Ok, thanks for that clarification. Our membership dues are oddly based on annual gross income of the member, so subscriptions won't work too well -- members might need to adjust the dues they are paying on a yearly basis.
I think I am back to using a non-expiring member levels, and then moving members to a Former Member group either manually at years end, or automatically with the Auto-Upgrade feature. If I take this route though, will I need to create new member levels every year? And then adjust the eStore button(s) to point to these new levels? I keep thinking there might be a way to re-use membership levels to minimize admin management time. The fact that some members might want to pay their dues prior to current dues expiring though has me thinking admins will need to be involved every year.
Here is what I'm thinking:
Create Membership 2012 level
Create Former Member level
At end of year, move all Membership 2012 members to Former Member
Create Membership 2013 level
Create new eStore buy now buttons for new levels
Rinse and Repeat
Or is it possible to mark everyone in the 2012 level as expired at year's end? Then perhaps I wouldn't need to Former Member group.
Sorry so many questions invading my brain!