Extra costs for online entries

[FatBoy]

O is relatively cheap to enter/join clubs/join BOF although it does add up.

Today I've entered the National in the lakes, entered a canoe race the day before it (Teeside in March brrrrr) and booked a youth hostel for the scottish MTBO weekend. I am now £52 lighter in the wallet. Then I think of the fuel required to do all those. Better do some work...

Realistically entry prices will go up as more and more people have no time to donate to the cause of putting entries in, mapping etc, and with increased costs to meet our demand like e-punching, pre-printed maps, portaloos etc. Hopefully as we have no time that means we are working harder and are better off and can afford higher entries? Or maybe it means we aren't accessible as a family sport. Personally I feel fuel prices have done a fair bit to scupper that anyway.

[Mrs H.]

Or maybe it means we aren't accessible as a family sport. .

Then we really are stuffed

Scaramanga - you clearly don't have kids - or if you do they are sadly lacking in ambition. I would love to spend a relaxing weekend in my beautiful garden

[FatBoy]

I should've added "on a national level". Of course on a local level things aren't so expensive.

[rosco]

Why would my kids be sadly lacking in ambition?!

[sgb]

Many people are irritated by having to pay an extra fee to do something online: if there's a handling charge for running an online entry system then that should be absorbed into the initial entry charge. Manually entering everybody's name before an event can be very time-consuming, so I don't begrudge a club 50p extra profit from each muppet who could go through the whole process online but sends a cheque in the post anyway.

[HOCOLITE]

[quote="stodge
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.


Wow looking at the recent regional events the entries have been nothing like that no. It strikes me that at £9.00 per senior and 1200 entries, WCH must be raking it in this month or have extortionate land use fees. Virtually every other regional event we enter is £8.00 and often includes online entry

[stodge]

Not sure about the fee - wasnt involved in budgeting the event, However I do know we are going to get nothing like that number for this event - so far post closing date 122 entries two weeks to go ......

Looking back we havn't done a regional for 2 years as we did that huge compass sport cup round and then the JK, maybey numbers have gone down ?

[IanW]

Just thought it might be worth pointing out that the charges for the MDOC system (4.5% - 36p for an £8.00 entry) only cover the fees that we have to pay to the card companies.

These are levied as a percentage by them (in whole or part depending on whether it is a credit or debit card) so there is little option to make it per entry form.

The system runs on a broadband connection whose charges are not included. It also doesn't run at zero cost in terms of human effort. We aren't milking anyone, honest!

Ian.

[Nottinghamshire outlaw]

Today was the closing date for entering the SROC National event - so I spent ages ( considerably longer than it took me to enter the group for the JOK Chasing Sprint - excellent method for that) typing in all the information only to be horrified that I was charged as a late entry!

When is a closing date not a closing date?

[IanW]

Today was the closing date for entering the SROC National event - so I spent ages ( considerably longer than it took me to enter the group for the JOK Chasing Sprint - excellent method for that) typing in all the information

I'm slightly baffled, what did you need to type in that wasn't retrieved from the database and wasn't necessary additional information?

Ian

[fabian4]

For those that don't know, one of my conditions on use of the Fabian4 Online Entry Service is that both the online & postal fees are the same (condition 1):
http://www.fabian4.co.uk/organisers_terms.aspx

Apart from being a good principle, it complies with the Barclaycard Merchant T&Cs:
"With some types of Cards you must charge the customer the same price as if he or she were paying cash. These cards are Visa Debit, Visa Electron, Switch, Solo and Maestro. We will tell you if this applies to other types of card. With other cards you may charge a different price. However, the difference between the card price and cash price must not be more than the amount of the Merchant Service Charge for the card payment."

Adrian
Fabian4 Online Entry

[LostAgain]

[quote="IanW"](4.5% - 36p for an £8.00 entry) only cover the fees that we have to pay to the card companies.

To reduce the cost of online entry why accept credit cards? I'm sure everyone that has a credit card must also have a debit card. Am I missing something, insurance cover? In which case I used my credit card to enter online for last weekends EPOC event, could I claim the fee's back on the credit card insurance????

I'll always use my credit card unless I'm charged a different price as I get a cash back for its use. Whilst debit cards give me nothing other than immediate withdrawal of funds.

[IanW]

To reduce the cost of online entry why accept credit cards? I'm sure everyone that has a credit card must also have a debit card. Am I missing something, insurance cover?

It's not quite that easy. Firstly there are multiple charges. There is a payment clearance company which charges a combination of fixed fees and a percentage. Then there are the actual card companies. In general credit card companies charge a percentage while debit card companies charge a fixed fee. In practice, it can be cheaper to use a credit card for a small payment but a debit card for larger ones.

In addition, the payment companies are not usually prepared to take only one type and people differ in which sort of card they would rather use - for reasons such as cashback, as suggested.

In the end, it is much easier just to allow either.

Ian