[Theforum] funding options

[Martin]

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On Friday, May 24, 2002, at 12:01  am, William Anderson wrote:

>> 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
>
> can we bear in mind that, IIRC, PayPal do not permit charging 'extra' to
> cover the charges they substract from payments and withdrawls ...

If that's true, that's just wishful thinking on PayPal's behalf which
shows that they have no fucking clue.

"If you accept payments through us, you cannot recoup some of your
costs" - basic stupidity. If I sell stuff for profit, then I cover *all*
my costs and make a margin.

Looking at the Ts&Cs:
"the handling fee for transactions paid through PayPal may not be higher
than the handling fee for transactions paid through other payment
methods "
So you can charge a handling fee, and even break it out to the user as
such, as long as it's not more than you'd charge anyone else. Looks like
this is related to competition from other merchant services.

Simple ways to work this:
1) we price such that the amount we receive by any means would cover our
PayPal costs. If people send us cheques (which the bank will likely
charge for btw) or cash, it's still (say) $2.50, but we make more margin
and find funding the services easier.

2) As well as the payment element, we also highlight what PP are
charging us, and suggest a voluntary additional donation of (say) 37¢
(35.5¢ plus an allowance for the 2.9% of 35.5¢, rounded up to the
nearest ¢).

3) Charge what the hell we need to, and only accept payment by PP.

Cheers
Martin
_______________________________________________
email: martin at easyweb.co.uk             PGP ID:	0xA835CCCB
	martin at members.evolt.org      snailmail:	30 Shandon Place
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