Variable Custom Client Fields?

[Razva]

Hello,

We're moving from HostBill to WHMCS and we found the first "road-bump". I cannot find any way to separate Companies from Private Persons. In EU we need to ask different information for Companies (VAT Number, Registration Number etc) compared with Private Persons (Personal ID etc). It doesn't makes any sense to ask the VAT Number from a Private Person...

Is there any way to make a difference between these two categories, when signing up?

Thanks,

Razvan

[Kian]

First you should ask yourself if you need to distinguish between these categories rigorously. If it is so, you have to integrate your WHMCS with VIES so that you can validate VAT Numbers and know with absolute precision if an intra-EU company is a company for real.

On the other hand you could consider companies the ones with Company Name set (or any other company-related field). Of course this approach is not so cool since some people fill Company Name with irrelevant stuff (eg. Nicknames, tags, brand name, with "No" etc.).

Alternatively you could create a Client Custom Field (a drop down with 2 options - Private, Company - and make it Mandatory) so that people can specify it when they register. Once again this approach is not so good since is based on user input. Can you trust them? 

[Razva]

Yes, we're making VAT VIES validation via the "VAT Plugin" (hopefully it'll work).

The problem is not about trust, but about the user experience. Asking unnecessary and irrelevant questions on first contact is a really bad idea. Signup forms are one of the most common "mental roadblocks" when enrolling a new client, so we need to do our best and ask only what is relevant for us and for the client.

To put it simple, WHMCS doesn't has any way of differentiating Businesses from Private Persons? Because that's one of the oldest tricks in the books.

Later edit: I see no way of translating the inputs done in "Select Options" for the Dropdown?

Edited September 26, 2018 by Razva

[Kian]

I suggest you to wait for other opinions. I'm a little bit biased.

For me there isn't a clear distinction. I mean there isn't a single value that says "Hey, this client is a company 100% guaranteed". You have to find it indirectly according to what settings/fields you are using. Even filtering just companies is not possible from admin interface. You have to play with queries in database.