Renewing subscriptions

[Birna Rørslett]

I'm considering a 'News letter' to inform our members what we are up against.

However, I don't fancy the idea of telling people myself why NG is such a unique gem that it deserves to be supported.  Maybe we'll have a competition for the best description of why NG should survive? First price would of course be free subscription for 1 year

[ColinM]

I'm considering a 'News letter' to inform our members what we are up against.

However, I don't fancy the idea of telling people myself why NG is such a unique gem that it deserves to be supported.  Maybe we'll have a competition for the best description of why NG should survive? First price would of course be free subscription for 1 year

Each would be a step in the right direction Birna.

And remember, there is one thing worse for "sensitive" people than a nudge (not a nag) to pay the subscription:
- finding the website gone when they next try to use it

[Birna Rørslett]

The latter scenario, however unpleasant it seems, is one of the alternatives for 2026.

[Frank Fremerey]

Thank you Birna for suggesting a (yearly?) newsletter and a competition for best text.


I wil still pay my due if I win, so take my text as a starting point and edit it to make it better

[Birna Rørslett]

Apparently paying by credit card incurs additional fees thus we won't pursue that avenue further.

If Paypal is deemed unacceptable, I can act as a proxy for bank transfer. After all, I'm the one paying the bills in the end. Just send me a PM for required details.

Do note such solutions require manual handling of subscriptions and if this can be avoided, please use Paypal and automate the process.

Economically we are good until 2025, after that NG sails into uncharted waters.

[ColinM]

Apparently paying by credit card incurs additional fees thus we won't pursue that avenue further.

Can you clarify if those fees are
- for NG to receive the money? or
- to subscribers paying that way?
  (some members have mentioned fees, but that varies between different countries and more importantly,  the bank/company we use)

I'm in the UK and have a credit card set up against my Paypal account
I incur no charges or fees for any transactions made this way.

However in the UK Paypal offers a choice when we use it to pay someone else
- "friends and family" or gift, with no fee but no payment protection
- commercial transactions,  where the receiver incurs a fee and the person paying gets some payment protection in the event of disputes

[Birna Rørslett]

When we indeed had a credit card for NG, very very few of the supporters actually made a payment that way, and both sides had to pay fees. Thus we ended our credt card approach.

With Paypal you can select whether or not to pay fees, by selection the payment option accordingly. Hopefully NG counts as a 'friend'

[Lars Hansen]

When we indeed had a credit card for NG, very very few of the supporters actually made a payment that way, and both sides had to pay fees. Thus we ended our credt card approach.

With Paypal you can select whether or not to pay fees, by selection the payment option accordingly. Hopefully NG counts as a 'friend'

As I've written elsewhere here on NG - only reason I'm not a paying member is that I don't want a PayPal account and as far as I can see it should be possible to pay via credit card on a PayPal transaction. Would that also cause credit card fees on NG? If so, how much? 

Unfortunately that option doesn't work when I create a membership on NG - I'm forced to create a PayPal account and I've read that it might be an issue if the PayPal transaction is set to recurring payments - is that the case here on NG? I would also prefer to renew and pay my membership every year.

[Hugh_3170]

Hi Colin

In Australia, PayPal works exactly the same way as you have described for the UK.  I cannot see why it would be any different for other countries.

I often use PayPal to pay bills incurred here in Australia, as each PayPal payment results in a receipt from PayPal itself as well as the transaction on the statement issued by the underlying credit card that the funds are sourced from.  Having a double receipt like this helps a lot if the person/organisation that you are paying disputes the fact that a payment has been made.
Edit:  transacting through PayPal also keeps ones credit card details from being held by too many parties and spread too far across cyberspace.  PayPal does have its advantages if used carefully.

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However in the UK Paypal offers a choice when we use it to pay someone else
- "friends and family" or gift, with no fee but no payment protection
- commercial transactions,  where the receiver incurs a fee and the person paying gets some payment protection in the event of disputes

[Jan Anne]

As mentioned the forum software only allows PayPal as an integrated means of payments and as the NG subscriber can also cancel the automated subscription in PayPal themselves its a maintenance free solution where I only intervene when something is not working properly.

As we are providing a service the standard fees need to be paid, for every €20 subscription we receive between €18.50 and €19 depending on the location of the subscriber.

A few years ago somebody asked for the option to pay via a creditcard but in the end never did, so last year I cancelled the card as we were loosing NG subscribers money on the card due to the yearly fees. I can't remember the exact fees but we would need at least 3 or 4 payments before we cover these yearly fees which seems not a viable option knowing nobody used it and its also an all manual procedure on our side.

[Lars Hansen]

A few years ago somebody asked for the option to pay via a creditcard but in the end never did, so last year I cancelled the card as we were loosing NG subscribers money on the card due to the yearly fees. I can't remember the exact fees but we would need at least 3 or 4 payments before we cover these yearly fees which seems not a viable option knowing nobody used it and its also an all manual procedure on our side.

Thanks Jan - agree it doesn't seem viable. I'll PM Birna and pay as suggested.

[Hugh_3170]

I thought that if the sender paid the fees from their end/country in the recipients required currency (i.e. Euros in the instance of NG), then the recipient would get the full amount regardless of what country they are in. 

I hope that I am not reading too much into what is being said below, but are some people sending subscription monies to NG via PayPal and are not electing to cover fees from their end?

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As we are providing a service the standard fees need to be paid, for every €20 subscription we receive between €18.50 and €19 depending on the location of the subscriber.

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[Jan Anne]

I thought that if the sender paid the fees from their end/country in the recipients required currency (i.e. Euros in the instance of NG), then the recipient would get the full amount regardless of what country they are in. 

I hope that I am not reading too much into what is being said below, but are some people sending subscription monies to NG via PayPal and are not electing to cover fees from their end?

Everybody is, but this is how it is done automatically and to my knowledge the subscribers don't have the option to change that during the activation procedure.

[Hugh_3170]

Thanks Jan Anne.

Maybe if there are these extra fees at the recipient's end, then the subscription needs to be raised a little to cover these.

Everybody is, but this is how it is done automatically and to my knowledge the subscribers don't have the option to change that during the activation procedure.

[Birna Rørslett]

We'd enter a rat's race as fees will increase, too

The solution is more subscribers, not higher subscription price.