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Grex > Coop11 > #204: Cyberspace Communications finances for August 2000 |  |
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| Author |
Message |
| 25 new of 48 responses total. |
flem
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response 16 of 48:
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Sep 28 18:57 UTC 2000 |
We can certainly do without automated technology -- if we can find a service
that allows us not to use it.
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krj
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response 17 of 48:
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Sep 28 20:37 UTC 2000 |
I just looked at the Conditions of Use at www.paypal.com.
"You must be a resident of the United States to use the Service.
International accounts will be available soon."
When we first heard about PayPal, they were for individuals only,
no businesses. They have expanded to include service for businesses.
I wonder if it's likely that PayPal will get international service
up and running before Grex can solve its credit card security issues?
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flem
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response 18 of 48:
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Sep 29 04:12 UTC 2000 |
Worth a call.
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prp
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response 19 of 48:
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Sep 29 04:47 UTC 2000 |
Can Charge Soutions change the order from:
1. Collect Data
2. Validate Card
3. E-mail Cyberspace
4. Get OK from Cyberspace
5. Charge Credit Card
to:
1. Collect Data
2. E-mail Cyberspace
3. Get OK from Cyberspace
4. Validate Card
5. Charge Credit Card
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arianna
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response 20 of 48:
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Sep 29 05:38 UTC 2000 |
19 sounds viable; PayPal is generating enough interest, as well, so I agree
that it would be an option in the very near future.
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bdh3
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response 21 of 48:
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Sep 29 09:36 UTC 2000 |
Lots of 'ebay businesses' use paypal. Surely grex is on par if not
similar to 'ebay sellers'? Heck, get a member to agree to clear
'international' charges through their business in return for an 'advert'
or something. To pay these kind of charges is foolish.
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gull
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response 22 of 48:
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Sep 29 14:58 UTC 2000 |
I think Paypal business accounts charge a cut of the proceeds, but I think
it's pretty small. I haven't investigated, though. There are also sites
that use Paypal to do credit card processing directly, though there are some
small annoyances; for example, if someone who has a Paypal account attempts
to charge something, Paypal will reject the charge and tell you to ask them
to use their existing account.
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twinkie
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response 23 of 48:
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Sep 29 20:54 UTC 2000 |
The business model relies heavily upon interest. If you make a transaction
today, it takes 48 hours for the recipient to have access to the money, then
another 48 hours for the money to be transferred to their checking account.
(And this assumes that the recipient transfers the money immediately.
As far as international accounts go, I *think* it's perfectly fine for people
to use credit cards to pay for things, but they can't recieve money, because
international checking accounts are much different than American ones.
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yargo
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response 24 of 48:
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Oct 4 11:03 UTC 2000 |
I haven't been active yet in conferences, so I hope this doesn't
create too much garbage. :)
You might be interested in knowing that when payment by credit card
isn't available soon again, you might not get money from me soon again
either... I'm one of those whose membership expired lately.
Now I don't need the telnet and additional things as a member, I just
think, free computer and web services are a great thing; I have my own
computer at my office connected to the web, and have cheap access to
the internet from home. I'm just believing it's worth to support a
system like grex.
Therefore I don't want to do too much work for my membership, and
since I never use checks and all that other things (I'm in
Switzerland, btw), I won't take the effort to bother about it. The
credit card payment probably is the only way for me...
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jep
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response 25 of 48:
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Oct 4 13:14 UTC 2000 |
Thanks, yargo. I think that was an important comment.
I never got around to paying for a membership. When I do get around to
it, it's about 10 times more likely to be by credit card than by sending
a check. I cannot send a check from my desk at work; I don't have
stamps and envelopes. I don't Grex from home; just from work, so unless
I happen to think "Hey! I could be writing a check for Grex, instead of
watching a football game or playing with the kids", I am not likely to
send money while I'm home.
Grex needs to accept credit cards somehow.
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flem
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response 26 of 48:
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Oct 4 14:28 UTC 2000 |
I agree.
I've been experimenting a little with PayPal to see if I can get that up and
running as a temporary solution, at least. Their rates seem to be quite
reasonable, and I'm pretty sure we wouldn't be subject to the kind of problems
we were experiencing with Charge Solutions. They claim they'll accept
international users soon, but the best I've been able to get out of them as
far as *when* are things along the lines of "It's one of our top priorities
for this year." Which seems promising.
Has anyone used PayPal before? How does it work? I.e. what is the process
by which you give someone money?
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rcurl
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response 27 of 48:
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Oct 4 17:12 UTC 2000 |
WOW, jep...do you do any work at work? [8^}
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jep
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response 28 of 48:
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Oct 4 17:31 UTC 2000 |
Oh, hey... good point. I should do some work. Thanks!
(I spend about a half hour per day on Grex.)
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bdh3
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response 29 of 48:
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Oct 5 01:40 UTC 2000 |
I use paypal, bidpay, and a couple other services including USPS
online. I like the convencience and paypal is free.
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don
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response 30 of 48:
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Oct 5 02:22 UTC 2000 |
I am probably one of the only people who has had problems with paypal (see
the recent paypal item in mnet's policy for a detailed account), and my
problem would never crop up with grex's setup. Because my siblings and I shift
money around (paying back for movies, etc), paypal thought we were trying to
make cash advances (not bothering to check to see that we were all using check
cards which cand make cash advances). Right after I tried to transfer a large
amount of money from paypal to my bank account, the account was blocked and
the funds frozen. Two weeks went by without any explanation from paypal.
Emails didn't help, and I had to call at least three times to customer service
to get an explanation. My siblings' accounts had been frozen, too. A day or
two later the account was unfrozen. This won't happen to grex because there
won't be a credit card registered, but it was still a major problem that I
had with them.
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scg
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response 31 of 48:
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Oct 5 07:22 UTC 2000 |
Grex may not trip on that particular rule, but there's no guarantee that
that's the only thing that could cause them to freeze accounts. Financial
institutions that freeze their customers' accounts without attempting to
contact the customer, and then aren't responsive when the customer tries to
find out what's going on, are not a good place to put money you care about.
I had the same problem with Wells Fargo, and I haven't deposited money into
my account there since.
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flem
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response 32 of 48:
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Oct 25 20:22 UTC 2000 |
I got mail from PayPal today telling me that they plan to make services
available to 24 countries, including Canada, available by Oct. 31. I don't
know which countries, unfortunately.
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davel
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response 33 of 48:
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Oct 25 21:29 UTC 2000 |
Well, 24 is a good start.
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dpc
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response 34 of 48:
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Oct 26 15:05 UTC 2000 |
How about from India?
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don
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response 35 of 48:
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Nov 15 02:20 UTC 2000 |
(This may be posted somewhere else in coop already, so bear with me)
Here are the supported countries:
Australia Austria Belgium Brazil Canada
Denmark France Germany Hong Kong Ireland
Israel Italy Japan Mexico Netherlands
New Zealand Norway Portugal Singapore South Africa
South Korea Spain Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom
International transfers will be free for grex, but a $.30 + 2.6% fee is
applied to the person abroad. The fee schedule is pretty heavily hidden within
paypal's help files, which worries me a bit.
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srw
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response 36 of 48:
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Feb 5 02:29 UTC 2001 |
Months have passed, but no one bothered to post here that paypal is up
and running as a way to join grex.
Well, it is - and the membership page has easy-to-use links to paypal
for this purpose. http://www.cyberspace.org/member.html
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rcurl
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response 37 of 48:
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Feb 5 06:08 UTC 2001 |
You're, uh, one season behind.....(I paid dues with paypal last year but
haven't seen the charge on my statement yet).
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aruba
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response 38 of 48:
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Feb 6 01:42 UTC 2001 |
I sent mail to Rane about his PayPal payment.
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rcurl
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response 39 of 48:
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Feb 6 03:08 UTC 2001 |
(I answered Mark's mail about my PayPal payment. I learned PayPal socks
the recipient of the money 2.7%. Since I pay annually, that cost Grex
$1.62, while a check from me + postage would cost me much less. I
suggested that Grex tell people they can use PayPal, but it would save
Grex money if a check were sent. I don't mind socking a money making
business this fee, but Grex is a charitable non-profit, so henceforth
I will send a check.)
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gull
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response 40 of 48:
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Feb 6 19:41 UTC 2001 |
This must be a difference between a business account and a personal
account. I've never been charged anything for receiving money via
PayPal.
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