John Heiter Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 I am getting ready for the 2009 Mississippi Classic and was thinking about setting up a PayPal account to accept credit/debit card payments for match fees. I was wondering if anyone has done this (how it worked out, etc.) and if there is enough interest from shooters to warrant the trouble. Would you use an online payment system if available or is sending in a check good enough for you? John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynn jones Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 hi john, go with anything but paypal. they are owned by ebay and are both antigun. fwiw. lynn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Moore Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 i would pay by credit card to get the points. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cautery Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 I've been asking for online registration and payment ever since I joined USPSA.... Lot's of sporting clays matches have online registration.... including the NSCA Nationals. At a minimum, folks SHOULD be able to pay by credit card, whether you use an interactive online registration form where you take the info via a regular secure page https:// or all the way up to using a PayPal pay online or all the way to a payment service like SPORG (they specialize in event registration). The only hard part is configuring it so that you can take payment for multiple people on a single transaction for squadding requests.... of course you can get around that by using the USPSA online squadding.... ANYTHING that allows me to be able to NOT have to mail in an app with a check is a good thing... I want to be able to register, pay, and KNOW I'm in and taken care of right now. I hate snail mail... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkeeler Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 hi john,go with anything but paypal. they are owned by ebay and are both antigun. fwiw. lynn +1 BK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe4d Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 I would use online credit card payment for registration. I would not use paypal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1911user Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 With paypal, if they found out it was for a gun match, they could very easily lock the account and hold the money needed for the match. It would eventually be released, but that could take several months per their fine print. The amount of dollars moving quickly into and out of the account is almost sure to get attention from paypal. I'd look for a different place to route the CC payments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Heiter Posted October 7, 2008 Author Share Posted October 7, 2008 Thanks for the advice on PayPal. The problem I'm running into is that most of the groups I've looked at want something on the order of $50-$75 per month in total fees. Example, one I just looked at wants $79 to set up an account and charges a $15 per month access fee, a $10 per month gateway fee, 2.29% per transaction (or $25/mo flat whichever is greater) service fee, and a $0.30 per transaction processing fee. I want to offer the service and convenience to our shooters, and I'd be willing to give up 2% per match fee processed or something like that but, looking at these numbers, I can't justify it. Guess that's why you don't see it much John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LChico Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 (edited) I am taking credit card payments for The SC Section Match (started last year) & will take them also for the Toys for Tots Charity match in December (both at Mid Carolina Rifle Club near Columbia SC). I set up a credit card acceptance account at the bank that has had the match checking account for the last 4 years. It is set up as a standard business account and I had to provide the club tax ID. I very specifically did not want to use Paypal or other third party collectors because many are anti-gun. By my choice, I will only accept 3 methods of payment via credit card: 1. (Preferred) I provide a phone number so that shooters can call me and give me the information directly over the phone. I treat that like any business treats a phone order paid for by credit card. 2. Filling in the info into the space provided that is printed at the bottom of the application. You can then mail or scan the completed application and send via email to get it to me. These are treated as a mail-order transaction. 3. Late registration at the range (last minute entries) can pay by actually presenting the card, which I run through one of those old fashioned imprint machines (it blocks out all but the last 4 digits) and I need to call it in to get an authorization. Yes, I know there are ways to simply pay on-line, but you pay extra for a secure, encrypted service. This method makes sure that only one person has your credit card info (me) as well as keeps the cost to a minimum. The SC Section match is a "cash pay back" match and we always try to keep expenses down to return the most money to shooters. In the first year, 27% of our paid shooters used a credit card. I expect that to increase this year. I think it will be very popular option for donations to Toys for Tots, also. Let me know if you have additional questions. Linda Chico (:-2035) Columbia SC Edited October 8, 2008 by LChico Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimel Posted October 8, 2008 Share Posted October 8, 2008 Google Checkout is 2% + 20 cents per transaction. That might be a viable option too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waktasz Posted October 8, 2008 Share Posted October 8, 2008 My local SCCA region uses http://www.motorsportreg.com/ to pre-register people for racing events. Not sure on their policies, but you could very easily set up an account to handle the credit card payments via that site, or another like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lugnut Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 (edited) Setting up and running a match is a ton of work. I as a shooter will do what the MD wants. The effort it takes me to send a check pales in comparision the work it takes to run a good match. Credit card companies get some of the funds we'd pay as well which may not be much but it's something the club doesn't get. Edited October 9, 2008 by lugnut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimel Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 Processing all those checks, money orders, and doing the data entry for paper forms takes a lot of effort too. If you have the talent available to do online registration and take credit cards and can then download all the data into something useable by EZWinScore then you saved yourself a BUNCH of work. Seems to me someone could emulate the motorsportsreg.com thing above for the shooting sports and provide a valuable service and maybe even make a dollar or two. You can always offer a $3 "cash or check discount" if you want. Remember: You can't charge to use credit cards...but you can discount cash. Go figure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cautery Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 Match registration is acceptable use at both PayPal and Google checkout. The NSCA Nationals match online payment is via PayPal, and they are processing hundreds via CC. Of 1320+ current registrations, I would suspect more than 30-40% use CC. PayPal would cost you 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction. The Google rate is above and is a little less. The buyer has to have a Google account to use Google checkout even if you use your own credit card. The buyer does not have to have a PayPal account to use a credit card.... Logging in to PayPal is promoted highly, but there IS an option to skip login/sign up. I suspect Yahoo might have a similar service. I would prefer not to have to sign up for an account if I didn't already have one.... but it really shouldn't be that big of a deal. Most online shops require you to register too... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronEqualizer Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 Capel English who runs the Greater Atlanta Defensive Pistol Association at South River Gun Club does this. It's on their web site at gadpa.com His name on here is HOT BRASS. AL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrClean Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 they are owned by ebay and are both antigun. +1 If PayPal knows it's being used for Firearms in anyway they are likely to shut it down. In the past they have canceled payments or refused such transactions with a "firearms" nature. You will see people say "I will take discreet PayPal", which basically means DO NOT MENTION guns or anything related to them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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