Online payment - checks

[mdaniels]

Hi all,

Curious what people thought about the current online "pay by check" mechanism. As I sent in my payment for the banquet, I thought (again) about how I rarely use checks these days, and the thought that at least from my perspective, I would rather use my credit card/debit card for these kinds of transactions. What do people think about this? Is this worth raising up as a possible change to the current website? There are lots of payment processors out there - we could probably even continue to support checks along with adding card processing as well.

What do people think? I can do some research and see who offers these kinds of payment services for competitive rates if there is any interest.

Matt

[timmmy]

I agree with you Matt, gimme online credit card, or even better Paypal

H

p.s. hows that Porsche coming? here's the Audi.....

[MiataSteve]

PayPal :thumbright:

[mr2sc]

Paypal would make things a lot easier for me in Canada, as the online checks don't work from here.

So...either I send in a check drawn on my Canadian account, with "US$" scrawled on it and pay a $12 fee when processed, or I have to physically go to a bank and wait in line to get a US$ Bank Cheque...and pay the $6 fee.


just my .03 (that's in CAD $)

[HerbD]

We realize that a lot of people would probably prefer to pay by
credit card. The problem is that most other payment systems
that are more convenient for the member, put all the burden
(fees, processing problems, chargebacks) on the club.

PayPal is a fine system for making payments, but a truly awful
system for receiving them. Since PayPal is not regulated by the
federal banking system, they can hold any monies that you have
in the system at a whim, and without any recourse but through
their own resolution system, which by some strange coincidence
seems to be strongly biased toward PayPal. I shudder to think
that people regularly give PayPal access to their bank accounts -
do they not read the agreement? (basically signing away all
rights, and agreeing not to sue for the privilege of using the
service)

As I recall, debit cards have even higher fees than credit
cards - probably because the credit card companies don't get
a chance to soak you for interest on a debit transaction.

So, for now anyway, the pay-by-check system still seems to be
the best balance between the needs of the club and the
membership. Other than problems that some members
with Bank of America have been having making payments, the
service has been flawless - no mischarges, chargebacks, or any
other untoward behavior. The club never sees any member's
account numbers, and since we issue refunds in kind (with a
check), we never need to handle credit card numbers or any of
that stuff. It's just a lot cleaner system.

[mr2sc]

ahhh...I capich! Thx

[mdaniels]

I hear you on Paypal - but they are kind of strange in that they are a payments processor without a bank "backing" them to support the FDIC insurance, etc. Have we looked at any other payments processors that support credit cards? I have seen some other car clubs that support online credit card/debit card payments - I think I will do a little digging, as I am clearly not educated on the fees and structure for actually supporting this.

Matt

[enjoythemusic]

We realize that a lot of people would probably prefer to pay by....

Herb, touched this when i first signed up last year. Many thanks for holding a spot at the NHIS event last year until you received funds as i was out of the country. i always feel apprehensive giving ANYONE direct access to my checking account. Credit card has some way of holding at bay fraudulent charges. While i fully trust COM, the idea of giving anyone direct access...

Agree PayPal can bite back hard, though in general they are a good way to send and receive payment if you choose not to get a proper Visa/MC account. Also, you need to consider PayPal or a COM Visa/MC account fees that with take out about 5%, so adjust accordingly.

With COM, at this point i send snail mail personal checks. Would prefer PayPal or Visa/MC.

[jrussell]

PayPal is absolutely horrible, as already mentioned. It's convenient, but that's about the end of the good list.

Now on to something constructive:
If you're a Costco business member you can get credit card processing through Nova information systems at the best rates I've found. I just set this up for a company with Verisign PayFlow Link payment solutions as the gateway. Verisign handles all the credit card number input, etc. so they have the burden of security for the card number. The Verisign account was something like $380/yr with 200 or so free transactions per month, then around $0.10 for each additional one. Nova charges you 2.02% plus $0.27 per transaction. This was very easy to set up, and is probably even less expensive than the check processing. Nova does accept eChecks too, but I didn't investigate that because I didn't have the need.

BTW: Credit and Debit cards are the same rate.

If anybody has any questions, let me know. I'm more than happy to help.

[TroyV]

Herb,

Mike Schoenfeld and I have adopted a new, very popular system for registering our SVTOA autox events at Devens. I'm sure you have heard about it, as they cover more than 700 single events for multiple clubs.

www.motorsportreg.com

This has been an absolute breeze for us to use, and the payment management system is very well organized, and still allows payment by check if one so desires. Here is a link to one of our events for your reference..

http://www.motorsportreg.com/pap/eventl ... 95E874E38B

The best thing about this site is that if Com was to adopt it, my entire schedule for the year would be on that site. Plus there is access to all the other club's events. It might be a good way for the crossover thing with the porsche club event that follows Com's at Mont Tremblant.

[Crusin]

Perhaps the new president could appoint a committee to look into an alternative payment method. It seems many of the club members would prefer a different method, so the club should listen.

[xstar]

Perhaps the new president could appoint a committee to look into an alternative payment method. It seems many of the club members would prefer a different method, so the club should listen.

Unfortunately, I disagree.

First and foremost, I prefer to not add any new work for the COM treasurer with any potential payment changes. The current process works for the club and for the treasurer, and I have no plans to make him do potential extra work. I also do not believe it is a good use of time to test out new payment systems at the moment. More about this down below.

Secondly, from what I have read, the online check system is annoying to people. Credit card payments are preferred, but the online-check system does work. I see 130 people pay for the NHIS1 event without an issue.

Granted, I think a credit card payment system may be something to look into in the future. However, it is a low priority item for the club. The current focus for me is to make sure events will be run smoothly and how COM can get back at WGI or a second date at Mont Tremblant.

I apologize to sound terse, but I just believe this is not a severe problem to require a committee or immediate attention.