[Theforum] funding options

Martin martin at members.evolt.org
Thu May 23 16:58:29 CDT 2002


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On Thursday, May 23, 2002, at 10:36  pm, Ron Dorman wrote:

>> Charging $2.50 will still probably come down to $1 net after Paypal
>> charges etc.
>
>
> do the PayPal charges really cost that much?

Not that much, sorry (although there will be other costs involved -
Marlene: how much are the bank charging us?)

For a $2.50 payment at merchant rate, we'll be charged 2.2% (3.2% for
non-North American payers) plus 30¢.

Works out at 35.5¢, or 14.2% which is hellish large because we're
dealing in small sums. We end up with $25.56 per annum per member

If we're charging annually (=$30 one off) then we pay 96¢ which is 3.2%
and we end up with $29.04 papm

So there's sense in offering a 10% discount to annual payers (we end up
with $26.106 papm) just to get round the PayPal fee structure, plus it
does wonders for our cashflow.

>> I also think we won't get 850 paying members. Some will say "fuck dat
>> shit" (including probably *all* the freeloaders), and some just won't
>> get round to paying.
>
>
> probably not all the current members, but there is a double win
> situation here.  the freeloaders will go away, providing some cleanup.
> what is left will provide consistent funding that can, and probably
> will, grow.

Yes, absolutely. We need to budget for a worst case start, though.

> I understand that there is a list for meo users.  I suggest that we use
> it to get feedback from those users.  An email, something like "we are
> considering charging a $3.50 (maximum, maybe less) a month fee for space
> here to support hosting costs.

Maybe word more strongly - we *need* to do this to support hosting costs.

And a reminder that this isn't your Geocities webspace, how much would
it cost to get all that we offer [insert list] elsewhere?

> we would like to know your opinions
> before making any decisions.  thank you", would give us a picture of how
> many will stay and how much revenue it will generate.

Also maybe rather than saying "it will cost X" asking how much they
would be prepared to pay (and scale back the result when it comes in to
get how much people *will* pay as opposed to how much they *say* they'll
pay)

Cheers
Martin
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