Listing Submission Works Without an Active Plan

General Memberships
1

Hi,

I was advised to move from the Paid Listings plugin to the Memberships plugin, but there’s one thing that I don’t understand about the user journey:

I use the JobHive theme, which has a Post a Job button in the top right corner.

If I switch off paid listings and activate memberships then that button is still there.

However, the button takes people to Add Details and then (because Paid Listings is deactivated) it allows them to submit for free. It doesn’t ask them to choose a Membership plan.

I understand that the journey could be the other way round:

  1. Buy a membership
  2. Add details and submit a job

What’s confusing me is what I’m supposed to do with that button in the top right.

Thanks

2

Hi @adamlangfordjones,

Sorry for the quick reply, but to sum up your questions:

  • By default, HivePress allows users to post ads for free - hence why you’re always seeing the Post a Job button.
  • It’s been a while since I transitioned from using Paid Listings to the Memberships extension myself, but I believe the user-flow somewhat changes between the two. I.e with Paid Listings, users create their listing then checkout, whereas with Memberships, users purchase a Membership before unlocking the ability to post an ad.
  • It might be easier to share a screenshot of how you’ve got any current plan(s) set up - especially, the restrictions sections.
  • If you’ve created a Membership plan, but users are still able to post a job for free, it sounds like you still need to restrict creating Listings under the associated Membership Plan’s settings.

I hope this helps!

Cheers,
Chris :victory_hand:

3

Thank you for the reply.

I suppose my confusion is this: If the memberships plan asks for payment before they submit a listing, shouldn’t the ‘Post a Job’ button change to link to the plans page instead of add details?

Currently, it goes to add details, so the user is in a completely different flow and they’re never presented with the option to choose a plan. They either see the paid listing packages, or if paid listings is uninstalled, it lets them post for free.

4

Hi @adamlangfordjones,

I believe the ‘post a job’ button has a smart-router built in, so depending on your account privileges, it can take you to different places.

E.g. if you’re an Admin or already have a Membership (with a Listing Submission amount), you wouldn’t see the Choose a Package page, you would end up on the Add Details page.

I’d recommend testing from a new non-Admin account to be sure of the flow.

Like I said previously, if you have the Memberships extension installed and users are able to post a listing for free, it sounds like you’ve not finished configuring your Plan(s) settings.

In your Memberships > Plans > [plan name] settings, ensure Submission Limit is equal to 1 or more. You can then try the listing creation flow as a new user, and you should find that you’re prompted to select a Membership Plan upon trying to post a job.

I hope this helps!

Cheers,
Chris :victory_hand:

1 Like
5

Thank you! I had set it up correctly, but I was testing it while logged in as admin. I tried with a new account and it’s working as expected.

Apologies for the confusion and thanks again.

2 Likes
6

No worries! Glad to hear you’ve got it resolved now.

Cheers,
Chris :victory_hand:

7

Hi,

I hope you had a relaxing weekend.

While the topic has already been resolved, I wanted to add a few notes that may be helpful.

If you’d like users or vendors to purchase a membership plan before performing any actions, and you have multiple plans with different restrictions (such as listing limits, message limits, featuring limits, etc.), you can create a dedicated Plans page by adding the Membership Plans block to a new page and then include this page in your header or footer menu: How to add plans page | Loom. This page will display all available plans.

When a vendor clicks the Post a Job button, they will only see plans that include a listing submission limit. This is intentional, as it keeps the flow clean and prevents users from seeing plans that are not relevant to the action they’re trying to perform.

Regarding the Post a Job button label, as Chris mentioned, the button serves multiple purposes. Depending on the user’s status, it may redirect them to complete their vendor profile, prompt them to purchase a membership plan, or take them directly to the listing submission form. You can also configure category-specific plans, allowing vendors to post for free in some categories while requiring a paid plan in others. Because of these different scenarios, the button uses a generic label by default.

If you’d prefer a different label, you can change it using the Loco Translate plugin. Alternatively, if you’re comfortable with coding (or using AI tools), you could implement a code snippet that changes the button label dynamically based on the user’s role or whether the vendor already has an active membership plan.

Finally, if you decide to add additional membership plans in the future (not only for listing submissions), please make sure to test them using a regular user or vendor account. Administrator accounts bypass all membership restrictions by design.

I hope this helps clarify how the membership flow works.