Chesterfield Posted August 9, 2007 Share Posted August 9, 2007 Donation Button There has been a new addition to the top menu of the site; it is a make a donation button. The following will explain what it is and why it is there - if there are any questions or comments, please feel free to post them up... What is it? The button takes you to a secure paypal hosted form whereby you can log into your own paypal account and make a donation to this forum if you feel you wish to. In order to make a donation you will need your own paypal account, donations cannot presently be taken by any other method (other than purchasing T-shirts or other merchandise when available). Why is it required? Well, in short. It isn't. Our aim with this site has always been and always continues to be, for it to remain 100% free for members to use. We would not wish to impose any membership fee, or infer in any way that donations are obligatory in any way what so ever. The server on which this forum resides, the stickers, banner, flyers, spotted cards, T-shirts have all been either very kindly donated to us from members, or purchased by the team on an ongoing basis. So if you don't need it why bother? Over the 18 months we have been in existence, an awful lot of members have joined and many of those have expressed, at various points in time, an interest in making a voluntary contribution to the site to show their appreciation. This put us somewhat between a rock and a hard place. We were reluctant to accept such donations, as we felt it somewhat went against our preference to keep the site 100% free for members, but also we did not want to look as if we were ignoring these requests from our members. So what will you do with any donations? Every single penny will be spent on items which enrich the experience of being a member here. Whether this be running costs for servers, stickers, or even funds to get merchandise ideas off the ground (many places have minimum orders). Whatever the funds are spent on will be items accessible and enjoyable to all. When making decisions on items such as merchandise, if these are not T-shirts or similar, we may gauge opinion of the members on what they would like to see, to ensure we don’t waste a single penny on anything that we are to confident members will enjoy. Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES will donations be spent frivolously, or left lying around doing nothing for extended periods of time. Can I donate if I don't have a paypal account? Yes. Upon clicking the donate button, you can either choose to log in to paypal or elect to pay by credit/debit card. Other than purchasing merchandise such as stickers or T-shirts, there is at present no other way of making a donation to the club. In future we may be able to accept these credit/debit card payments for merchandise (check on any merchandise threads). If you choose to donate via paypal, then the donation ammount received by the club will be reduced by the paypal fees (currently 3.4% + 20P). i.e. if you donate £10 to the club, you will be debited £10, the club will receive £9.46. Other options for donations are being investigated and will be announced once they are in place. Will other people know if I have donated? We have decreed that no alterations to a members profile should be made on the basis of them making a donation. We would not wish to create segregation on the forum and have any visible indicator as to who is a donator and who isn’t, as we do not wish to make it appear in any way that people must donate to be considered a "proper" member or that people have to do it because others have, because this is simply not the case. Feel free to send a PM to anyone on the team, if you wish to let us know, and you will most certainly be thanked though! How much should I donate if I want to? This is totally at the individuals discretion. If you win the lottery and want to share, then we certainly won't stop you (and it would be free nismo exhausts all round if that were the case Im sure!). Similarly if you want to give us the bus fare you saved by walking home, it will be accepted with just as much gratitude. It is peoples choice on whether to donate at all, and if they do, how much is also their decision to make. Please feel free to place any comments or raise any questions below and we will all do our best to answer... Regards, The 350z-uk.com team Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest prescience Posted August 9, 2007 Share Posted August 9, 2007 Google checkout is worth a look, cheaper than PayPal and they currently have a free offer until end-2007 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zedrush Posted August 9, 2007 Share Posted August 9, 2007 yay can make donations now for an awesome site Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
get12 Posted August 9, 2007 Share Posted August 9, 2007 yay can make donations now for an awesome site .......I think this is a really good idea - gives you the chance to give something back to the community as a whole!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lomoto Posted August 9, 2007 Share Posted August 9, 2007 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chesterfield Posted August 9, 2007 Author Share Posted August 9, 2007 Hi, A further update. In order to accept more than two donations per year, the club has to have a premier/business account with Paypal. Premier/business accounts are always subject to the transaction fees (3.4% +20p) regardless of how these funds are transferred to the club account. These transaction fees are removed from any donation ammount on deposit to the clubs account, they are not added to the ammount being debited from your card/account. There are currently two donations made prior to this post awaiting acceptance by ourselves. As these donations were made when it was our beleif that they were not going to be subject to the handling fees, they have not yet been accepted by the club and await the individuals confirmation as to whether they choose to accept the fees or not. For purpose of clarity, it is safe to assume that from this point onward all paypal donations to the club will be subject to the paypal fees/deductions. Other methods of donation are being discussed and investigated and will be announced as soon as they are available. Please accept our appologies for any confusion created. Regards, The Team Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest prescience Posted August 9, 2007 Share Posted August 9, 2007 Correct. Paypal's charges are between 1.4%-3.4% depending on transaction size plus 20p fixed. The limit to reduce below 3.4% is way higher than the typical donation, so 3.4% + 20p is the charge. For £50 donation, that's £1.90, so as Chris'I says, not a lot. [Google checkout's charges after the free period are 1.5% + 15p ] It's the Club that takes the hit anyway isn't it, so the effective donation is reduced rather than an additional levy to the paypalee? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chesterfield Posted August 9, 2007 Author Share Posted August 9, 2007 The above is correct. If an individual donates £10 then the ammount debited to that individul will be £10. The club will receive £9.46. Also, unfortunatley while Google checkout fees are lower, (and that is one of the routes we are investigating) the set up of one of those accounts is aimed a lot more toward business accounts, also requiring either registered company details, or the linking of the account to an individuals home address and credit card - which although possible, does put the club in a tight spot during the absence of the individual whose account it is linked to. If we can secure an option which allows credit/debit card donations to be made and the fees to be considerably lower, it will certainly be done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest prescience Posted August 9, 2007 Share Posted August 9, 2007 The above is correct. If an individual donates £10 then the ammount debited to that individul will be £10. The club will receive £9.46. Also, unfortunatley while Google checkout fees are lower, (and that is one of the routes we are investigating) the set up of one of those accounts is aimed a lot more toward business accounts, also requiring either registered company details, or the linking of the account to an individuals home address and credit card - which although possible, does put the club in a tight spot during the absence of the individual whose account it is linked to. If we can secure an option which allows credit/debit card donations to be made and the fees to be considerably lower, it will certainly be done. Yes fair point, that is true - TBH I can't see the issue with PayPal if you want to go that way, the charges are just a pound or so and unless you are planning to regularly publish an account, is there an issue? If you were planning periodically to let people know the status, you could just say, £200 donated last month, so nett to the club of £193 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris`I Posted August 9, 2007 Share Posted August 9, 2007 What sort of percentage or monetarey fee are we talking? Should only be peanuts surely? I understand that you dont want us to pay any fee, but I am sure that if it is insignificant then people will still want to donate Chris, I'm guessing thats answered here: The fees are apparently correct. As above if your paypal account is linked to a credit or debit card, the donation to us is classed as a transaction from one of these cards and subject to the 3.4% +20p fee. Sure that wasnt there when I posted. Fees or no fees I will dontate, its all for a good cause. Should get me some shares in PayPal too, try and make some money back Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chesterfield Posted August 9, 2007 Author Share Posted August 9, 2007 As part of the ongoing improvements to the donation process, people can now donate without the need for a paypal account, and can use credit/debit cards if they wish. (again all donations via this method will be subject to the paypal handling fees) Thread being locked so as not to create any ongoing reminder about donations etc in peoples unread topics area.. Please feel free to start another thread for any questions, or drop any of the team a PM. Thanks in advance to all who may donate, and dont worry, we are not reliant on donations to stay in existence. The site will always be 100% free for people to join and use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M13KYF Posted August 9, 2007 Share Posted August 9, 2007 Also would like to thank the donators Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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