Renewing & Upgrading Your License: A Guide

Big news for existing customers: last week we debuted our new shopping cart system, which included a license renewal / upgrade component that should make your lives substantially easier.

The renewal functionality will allow you to renew a license that has expired or is in danger of doing so, without having to contact Modern Tribe directly for a renewal coupon. The upgrade feature gives users the ability to upgrade from one license type to a more robust option that supports more sites (ie, Personal -> Developer). There’s a quick overview of how these work after the jump.

Renewing A License

With the new system, you’ll know you’ve got an expired license from the moment you log in to tri.be. The blue banner across the top says it all:

Click the link for the license key you want to renew. (If you don’t want to deal with your renewal at this time, just click the “X” on the right-hand side of the alert and it’ll hide for the rest of your browsing session.) You’ll be taken to the License Keys page. To the right of your license key itself, for every plugin you’ve purchased, you’ll see a blue “Renew License” button:

Hitting this button adds a renewal of your existing license to the cart, offered at a 30% discount off the initial purchase price. If you have a discount coupon — discount coupons will work just as well on renewals as they do fresh purchases, except when specified — apply it before proceeding to checkout.

Follow the order process as if you were buying a new plugin; it is virtually identical from here forward. Once you’ve entered your credit card details and completed payment, return to the License Keys page. You will find that the date on your renewed license is 1 year ahead of where it was previously, and the update alert atop the page doesn’t show anymore for the license you’ve renewed:

It’s worth noting that any license — regardless of whether it’s a week old or a year old — can be renewed. (Only expired licenses in need of renewal will show in the blue warning bar pictured above, though). Renewal extends the license by 1 year from the date of original expiration, not from the date the renewal was purchased. Users have full access to support and updates for the duration of that year.

Upgrading A License

Upgrading a license allows you to go from one license variation to another. For example: if you own a Business license for Events Calendar PRO, you are entitled to updates & support for 3 site running the plugin. You may decide after a few months that you like using the plugin on client work, and would like to have it for future projects (yeah!). The Developer license, you’ve decided — with updates and support for 10 sites instead of 3 — would better meet your needs. Luckily, with our new upgrade feature, you can make the jump seamlessly and without having to buy a second license or reach out to Modern Tribe for an upgrade coupon.

The first step is to log in and navigate to Account Central -> License Keys. When you get there, look just beneath the Renew License button and you’ll see links for any license types to which upgrades are available:

In the screenshot above, you’ll notice “Developer” is the only upgrade type available. This is because you already have a Business license, which is one step below a Developer license. Were you running a Personal license (two steps below a Developer license and one step below a Business license), you’d have options to upgrade to either Developer or Business.

Click the link and you’ll be taken to your shopping cart, where the upgrade has been added. Upgrades cost the price difference between your existing license type and the type you’re upgrading to; for example, if you’re upgrading from a Business license (which costs $100) to a Developer licenses (which costs $250), you’ll owe $150. Apply any coupons you’ve got, proceed to checkout and complete the order process.

When your order is complete, head back to your License Keys. You’ll notice that the license type has been upgraded, and the links below the Renew License button have updated (or disappeared if you’ve just upgraded to a Developer license):

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We hope this walkthrough helped explain how renewal & upgrades work, and that you find the services useful as you continue using our plugins. If you have any questions on the process or encounter problems, please do reach out and we’ll do our best to get you sorted.