Restrict Who Can Buy An Appointment Pass
Overview
This guide explains how studios can control who is able to buy an Appointment Pass.
Use it when you want to:
Sell an Appointment Pass only to new members
Stop selling an Appointment Pass without deleting it
Restrict Appointment Pass sales to a member category (member-tag restrictions)
What You Can Control
An Appointment Pass can be blocked from purchase when:
It isn't listed on the member areas (visibility)
It has reached its expiration date (validity)
It is limited to new members only and the member already bought a pass before
It uses allowed tags or blocked tags to limit which members are eligible to buy
This means studios can manage both general sale rules and member-segment rules directly on the Appointment Pass.
Common Use Cases
1. Sell only to new members
Use the new-member-only setting when you want to keep an offer reserved for first-time buyers.
This is useful for launch offers, discovery offers, or introductory pricing that should not stay available once a member has already purchased a pass.
What happens:
New members can still buy the Appointment Pass
Existing members who already bought a pass cannot buy it
The restriction applies at purchase time, so the same Appointment Pass can still stay visible in your setup even if some members are no longer eligible
In practice:
Use this when the goal is to attract first purchases, not to reward repeat buyers
Test with one profile that has never bought a pass and one profile that already has purchase history
2. Stop future sales
Make the Appointment Pass unavailable when you want to stop selling it without deleting the setup.
This is useful when you are replacing an offer, pausing sales temporarily, or keeping an old product for reporting and history while moving members to a new one.
What happens:
Members cannot buy it anymore
This does not remove Appointment Passes already owned by members
The Appointment Pass configuration stays in place, so you can review it or make it available again later if needed
In practice:
Use this when you want a clean stop to new purchases without affecting existing members
This is usually the safest option when you are updating your catalog and do not want to lose the original product setup
3. Stop sales after a specific date
Use the expiration date when you want sales to end automatically on a known date.
This is useful for seasonal offers, limited campaigns, early-bird pricing, or products that should only be sold during a fixed period.
What happens:
Members can buy until that date
After that date, checkout is blocked
You do not need to manually switch the Appointment Pass off on the end date for the sale restriction to apply
In practice:
Use this when you already know when the offer should end
Check the date carefully before publishing so members are not blocked earlier than expected
4. Restrict purchase to a member segment
If your Appointment Pass uses allowed tags or blocked tags (whitelist / blacklist), you can restrict who is eligible to buy it.
This is useful when you want to sell differently to different groups of members. For example, you may want:
Early access for VIP members
A product reserved for premium members
A product hidden from members with a specific status or profile
There are two main ways this works:
Allowed tags (Available field): only members with at least one of the selected tags can buy
Blocked tags (Not Available field): members with one of the selected tags cannot buy
You can think of it as an eligibility filter at purchase time. The system checks the member profile against the rules set on the Appointment Pass before allowing checkout to continue.
What happens:
Members with the right tags can buy
Members outside the allowed group, or inside the blocked group, can be prevented from buying
In practice:
If you use allowed tags, members who do not match those tags will not be eligible
If you use blocked tags, matching members will be excluded even if the product is otherwise available
If you use both, the member must be in the allowed group and not in the blocked group
If the Appointment Pass is sold inside a Pack, the Appointment Pass restriction still applies there, meaning the Pack sale is blocked depending on the Appointment Pass restriction.
Before using this setup, it is a good idea to test with a few real member profiles so you can confirm the result matches the segment you want to target.
What Happens In A Pack
If an Appointment Pass is included in a Pack:
The Pack must be available for sale
Each included item must pass its own purchase checks
The Appointment Pass inside the Pack still applies its own purchase checks, including allowed tags or blocked tags
Another restricted item inside the Pack can also block the whole Pack purchase
In short:
A Pack can still be bought if all included items are eligible
A Pack can be blocked if one included item fails its own purchase rules
Before You Publish
Test the setup with a few simple cases:
A new member
An existing member
A member who should be allowed
A member who should be blocked
This is especially important if the Appointment Pass is sold through a Pack.
FAQ
Q: Can I stop selling an Appointment Pass without deleting it?
A: Yes. Make it unavailable for sale.Q: Can I reserve an Appointment Pass for new members?
A: Yes. Use the new-member-only setting.Q: Can a member still buy a Pack that contains an Appointment Pass?
A: Yes, if the Pack and all included items pass their own purchase rules.Q: Why can one member buy and another cannot?
A: The difference usually comes from sale availability, expiration, new-member-only rules, or allowed-tag and blocked-tag restrictions on the Appointment Pass or another item in the Pack.