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| Author |
Message |
| 25 new of 191 responses total. |
lilmo
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response 24 of 191:
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Sep 7 19:44 UTC 1998 |
Does this need a membership vote, or a board vote, or can the treasurer do
this unilaterally?
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remmers
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response 25 of 191:
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Sep 7 22:07 UTC 1998 |
A board vote would be sufficient. The treasurer can't do it
unilaterally, as authorization for new expenditures is required.
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mta
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response 26 of 191:
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Sep 8 14:30 UTC 1998 |
Is there a desire amongst the membership to vote on this? If there's
any disagreement, it's our way to put it to a vote...Grex is after all
run by it's membership with the board serving mainly to handle things
efficiently where there is general agreement.
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rcurl
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response 27 of 191:
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Sep 8 15:16 UTC 1998 |
Is there any disagreement to trying it out?
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arthurp
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response 28 of 191:
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Sep 8 15:29 UTC 1998 |
I'm pretty worried about spending any money right now. We have been
hovering right at our do not cross boundary for a long time. This
sounds like a fairly hefty (in our terms) monthly commitment for the
service. Are we really going to aquire six or seven memberships that
we've never had before and keep them? I don't know anything about
trends for spending money through the net. I only know that I have
spent a grand total of $0 through the net. I'm concerned.
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rcurl
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response 29 of 191:
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Sep 8 15:40 UTC 1998 |
Is there a monthly or per-item charge in addition to the $75 account?
If not, that is such a small fraction of annual expenses that I think
the tryout is worth it. We would only need one new member a month to
about break even.
I spend more through the net now than I do in cash or check. (I use
on-line banking, including for all charge - web, phone or direct - payments.)
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danr
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response 30 of 191:
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Sep 8 16:32 UTC 1998 |
There is a $0.30 charge per transaction charge, a $10/mo. billing fee, and a
minimum $25 in charges fee (they expect you to bill at least $926 per month at
a 2.7% discount rate).
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mta
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response 31 of 191:
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Sep 8 17:10 UTC 1998 |
I agree that this plan comes with certain risks -- but I also think that
the *potential" payoff is large enough to be worth an experiment.
I'm confident enough to offer to pay for some portion of the expenses
for a six month trial. After six months we should have an idea whether
it's going to be a self supporting proposition or not.
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keesan
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response 32 of 191:
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Sep 8 20:43 UTC 1998 |
re #30, at $6/month per member, it sounds like we would need about 6 new
members to break even. What is the chance of six people being induced to buy
a grex membership by the credit card availability? Could someone pose the
question in agora and see if six non-members would suddenly decide to become
members (i mean paying members) simply because they could pay by card?
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mta
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response 33 of 191:
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Sep 8 20:56 UTC 1998 |
That's a good idea, Sindy, but with 100 members to 14,000 users the ratio is
great enough to make the probability pretty good. Or that's my reasoning
anyway.
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mary
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response 34 of 191:
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Sep 8 23:49 UTC 1998 |
We can't afford this. It sounds like a neat service to
offer and if we were bigger and had deeper pockets it
would make sense. But we are just skidding the black.
I'm very nervous about any plan that is based on "if
we spend it they will donate". We would be obligating
ourselves to bills hoping enough members will join to
cover the cost.
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lilmo
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response 35 of 191:
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Sep 9 01:17 UTC 1998 |
What about expanding on popcorn's idea, and asking for a few volunteers (in
this item), to cover costs, regardless, for our trial period? If someone
outbids me for the computer (in auction), I'd be willing to help.
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rcurl
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response 36 of 191:
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Sep 9 03:31 UTC 1998 |
Re #30: ouch. Plus, the $75 account fee (I like to see all the numbers
at once).
What savings would there be to go along with the fees? Would handling the
charge (after the fee) be less expensive than handling a check? Save any
time?
(What does "$25 in charges fee" refer to?)
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arthurp
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response 37 of 191:
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Sep 9 03:59 UTC 1998 |
I thought it meant a $25 penalty for not charging more than that $900
amount. I don't really know, though. I wish we could get all the
numbers in one response all added up and explained.
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danr
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response 38 of 191:
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Sep 9 19:47 UTC 1998 |
re #34: I don't think we'll get much bigger and have deeper pockets without
doing something like this. If we're satisfied with how big we are, that's OK,
but if we're going to truly be more of a community service, then I think it's
worth taking a flyer on this.
As I understand it, every time we deposit a check there's a 25-cent charge.
That's about 4.2%. To make that $6 deposit via credit card, it's a 2.7%
charge, or 16.2 cents. To deposit a $60 check, though, it's still only 25
cents. Charging $60 to a member's credit card will cost us $1.62.
$25 is the minimum service charge per month. At 2.7%, that means we'll have to
get people to charge $926 in dues and merchandise each month. If we don't,
they'll still charge us $25, which only means that the percentage that we're
paying to the bank is more than 2.7%.
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arthurp
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response 39 of 191:
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Sep 9 23:04 UTC 1998 |
Thank you for explaining that.
I don't think I like how that sounds. I don't think we should move on this
without a vote. I don't know if I'm sure enough about that to call for a
vote. :/
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rcurl
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response 40 of 191:
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Sep 10 00:32 UTC 1998 |
If anyone puts it to a vote, I would appreciate a clear and complete
explanation of a) the cost breakdown, and b) the expected benefits, especially
financially. I do lean towaard trying this out, but we should know the
extremes of possible consequences.
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cmcgee
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response 41 of 191:
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Sep 10 01:23 UTC 1998 |
I'll help underwrite the testing. I'll pay $25 for one month's test costs.
[As long as I can charge it on my credit card].
I'd like to have some results showing how much activity it will generate
before get into a big debate over the hypothetical benefits and costs.
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aruba
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response 42 of 191:
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Sep 10 02:55 UTC 1998 |
I think it highly unlikely that we will ever get $926 worth of charges in
a month, so we might as well think of that $35 as a flat monthly fee for
accepting cards.
I would like to present my numbers at the board meeting before we make any
moves on this.
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rcurl
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response 43 of 191:
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Sep 10 05:45 UTC 1998 |
The costs are not hypothetical. Many of the benefits are not hypothetical.
I see no reason not to generate some financial scenarios and NOT debate
them, but use them for making a decision. Businesses do this sort of
thing all the time (and even hire people to do it for them). Grex should
consider itself a business in approaching questions like this.
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mary
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response 44 of 191:
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Sep 10 12:03 UTC 1998 |
How long would it take Visa/Mastercard to get the money
to us? And how do we get it, by a check that needs to be
deposited or by direct deposit? Any charges associated
with direct deposit?
Mark, could you present your number here too before any
decisions are made? Thanks.
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aruba
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response 45 of 191:
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Sep 10 13:49 UTC 1998 |
Yes, I will try to do that. Hopefully I'll have some fancy graphs at the
meeting, but I will try to put the relevant numbers online too. (And Jan said
he would put my graphs on a web page.)
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mta
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response 46 of 191:
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Sep 10 14:07 UTC 1998 |
I'd be willing to cover one months fee, too. $25.
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danr
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response 47 of 191:
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Sep 10 16:45 UTC 1998 |
The money is directly deposited into my checking account a day or two
after I submit the charges. There is no charge--at least at my
bank--for the direct deposit.
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keesan
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response 48 of 191:
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Sep 10 17:43 UTC 1998 |
Would it be legal for someone like Dan (if he wants to volunteer) to offer
us the use of his credit card account for a month or two, letting people
pay the dues to him by credit card and then having him transfer the money to
grex, as a test, before deciding on anything? Or if it looks like only one
or two people a month end up wanting to pay by credit card, perhaps Dan or
some other grex member set up for credit card purchases could just offer the
use of their account permanently, thus saving the $35/month plus $75?
I will try to remember to send cash instead of a check to save 25 cents.
Why does grex have to pay 25 cents to cash checks when I do not pay to
cash them at my bank (Great Lakes Bank)?
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