"Domain already registered" error when using existing domain for a service

[splaquet]

I went in to add GSuite to one of my client's accounts, just the same way as I've always done it.  The only difference since the last one is the upgrade to the latest WHMCS version.

I unchecked "Block Existing Domains" in General Settings > Ordering ... & saved

That allowed me to place the order... but, I'm pretty sure this is a glitch in the latest software.

 

[brian!]

On 04/06/2020 at 18:26, splaquet said:

That allowed me to place the order... but, I'm pretty sure this is a glitch in the latest software.

I think it's pretty much intended behaviour that if BED is enabled, the cart blocks additional orders using that domain.

[splaquet]

soooo... are you saying that it's never worked correctly, and was recently updated and fixed?

i might be mistaken, but i assumed that the BED feature was to prefect people from purchasing/registering domains that were already in use.

out of curiousity, do you have BED enabled or disabled?  and if it's enabled, how do your customers purchase hosting packages, if their domains have already been purchased (elsewhere or locally)?

[brian!]

14 hours ago, splaquet said:

soooo... are you saying that it's never worked correctly, and was recently updated and fixed?

ooh you're in the realms of pondering what WHMCS considers to be working "correctly" here.... danger - quicksand ahead. ⚠️

14 hours ago, splaquet said:

i might be mistaken, but i assumed that the BED feature was to prevent people from purchasing/registering domains that were already in use.

I think that can be considered a side effect of the feature - but whois and other methods should really be preventing registered domains from being found anyway without the need for this.

primarily, BED has been  used for the purpose specified in the docs - https://docs.whmcs.com/Ordering_Tab#Block_Existing_Domains

Quote

Enabling prevents visitors mistakenly or maliciously ordering a new product with a domain name that is already pending, active or suspended in your system.

I believe that recent changes to this feature have focused mainly on the output error messaging rather than the underlying functionality (which I don't believe has changed).... the error messages previously showed for this were often confusing and not relevant to the cause of the error (still not a unique occurrence in WHMCS).

15 hours ago, splaquet said:

out of curiosity, do you have BED enabled or disabled?

I stopped using WHMCS commercially, back in March 2019, when I sold two of my web hosting brands - but my recollection was that we had the featured disabled on the understanding that any issues could be dealt with after ordering... I cant recall too many incidents if i'm honest.

15 hours ago, splaquet said:

and if it's enabled, how do your customers purchase hosting packages, if their domains have already been purchased (elsewhere or locally)?

I think perhaps you're misunderstanding what the feature does - it's not there to prevent the user from adding hosting to an existing domain (with no hosting) in WHMCS, it's to prevent them attempting to add hosting (or whatever) to a domain that already has hosting/service linked to it in WHMCS.

effectively, I think the feature is just running a query on the current domain in the tblhosting database table and seeing if an entry for it already exists with one of the specified statuses.

in other words, with BED enabled, if someone tries to use a domain that already has a hosting product assigned to it in the database (with a relevant status), then the user will get the error message below...

$_LANG['ordererrordomainalreadyexists'] = "The domain you entered is already registered with us - you will need to cancel it prior to placing a new order";

if you were to do the same with a domain that is parked, e.g it's in the tbldomains table in WHMCS (or even if it's not), and is not associated with any product in the database (so not in tblhosting), then the cart wouldn't prevent a user from using that domain as an existing domain and adding a service to it.... so as long as the domain doesn't having a service attached to it, the client can add it as an existing domain during ordering.

I hope that makes sense ?