Response to the Future of NikonGear.net/.com/.org

[Birna Rørslett]

The NG forum will thrive well with say 150 paying supporters. At present we are around 90.

I think all supporters should contribute equal. If you really want to contribute more, why not invite a friend to NG and pay for his or her subscription?

[Lars Hansen]

When you have logged in, look at the bottom of the yellow banner. You will see assorted options including Home, Search, My Messages, etc.

Click on Profile and select Summary.

Just below the banner you will now see three options, one of which is Profile Actions. Click on that and the top option is Paid Subscriptions.

Payment might be made through PayPal but you do not need an account; a credit card will do nicely.

Ian, thanks for the guidance.

Anyone have any clues how to bypass Paypal? For some reason I'm being "forced" to create a PayPal account when I try to pay with a credit card - the credit card payment is not accepted unless I also provide information for creating an account and accepting terms.

I've found this guide:
Even if you do not have a PayPal account, you can still pay with your debit or credit card as a guest by clicking on the Pay with Debit or Credit Card option as a guest. 

... but I see no options indicating "..pay as a guest.."

Clues anyone?

[Birna Rørslett]

Perhaps you could clear any web cookies related to Paypal and NG, and try again?

Several members have asked for an indication of our status, and I now have added that as a subfield to the standard News headline. The aim is 150 supporters, however that aim might change in either direction in the future.

[Lars Hansen]

Perhaps you could clear any web cookies related to Paypal and NG, and try again?

Several members have asked for an indication of our status, and I now have added that as a subfield to the standard News headline. The aim is 150 supporters, however that aim might change in either direction in the future.

Thanks for the suggestion Birna - makes sense, but unfortunately no change after deleting the cookies. 

[Dogman]

Lars, is there no "pay with credit or debit card" option?  It may not say "pay as a guest" but if the "credit/debit" option is available you can just click it and it will allow you to bypass Paypal's pay option.

[Lars Hansen]

Lars, is there no "pay with credit or debit card" option?  It may not say "pay as a guest" but if the "credit/debit" option is available you can just click it and it will allow you to bypass Paypal's pay option.

Thanks for helping Dogman. Yes, there is a credit card option, but not without being forced to create a PayPal account at the same time. However, I've gone through the payment process a few times more and it turns out that it's related to nationality (I'm in Denmark) - if I switch to, say US, then the screen changes and (second screen) there is a Pay as guest option. See below.

The last screen, Danish, says "Create a PayPal account" - button says "Accept and Pay". So, apparently the Pay as guest isn't available in Denmark. 

[Lars Hansen]

Never mind.

[Birna Rørslett]

Whatever is on a member's mind is worth describing or asking here on NG.

[Hugh_3170]

Thanks Lars - this is useful to know - not only for NG payments, but for other payments as well.

Thanks for helping Dogman. Yes, there is a credit card option, but not without being forced to create a PayPal account at the same time. However, I've gone through the payment process a few times more and it turns out that it's related to nationality (I'm in Denmark) - if I switch to, say US, then the screen changes and (second screen) there is a Pay as guest option. See below.

The last screen, Danish, says "Create a PayPal account" - button says "Accept and Pay". So, apparently the Pay as guest isn't available in Denmark.

[mxbianco]

After several hundred posts to NikonGear, it is now time for me to join the paid subscribers club and contribute to the expenses.

I just paid the subscription, in the Italian Paypal page (launched by the NikonGear Subscription page) there are two buttons:

ACCESS PAYPAL
and
PAY WITH A CREDIT CARD

so, I Accessed Paypal and paid with Paypal, using the associated credit card. Simple and painless. If I hadn't had a PP Account, I could just as well have paid with my credit card as a guest.

I am going to add the date Apr.22, 2024 to my memo service, it will start reminding me it's time to renew my subscription on Mar 22, 2024, and every week until the event. Also very simple

I noticed my status has already changed from NG Member to NG Supporter (and two yellow squares instead of one). I have paid 5 minutes ago...

The STATUS line at the top of the page still indicates 89/150 paid subscriptions. Confident it will be updated soon!

Ciao from Massimo

[Birna Rørslett]

The news headline status has to be updated manually. I usually check the status before going to bed

[pluton]

I thought I was on auto-renew, but it had quit...2021 being the last time it autopaid.  Fixed now, but I'll check in a year.

[Birna Rørslett]

Auto-renew is on the PayPal side of things ....

[Snoogly]

Seems stuck in a rut in the low 90s now. I really can’t see any way it can hit 150 :-(

With that in mind, is there a way to make 100 financially viable?

I don’t want to challenge the current admin, but the stated running costs seem a HUGE leap above what is the norm. Hosting is relatively cheap, and there are several open source forum solutions.

Again, I want to say that I am not challenging admin, but … surely there is a way to easily reduce running costs?

[Birna Rørslett]

Costs for hosting have increased nearly 50% over the last years. Remember we initially didn't pay VAT. Plus we need funds for domain registration/renewal, mail services etc.

We have had > 150 paying subscribers before, so the goal is not far-fetched.