Re: Participation and PayPal

[David A Lass <davidlass@villasunscape.com>]

It's on my list to do -- but I won't get to it til 
the end of next week.
Hope that is soon enough.
David

---- Erik Olson <erik@thekrib.com> wrote:
> We DEFINITELY want to have PayPal as an option this 
year.  After going 
> through the pain to send money to other countries, 
it's clear that the 
> upcharge of 5-10% is miniscule compared to the $1+ 
international money 
> order charges.  At worst, we could up it to $5.50 
for Paypal, but I'd 
> suggest just eating the 50 cents.
> 
> David Lass, AGA treasurer, was going to look into 
this.  It will be very 
> easy for him to communicate back to me/us that 
payments were received 
> (essentially I am already using this sort 
of "method" to find out when 
> people ordered videotapes from Jack O'Leary by 
mistake -- he mails me and 
> tells me who bought them).
> 
> If David doesn't have the time, Dave V, me, or 
someone else on the contest
> list could easily set up a business account to 
accept payments just for 
> the contest.
> 
>   - Erik
> 
> On Wed, 24 Apr 2002, Dave VanderWall wrote:
> 
> > 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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> 
> -- 
> Erik Olson
> erik at thekrib dot com
> 
> 
> 
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