[thelist] How Would You Solve This? (Was: Um--Newsletter/Subscription Management)

[Gina K. Anderson]

Hi all,

Since I haven't gotten any responses on an out-of-the-box solution for this one
(don't know if there is such an animal anyway), I'm going to ask how you would
solve this scenario for a client.

Basically, client wants to sell subscriptions to her electronic newsletter.
Customer can buy a six month subscription or a year subscription. How can client
manage customerA, who signed up in January with a six month subscription,
CustomerB who signed up in January with a year subscription, and CustomerC whose
subscription has expired?

Most newsletter programs out there don't have support for fee-based or
time-based subscriptions (or are they out there somewhere?)-- So when client
sends out the newsletter, client will have to check who still has a valid
subscription--and this would be done weekly. If client gets alot of subscribers,
this might be quite a mess.

So, barring a custom script which isn't in the budget, how would you set this up
for the client?

Thanks for any input,
Gina