On 17 February 2010 00:23, Tom Holden tom.holden@economics.ox.ac.uk wrote:
We did not discuss PayPal in the meeting actually. The PayPal fee on £5 is 27p at the lower fee rate, though I expect we'll shortly be moved back up to the higher rate at which it's 37p. I don't think there's any question of us removing the PayPal option, and it would also be counter-productive to charge a different rate for PayPal memberships, particularly since our CRM system cannot handle different rates depending on payment method, which means we have to manually edit transactions for people who sign up online but then pay by cheque. That we lose a few quid in change is a little unfortunate, but I think it's worth it for a simple, transparent system (and for the increase in membership).
What we decided in essence was that in light of our earnings in the fundraiser, we would no longer be looking to membership as a way of generating revenue. Thus instead of looking at it as a required contribution to us (which justified charging extra for PayPal) I guess we are looking at it as a required level of commitment (which justifies charging everyone the same amount).
We should have thought of Paypal fees! I agree, though, the idea behind the reduction means changing extra for Paypal payments doesn't make any sense and we should just absorb the fees.