Automatic MarketConnect Account Registration

[zomex]

Automatic MarketConnect Account Registration:
If your install isn't linked to a Marketplace account, 9.1 now attempts to create one during upgrade, with a starter credit applied.

WHMCS has now reached a this point. I'm sure the community cannot wait for this highly requested feature. 🤣

it's clear that WHMCS is now at the stage of milking the software and community as much as possible. 

 

[bear]

Was coming here to ask. I don't want one, ever, as I will not use it. I'd imagine at some point this will simply show up on customer facing pages and someone will want something from it, forcing us to develop a hook to vanish it.
Stop removing choice, WHMCS. This is NOT ok. 

Edited October 7 by bear

[zomex]

38 minutes ago, bear said:

Was coming here to ask. I don't want one, ever, as I will not use it. I'd imagine at some point this will simply show up on customer facing pages and someone will want something from it, forcing us to develop a hook to vanish it.
Stop removing choice, WHMCS. This is NOT ok. 

I think WHMCS are in and have been for a while the stage of milking the software for us much short term gain as possible at the cost of the long term community and direction.

I think the reality is the small hosting industry as a whole is in major decline and WHMCS are seeing the same decline so they are now just milking it dry. A bit depressing but with the rise of Wix, AI generated websites/hosting, Shopify etc the decline is going to continue.

[slim]

I don’t use market connect either - and have no plan to do so. 

[WHMCS Minal]

Hi all,

Thanks for the candid feedback. The beta is a chance for us to hear your feedback before release.

First, the thing we most want to be clear about: your client area is, and will stay, fully under your control. Nothing appears to your customers until you activate a service. What you offer, and whether you offer anything at all, is entirely your decision. Creating the account doesn’t start selling anything on your behalf. The account creation step is no longer optional. We are enabling one connected account and one place to manage the products WHMCS can offer, instead of a setup that differs from install to install.

Every account also gets a $50 credit. It’s there so you can try a product without having to commit any money to it first. We also know that busy admins often never come across new options, so this puts them within easy reach.

We’d welcome your thoughts on the credit and how it’s presented, and on anything else in the 9.1 beta. Every comment helps us make the release better.

Thanks again!

[Damo]

53 minutes ago, WHMCS Minal said:

The account creation step is no longer optional

So you're disregarding the candid feedback, why bother seek it?

Will there be a way to close this automatically created account and disconnect from the service? 
 

53 minutes ago, WHMCS Minal said:

Every account also gets a $50 credit. It’s there so you can try a product without having to commit any money to it first. We also know that busy admins often never come across new options, so this puts them within easy reach.

The credit is useless for any business that does not want to use anything from MarketConnect. Also, $50 is token at best. 
 

You're correct about busy admins but present this as an option during the update install. We all focus during an update. Options like, Yes, No, Remind me later, are sensible and provide admins the choice. 

Edited October 12 by Damo

[bear]

Totally agree with Damo. Making this mandatory is ignoring the feedback that force feeding optionless elements is unacceptable. 
As for it not appearing unless we offer it? I've had to hide such things in the past, with Weebly, and a few others. They just appeared, both in the back end and customer facing pages as well as within cPanel. 
Stop it, seriously. 

[GenShift]

My concern is less the feature itself and more how it is done.

Creating a Marketplace account automatically during an upgrade, with a credit applied, means a third-party account is being created on behalf of the license owner without them clicking anything. For many of us, upgrades run on production systems, sometimes with several people involved, and some providers have rules on what information can be shared with outside services.

A few questions that I think the WHMCS team should answer clearly:
- Is there an opt-out or a confirmation step before the account is created?
- What exact data (email, domain, license details) is sent to create it?
- Is the account tied to a person or to the license, and what happens to it if we do not want it?

If this is opt-in with a clear screen and a plain explanation, it is a convenience. If it happens silently, it is just another reason for people to distrust upgrades, especially with unattended updates coming in 9.1.

[Damo]

My bet is that it will be in the EULA you have to accept before being able to complete the install.  

Marketplace is owned by WHMCS Ltd so it's not actually a third party.

[carlpeeter32]

I'm with GenShift and Damo on this one. The MarketConnect upsell itself isn't the problem — automatic account creation during an upgrade without a clear confirmation screen is. Plenty of us run locked-down or compliance-sensitive installs where a new account getting spun up quietly is exactly what we don't want. Make it opt-in with a proper explanation screen and the $50 credit becomes a nice touch instead of a red flag.

[Damo]

Something like the WHM new feature settings. Allow us to enable it or continue and enable it later. 

[bear]

1 hour ago, Damo said:

Something like the WHM new feature settings. Allow us to enable it or continue and enable it later. 

There have been a number of those in WHM that have automatically enabled the new thing and the screen is just telling you it's done. "Save settings" is the only choice, and you have to go digging to hide/remove it.

[WHMCS John]

Hi all,

I'm happy to provide some details which you will see in the beta today.

Upon upgrade to 9.1 a Full Administarator will be prompted to accept the updated EULA - with a prominent summary of what's changed.

Nothing happens without accepting the EULA and junior roles cannot accept it.

Accepting creates a MarketConnect account for this installation using the  name and email address of the Full Administrator and the Company Name from System Setting and confirms your agreement to the WHMCS Marketplace Terms of Service.

Accepting does not purchase or activate anything, you choose any products yourself. No data is transmitted to a third party until your first non-Webpros service is ordered and provisioned.

[zomex]

Amazing John you managed to replay our concerns, confirm it is indeed true and convince or lie to yourself that it's a community driven feature in high demand 😄 You're a smart guy, there's no way you truly believe any user wants this. It's simply a desperate implementation to please share holders.

It's a real shame what has come of WHMCS. It is simply a cash cow now, being milked for every oz of money at the cost of your community.

Edited 1 hour ago by zomex

[zomex]

"It's ok juniors can't accept the EULA".

Fantastic, so the global admin is forced to accept it, it's almost as if this thread is against that exact thing.

Quote

If the WHMCS End User License Agreement (EULA) hasn't been accepted after an update, WHMCS will generally prevent administrators from proceeding into the Admin Area until the agreement is accepted.

 

[bear]

24 minutes ago, WHMCS John said:

Nothing happens without accepting the EULA and junior roles cannot accept it.

Oh hell, I misread that, so editing in full. Not accepting the EULA generally halts the upgrade in most software. This means we MUST accept to upgrade, and doing so creates the marketplace account? Read the room, John. No one asked for this, no one other than your company/Webpros and so on want it. 
Bad thing to force. 

Edited 1 hour ago by bear