Extra costs for online entries

[stodge]

See other thread for discussion

[Mrs H.]

50p per entry - but not 50p per person - I've just entered 6 people for JOK and national event - you can buy a lot of stamps and envelopes for £6

[guest]

50p per entry - but not 50p per person - I've just entered 6 people for JOK and national event - you can buy a lot of stamps and envelopes for £6

3.4% + 20p....

£8 per entry..... 8x6=48 x 3.4% = £1.60+20p

£1.80

[Tatty]

Agree with Mrs H 50p per entry form, as that is where the cost of money transfer occurs.

[Adventure Racer]

Agree with Mrs H 50p per entry form, as that is where the cost of money transfer occurs.

But it's not a unit cost per entry - cost gets higher the bigger the fee too. See above and in other thread.

[Kitch]

Would you pay up to 50p per person to enter online with a card payment

Or would you rather the entries secretary slaved for hours and did it all manually to save you a few pence ?

It is misleading to look at this as a cost for online entries, it is a cost of organising the event, just like the loos - which not everyone will use.
Any cost should be factored in to the entry fee, with people paying the same amount however they enter. If people enter postally then the club gets a bit more money.

[Adventure Racer]

I totally agree with that point of view, Kitch - I pretty much said that (but more subtly) in the other thread. The big issue though is that it was all done for free before, so is likely to lead to price inflation, given I imagine most events aren't making big profits they can just cut into. Not a good thing for the H's and other orienteering families - orienteering being a family sport after all.

[rosco]

Stop moaning about costs! Orienteering events are cheap as chips!

Go to slightly fewer events if you really can't afford that extra 50p and enjoy a happily relaxing weekend in the garden/down the pub instead. Or do some training so you get more out of the events you can afford...

[Wattok]

online entries should be encouraged even if it did have a 50p extra cost. it should be structured so that if an event normally cost £3 entry then:

online entries = £3
Postal entries = £4

That way the extra online cost is absorbed rather than highlighted. Online entries make life a lot easier all round (if its a good system) and as has been said, orienteering is a very cheap sport to take part in so a small hike in postal entries would be acceptable.

[stodge]

to save you a few pence ?

Trouble is for a regional event we normally get 1200 competitors, The bottom line if we used online entry for even 3/4 of the entry the club would be £450 worse off or the entry fee would have to go up by 50p.


Yes I agree there are lots of hidden costs in an event eg portaloos (which are very expensive) Its a case of working out if online entries are a wants or a need.

Often as time goes on things change from wants to needs (ie electronic punching) as the sport develops, perhaps online entry is in that half way category at present....

That’s what Im trying to get a feel of with the poll.

[SeanC]

Another way to look at this is that online entries will increase participation as some/many find online entering easier than postal entry and are therefore more likely to make the event - increasing the profitability of the event.

Also there should be less late entries and all the hassles associated with them.

[LostAgain]

Having just done the entries for our local badge event, I was happy to donate the time. We can now see that this has a value to the prospective entrants.

Whoever thinks orienteering is cheap is dreaming. Family orienteering is quite expensive if you load in the fuel, entries, etc. etc. etc.

If BOF had its own system then I'm guessing that the main expense for online entries would be the credit card charge, this could be removed as an option and force all to use debit cards. This could then be a win - win, little expense but convenient for all the IT literate.

[Kitch]

Stodge,

totally agree with what you say, which is why I say it needs to be factored in to the pricing of the event. If you end up losing money then you need to charge a higher entry fee.
Of course this means that people who don't use online entry subsidise those who do, just as those who don't use the loos subsidise those who do etc.

The trouble is you start getting into this divisive conversation about some people paying for stuff they don't use.
Hence I think it is unwise to do explicit things like charge different prices for different entry mechanisms as has been suggested.
Its something treasurers will have to keep an eye on I guess.

[Kitch]

LostAgain - O is cheap

have you looked at adventure races or ever looked at the cost of a "Great ...Run" - they'll happily charge you 25 quid to run 5 or 10 k round the city streets.

Good point about debit cards

[Adventure Racer]

It is indeed a cheap sport compared to others - though personally I've spent a lot more of my own money on entering O events than I have on entering ARs in the last year That's all fine for us single folks - I probably spend more in fuel getting to events than I do in entry fees - but not so good if you've a family who you have to feed with O events. Then again for some of those on here, the travel costs to some events must outstrip the event entry fees by some margin too!