Beyond sending a product’s money to the right place, product setup controls who can buy it, how many they can buy, whether they can pay over time, and what happens after the purchase is complete. You use the same product editor for Finance & Billing products, such as miscellaneous and donation products, and for products sold through other Rhythm applications.
What It Controls
- Purchasing eligibility — limits who can buy the product.
- Purchase limits — caps how many units one customer can buy, either over all time or within a rolling window.
- Installment plans — lets a buyer pay for the product over time and controls which plan is selected by default.
- Automatic outcomes of a purchase: grants a Commerce entitlement, grants access to a file or folder in the buyer’s digital library, sends a confirmation email, generates coupon codes, and creates a follow-up task for staff.
Where to Find It
You’ll find these settings in the same product editor as financial setup. Open the create or edit form for the product, such as Finance & Billing › Setup › Miscellaneous Products › Create Miscellaneous Product. Other applications use the same editor on their own product forms, so a Membership package or Sponsorship add-on has the same eligibility, limits, and outcome sections in its setup.
Prerequisites
You need permission to open the product form you’re working from. These sections do not have a separate permission.
The Settings
| Setting | Options | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purchasing eligibility | Off; on with one or more criteria | Off | Only buyers who meet the criteria can buy the product |
| Purchase limits | Off; on with a maximum, a time period (all time or a rolling window), and an optional message | Off | Caps how many units one customer can buy |
| Installment plan choice | Off; on with one or more plans, one marked default | Off | Lets a buyer pay for this product over time instead of all at once |
| Commerce entitlements | Off; on with one or more entries, each with an entitlement type and expiration | Off | Automatically grants the buyer a Commerce entitlement, such as free registrations |
| Document entitlements | Off; on with one or more entries, each with a file cabinet and, optionally, a specific file or folder, plus an expiration | Off | Automatically gives the buyer access to a file, folder, or whole cabinet in their digital library |
| Confirmation email | Off; on, using either a shared email or a template written for this product | Off | Emails the buyer a confirmation when the product is ordered |
| Coupon code generation | Off; on with one or more entries, each with a coupon, single- or multi-use kind, generation process, and quantity up to 250 | Off | Automatically gives the buyer a batch of coupon codes |
| Task generation | Off; on with task fields | Off | Creates a follow-up task for staff whenever the product is purchased |
Restricting Who May Buy
Turn on purchasing eligibility when only certain buyers should be able to purchase the product. You build the rule from facts about the buyer, such as contact or organization attributes, using the same criteria editor Rhythm uses in other product settings. Only a buyer who meets the rule can complete the purchase.
Warning
Rhythm lets you turn on eligibility and save without adding criteria. When there is nothing to check, the rule does not restrict anyone, so review your criteria before you rely on this setting.
Capping How Many a Customer May Buy
Use purchase limits to cap how many units of the product one customer can buy. The cap can apply across all time or within a sliding window you choose, such as no more than two in any rolling twelve months. You can also write the message buyers see when they try to exceed the limit.
Warning
A purchase limit applies per customer only. This setting cannot cap purchases per organization or across all buyers combined.
Letting Buyers Pay in Installments
Turn this on when buyers should be able to choose an installment plan at the time of purchase. The buyer can choose from the plans you list here, and the plan you mark as default appears pre-selected. You set up the plans themselves on a separate configuration page.
What Happens When the Product Is Purchased
Four purchase outcomes can run automatically when an order for this product is complete. You turn each one on separately:
- Commerce entitlements — such as free registrations elsewhere in Rhythm — are granted using the entitlement type and expiration you choose for each entry.
- Document entitlements give the buyer access to a file cabinet, or to a specific file or folder within one, from the Documents application. Each entry has its own expiration.
- A confirmation email goes to the buyer. You can use a shared email that other products also use, or a template written specifically for this product. This email is sent in addition to the standard order confirmation email and any email your process sends, so the messages stack rather than replace each other. Because of that, use a product-level confirmation email sparingly: set up the email through your process configuration when you can, and turn one on here only when the process settings cannot give you the same result.
- Coupon codes are generated from the coupon you choose, up to 250 per purchase. They can be single-use or good for multiple uses, based on the generation process you select.
Warning
Creating a product only saves this configuration. Eligibility, limits, and purchase outcomes do not do anything until a real purchase completes.
Tip
If a product’s coupon-generation setting still uses a coupon, Rhythm does not stop you from deleting that coupon or warn you that the product still refers to it. Before you delete a coupon, check the purchase outcomes for any product that might use it.
Creating Follow-Up Tasks
Turn on task generation to create a task for staff whenever the product is purchased. Rhythm uses its shared task fields for the task. This is helpful when a purchase needs manual follow-up, such as a phone call or document review, that nothing else in Rhythm automates.
Dependencies and Precedence
- The installment plans you offer here must already exist, and you set them up separately.
- The coupon, coupon-generation process, file cabinet, entitlement type, and confirmation email or template you choose in these sections must already exist elsewhere in Rhythm before you can select them.
- These purchase rules and outcomes are independent of the product’s financial setup. You can configure either, both, or neither.
Change Impact and How to Revert
- Changing or removing eligibility, limits, or an outcome affects only purchases made after the change. It does not change completed purchases, and it does not reverse entitlements, emails, or coupons already granted.
- Turning off a section stops that section from running on future purchases. Anything it already granted, such as entitlements, document access, or coupon codes, stays with the buyer who received it.
Permissions
You need permission to create or edit the product itself. Eligibility, limits, and purchase outcomes do not have a separate permission.
Validation and Errors
If you turn on coupon code generation and enter a quantity above 250, Rhythm will not save the product. If you turn on an outcome section and leave required fields empty, such as an entitlement with no expiration or a confirmation email with no template chosen, Rhythm will not save until you fill them in. If you turn on a section but leave its list empty, such as an eligibility rule with no criteria, Rhythm saves the product and does not warn you that the section has no practical effect.