Re: [AGA-sc] Contest Awards -- Prizes and costs to contestants

[Erik Olson <erik@thekrib.com>]

I beleive that only one or two winners fall into the category of "country 
without paypal".  One of the winners was in a country that had paypal, but 
he himself did not want a paypal account (didn't pay his entry fee 
either), so we are sending him $20 cash wrapped in the CD case or 
whatever.

I'm sort of on the fence about this one.  Personally, I'd rather just drop 
the 2nd and 3rd prizes altogether in future events than muddle around with 
all this.  Or maybe give out memberships as 2nd and 3rd prize (actually, 
maybe we can offer this as an alternative to this years' winners -- 1.5 
years AGA for 3rd place, 3 years TAG as 2nd place).  The whole point of 
going to cash was to have an award that was "universal".  But the $20 
transaction fees for a $25 prize is silly.

   - Erik

On Fri, 24 Nov 2006, Kathy Olson wrote:

> What about paypal??  I think this is a good option for them rather than
> have us absorbing the costs.  How many countries don't ahve paypal.
>
> K
>
> On Fri, 24 Nov 2006, Karen Randall wrote:
>
>> I think that until we think of a better solution, AGA should absorb the 
>> transaction costs.
>>
>> Karen
>>
>>  ----- Original Message -----
>>  From: S. Hieber
>>  To: aga-sc@thekrib.com
>>  Sent: Friday, November 24, 2006 11:42 AM
>>  Subject: [AGA-sc] Contest Awards -- Prizes and costs to contestants
>>
>>
>>  Foreign winners in the Aquascaping Contest can face substantial transaction 
>> fees of about $20 or so to process a foreign check. They would like to avoid 
>> these costs, especially when the prize is only $25. These transaction fees 
>> are the result of the prices banks charge for dealing with out-of-country 
>> checks.
>>
>>  We didn't adequately consider the transaction costs when we decided to 
>> offer prizes. We committed that oversight when we were going to use vendor 
>> donated items and then came upon the shipping costs and related problems. We 
>> did it again when we switched to "cash". This is a Victorian "we;" as the 
>> money guy, the transaction costs are something I should have thought about 
>> and brought up way back when. My apologies to the group.
>>
>>  So, in belated restitution let me offer the following options for 
>> consideration.
>>
>>  I think there are four ways to deal with this:
>>
>>  Whistle-past-the-graveyard options:
>>  1) Advise prospective contestants that prizes will be award by check drawn 
>> upon a USA bank and winners might
>>      incur transaction charges when they process prize checks  (no added 
>> costs to AGA)
>>  2) do as we have been, offering Paypal or mailed cash;    (no added costs 
>> beyond what we pay now, i.e. paypal);
>>
>>  Bite the bullet options:
>>  2) getting a credit card and using Western Union; or         (added AGA 
>> costs for card and WU -- about $20-25
>>      per transaction)
>>  3) Going to the bank and purchasing cashier checks.        (added AGA costs 
>> for cashier checks--about $20-$25
>>      per transaction)
>>
>>  None of these will eliminate all transaction costs for all overseas 
>> contestants but the last two will mitigate for nearly all and eliminate for 
>> many. The latter two options would basically mean that the AGA eats about 
>> $20 in additional costs per transaction.
>>
>>  I don't think it would unreasonable for the AGA to take on an additional 
>> $360-$450 in contest costs to try to absorb most of the transaction fees. I 
>> know contest participation isn't about the money, but sending someone a 
>> prize that is virtually consumed by the winner's acceptance of it, well, it 
>> just doesn't look like our best foot forward.
>>
>>  sh
>>
>>
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>>
>>
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-- 
Erik Olson
erik at thekrib dot com
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