Nobody Wants FreeStuff Drawings?

[Keith Outten]

Only about 3% of over 9,500 Active Members have donated so far this month. This means the odds of winning a FreeStuff Drawing is about one in 311 as of this morning. I have several more FreeStuff Drawings to post but I am hesitant to do so until a larger percentage of this Community is eligible to win.

If we are to remain advertising free we need support from this Community, please take a few minutes of your time and make a donation.

.

[Randal Stevenson]

May I ask what percentage of your contributers donate via check instead of paypal?

I know I did last year, and will be doing so towards the end of the week (I didn't record a check and tore out the carbon, so I don't want to write another until I make my deposit to be 100% safe). From what I have read, this means I will not be eligible for the drawings, until it clears, so I have that to contend with. You probably have other members who have mailed off their checks, and you haven't received them yet. Shouldn't the drawings wait a couple of weeks for them to come in, BEFORE starting the drawings?

Don't take this wrong, I am just trying to understand why the contest AND the membership drive started the same day.

Thank you!

[Gary Keedwell]

I have signed up for Pay pal a couple of times and at the last minute I cancel. How much do they charge? Is there a yearly payment or do they get a % of the order. Or do they get a standard fee for each order?
Thanks,
Gary

[Mike McCann]

I use paypal all the time with ebay. It does not cost you anythign to send money either from your checking acct or credit card. If you send by credit card the reciever has to pay a fee.

[Todd Burch]

Hummm. Free Drawing : purchase necessary?

As opposed to Free Drawing : no purchase necessary.

My uneasiness from the banner ads threat is waning. Perhaps you could better support the forum via Indirect and Direct advertising? 23,000+ members, with almost 10,000 active members is not too shabby. Perhaps a requirement for direct sponsorship is also donation for free stuff giveaways.

Personally, I don't need the giveaways. Chances are I have it, and if I don't, I don't need it. So, no motivation for me there. Keith, this is your board - do with it want you want.

On the flip side, if one could get the suggested $6 each from 9,500 active user's on a yearly basis, that ain't too shabby either.

Todd

[Gary Keedwell]

I use paypal all the time with ebay. It does not cost you anythign to send money either from your checking acct or credit card. If you send by credit card the reciever has to pay a fee.

If it doesn't cost me anything...how do they stay in business? I'm just a little hesitant...maybe because I don't understand. I can't seem to pull the trigger but I'm also leary of placing my catologue order using my credit card. So, Pay Pal is secure, huh? Gary

[Steve Busey]

If it doesn't cost me anything...how do they stay in business? I'm just a little hesitant...maybe because I don't understand. I can't seem to pull the trigger but I'm also leary of placing my catologue order using my credit card. So, Pay Pal is secure, huh? Gary

Gary, PayPal gets their money from "the seller". Someone I spoke with last night says he pays $20/month for his account, and pays 3-4% per transaction. It's free to "the buyer". HTH

[Jim Becker]

Gary, this is an OT topic, but to put it to rest, PayPal makes money on the "float" as well as the fee they charge to members and businesses that accept credit cards for payment. For individuals who do "cash only" transactions for receiving payments, there is no fee.

Jim
SMC Moderator

[Scott Loven]

I have done over 6000 transactions with paypal over the last 7 years, no problems. They charge the sell (SMC) a percentage(Around 2.5%) which is less then a credit card company would charge.

[Keith Outten]

I think we have received about 25 checks, the rest have been via PayPal. I scheduled the FreeStuff Drawings to start on November 15th so that most would have plenty of opportunity to donate before the drawings started.

Donations are to support The Creek, there shouldn't be a problem financially with over 9,500 active Members here and the suggested donation of 6 bucks is low enough for a student to be able to affod to particiapate.

It is a lot of work to keep The Creek flowing plus the hours on the phone and email communications to coordinate FreeStuff Drawings. Starting this year we aren't working for free anymore, The Creek is commercially owned and operated so there should be some profit this year which is incentive for us to continue working for everyone.

FreeStuff Drawings are just an incentive for people to donate, they are not done for a fee, in fact the vendor ships directly to the winner...we don't make a penny on FreeStuff drawings. The people who win sure enjoy them though.

We have already discussed the advertising issue this year and decided not to go that route, we could move to a subscription based Forum if that is preferable to everyone. Either way we have to pay the bills and I don't see any problem with the people who use The Creek paying just over 1.5 cents per day for all the information and the friendly atmosphere.

PayPal takes about 3% of every donation made here.

[Gary Keedwell]

Gary, this is an OT topic, but to put it to rest, PayPal makes money on the "float" as well as the fee they charge to members and businesses that accept credit cards for payment. For individuals who do "cash only" transactions for receiving payments, there is no fee.

Jim
SMC Moderator

I beg to differ with you Jim. This thread is about money and if people don't know how to give the money to SMC ...how will SMC survive?
Gary

[Lee Schierer]

There's still 3-1/2 weeks left in the month if my calendar is correct.

Lee

[Gary Keedwell]

Thank-you
Mike M
Steve B
Scott L
I now feel more comfortable signing up for Pay Pal.
Gary K.

[Al Willits]

Considering procrastination is a way of life with me, I'll try and get a check to ya in the next week or so, not sure if I can still get a shirt or anything, but either way, I'll get something in.

This place is worth a hell of a lot more than $6 a year....

Al

[Bobby McCarley]

I have supported the Creek in the past and will continue in the future, but, my pay-pal account was hacked and I had to cancel my credit card because of it. So contrary to what most people say, pay-pal is not 100% safe. So until I get this staightened out, I will not be making a donation by pay-pal. The fund drive was stated to be the month of November. To me that is from the 1st to the 30th. If I miss out on the free drawings because I choose to donate by a slower and safer method, so be it. Is that fair considering the fund raiser was billed as the month of November..., I really don't want to open another sure can of worms. Everyone has to make their own choices and decisions in life as to how they play the game of life.

Bobby