[Foundation-l] Alternative to paypal

[Delphine Ménard]

On 8/16/07, GerardM <gerard.meijssen at gmail.com> wrote:

> In 2007 using the financial collection system of Google is free. Period

What I really appreciate in your mailing list particiaptions, Gerard,
is the way you do take other people's posts into consideration.

> The money collected in this way in 2007 through Google will not cost us
> money. Google has indicated in the past that they are happy to help the
> Wikimedia Foundation, this gives us the opportunity to ask for 2008 if they
> can do something about the cost of the money given to the WMF through Google
> Checkout. It isa really good marketing tool for Google to get the attention
> of the general public for their payment system; the trick is to get people
> to use it in the first place.

Right. Go back to my previous post and let me interpret Brad's remark
a little more broadly.

Costs are not *always* financial. Tell you what, I just checked out
Google checkout. I am French, I live in Germany. ie. I want my
interface in French, with German banking possibilities and please
Terms of Service in a language I understand for a country I live in.
Tough luck, none of that available. So much for Google checkout for
me. And you know what? It doesn't seem to work with Amazon, which is
the only online store I actually visit. So Why should I bother
initiating my Google checkout account when I won't ever use it and I
already have a paypal one?

I find it to be a very narrow approach to focus on the fact that
Google checkout costs "us" (ie. Wikimedia) nothing. Again, re-read my
post. Collecting money might have financial costs, but we need to be
well aware of the cultural and practical costs. What if Google
checkout costs us nothing but donations go down by 50% because nobody
wants to use it?

I am not saying that we shouldn't try, I am saying that we should be
very aware of the *real* costs behind one or the other solution. It's
not you and I giving the money, or if it is, we represent a very very
small percentage of the donations. *We* can adapt to the "best"
solution for Wikimedia. Can/will everyone?

What you call a "trick" I call lack of concern for the people who
allow our projects to exist further. We should adapt to them, not them
to us, even if it's good to mention where their donation will have the
strongest impact.


Delphine
-- 
~notafish

La critique, art aisé, se doit d'être constructive. -- Boris Vian in
*Chroniques du menteur*

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