Bug with “Subscribe everyone”

Hi again. I asked ChatGPT to help me debug the issue and it came back with the following. Makes sense, I hope it helps:

In include/class-woo-emailoctopus-integration.php, the method that actually sends customers to EmailOctopus is:

public function add_subscriber_callback( $order_id, $old_status, $new_status )

That method runs whenever an order status changes to processing or completed. It checks a post meta flag to avoid double-subscribing, and it adds a “newsletter” tag if the checkbox was ticked—but it never bails out when the checkbox is not ticked and “Subscribe everyone” is turned off. In other words, it proceeds to subscribe every customer once the order hits processing/completed.

You can see the breadcrumbs in the code:

• Checkout stores a meta flag:
  • If the checkbox is ticked, it sets fweo_emailoctopus_subscribed = 'checked'.
  • If “Subscribe everyone” is on, it sets fweo_emailoctopus_subscribed = 'all'.
  • If the checkbox is not ticked and “Subscribe everyone” is off, it sets nothing (empty).
• Later, add_subscriber_callback() always tries to subscribe on status change; it only uses that meta to (a) stop re-subscribing if already 'subscribed', and (b) add the “newsletter” tag if it was checked. There’s no guard like “only run if checked OR subscribe-everyone is on”.

It also gave me the following snippet as a work around:

// Block auto-subscribe for customers who did NOT opt in, without editing the plugin.
add_action('woocommerce_checkout_update_order_meta', function($order_id) {
// Read the plugin’s settings
$settings = get_option('woocommerce_fws-woo-emailoctopus_settings');
$subscribe_everyone = isset($settings['em_store_all_customers']) && $settings['em_store_all_customers'] === 'yes';

// What the plugin stored at checkout:
//  - 'checked'  → user ticked the box
//  - 'all'      → "subscribe everyone" mode
//  - ''/missing → user did NOT tick the box
$flag = get_post_meta($order_id, 'fweo_emailoctopus_subscribed', true);

// If "subscribe everyone" is OFF and the user did NOT tick the box,
// set the sentinel value the plugin treats as "already handled"
if (!$subscribe_everyone && $flag !== 'checked') {
    update_post_meta($order_id, 'fweo_emailoctopus_subscribed', 'subscribed');
}
}, 9999); // run AFTER the plugin sets its own meta

• This reply was modified 1 month, 3 weeks ago by Sam.

Thanks. Also, I noticed that the “work around” that ChatGPT gave does work for the orders placed on the front end, but does not work for orders created via the Woo API, these are still automatically added to the contacts list. This is a problem is we use Woo to manage orders from marketplaces such as ebay and amazon (which is common).

Hi Olaf, we don’t. If we are creating orders from marketplaces you are not allowed to to send marketing emails so they just stay as unsubscribed by default. Essentially, customers should only be subscribed if they checkout via woo and your checkbox is selected.