Participation and PayPal

["Dave VanderWall" <dave@vanderwall.org>]

Hi,

I'm just proof-reading the brochure and got to the part about "credit
card payments cannot be accepted," which made me think of the PayPal
discussions, some of which I believe occurred off-list (probably my
fault).

Is PayPal not going to be accepted this year?  Someone should just say
so, rather than quietly ignoring it.  I have a PayPal account and would
be willing to test things out with the party receiving the funds, which
probably isn't even an issue.

Maybe one of the problems here is that Erik is expected to do almost
everything.  I think he enjoys it, don't get me wrong.  But Erik is
doing all of the scanning, receiving all of the checks and postal money
orders, doing all of the web programming/re-programming, testing,
shepherding, graphics, etc., etc., etc.  No offense to James (or myself)
here, just that we all know and accept that Erik is a busy man who still
finds time to make it all happen.

I would be willing to accept the PayPal payments, but I'm not sure how
comfortable that would be for all parties involved.  I would not take
any offense if I was rejected in favor of someone closer to the
organization.  Who, though?

Participation should go up somewhat proportional to the ease of access,
and PayPal is one of those little details that might get someone to
participate who wouldn't ordinarily go down to the post office to get a
money order.  PayPal is international.  Since cost would probably go
down as participation goes up (at the $5 US charge), things like the 1%
fee that PayPal collects for international users should be negligible.
Here's how it breaks down:

$5 to start
2.9% + 30¢ PayPal fee (US/Canadian) = 45¢
+ 1% for international users = 50¢

So the $5 turns into $4.50 at the worst.  Someone correct me that looks
wrong.  I'm basing this off of having a Premier or Business account, not
a personal account.  A personal account would be free (or just the 1%
fee for international users), but I'm not sure it would be entirely
ethical since this isn't really a "personal" thing we're doing here.  I
suppose one could argue either way.

So is it worth 50 cents per entry for more participation, or is there
something to be said for quality versus quantity?  I trust we are no
longer fearful of exceeding the 300 entry limit, but we should really be
shooting for it all the same.  I know everyone is busy, but can't we
find some time to make this happen?  If the AGA (or even just the
contest) was set up with PayPal we could start accepting credit cards,
which makes things easier and gives even more access to folks.  Perhaps
the real issue here is that Erik would be the most logical choice to be
the payee, and I know Erik is very busy and already responsible for a
boatload of other things.

Sorry for talking about you in the third person, Erik. :-)  I just
wanted to re-state my point here along with some of the details.  Tell
me to shut up any time, because I'm probably just making more work for
you. :-)


Thanks,

Dave VanderWall

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