allow NATS to record all transactions from unknown CO_Codes via the Epoch Poll script, if you wish to enable this config setting, please make sure the setting "ALLOW_CREATE_NEW_MEMBER_EPOCH" is DISABLED; if not, all transactions outside of NATS will generate new member records instead of updating the existing never-joined member record.
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