Surcharges to be banned

[Ben T]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40648641
Says it ncludes PayPal - Will presumably affect audaxes? Might see the return of the good old cheque.

[Jaded]

No. It means that all methods of payment will be the same value, instead of charging more for cards etc.

I'd expect the vendor to adjust the price accordingly to take account of lost surcharge income.

[Ben T]

No. It means that all methods of payment will be the same value, instead of charging more for cards etc.

I'd expect the vendor to adjust the price accordingly to take account of lost surcharge income.

"No" to what, which bit don't you agree with

[frankly frankie]

Looks as though AUK and organisers will definitely need to take that on board - and quickly since next years' events and their fees are already in the planning stage.  Most organisers do currently surcharge for PayPal.

[Jaded]

No. It means that all methods of payment will be the same value, instead of charging more for cards etc.

I'd expect the vendor to adjust the price accordingly to take account of lost surcharge income.

"No" to what, which bit don't you agree with

The return of the cheque. Online and electronic payments are here to stay.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Audax entries are the only things for which I've ever paid a surcharge to use Paypal. I don't think I've ever paid a surcharge to pay by debit card but lots of places won't take cards under a certain amount, which seems to vary from £3 to £10. It doesn't say anything about that so presumably it remains an allowed practice.

[Ben T]

No. It means that all methods of payment will be the same value, instead of charging more for cards etc.

I'd expect the vendor to adjust the price accordingly to take account of lost surcharge income.

"No" to what, which bit don't you agree with

The return of the cheque. Online and electronic payments are here to stay.

For audaxes I mean, not generally.
If I pay by cheque I know more of the money is going into the organisers pocket.
At the moment, I can make the decision whether I want to pay for convenience, or not.
In the future, however, I might not want to decide that on behalf of the organiser so I'm more likely to pay by cheque. The organiser may of course decide to put "PayPal preferred" even though they get less because it's more convenient for them - but I doubt it, cos it only takes one person to pay by cheque and it's no more work if more do.

[Jaded]

Do checques cost to process (for the writer and/or the receiver?) I thought they did?

[huggy]

I try to keep the PayPal surcharge on my ride entries to the actual cost of taking payment through PayPal, that is usually equal or less than the cost of a stamp to send me an entry form and cheque.  The ride income is then same from all entries, the only difference is the PITA of taking received cheques to the bank.
As most Audaxes are run as little or no profit events I can see banning a PP surcharge simply increasing the cost of all entries by 50p-ish regardless of using electronic, cheque or cash payment.  (Not quite the £5 per transaction the airlines like to charge.)

Do checques cost to process (for the writer and/or the receiver?) I thought they did?

Not usually for personal cheques, generally yes for businesses to bank them.

[Ben T]

You can post cheques to the bank you know, don't have to take them personally.

[huggy]

You can post cheques to the bank you know, don't have to take them personally.

The PITA experienced comes from mostly working from home and having to leave the house during bank hours to cycle the 3 mile round trip, it was more a statement about my laziness rather than it being a problem 

[Bairn Again]

Ive run events with a significant discount for using paypal as a disincentive to use cheques (a fiver differential is usually enough to sway most audaxers, for whom £5 is generally akin to a kings ransom when it comes to entry fees).  Not sure how this arrangement might be affected in future.

The hassle of cheques (for this organiser anyway) is as much in the manual update of the start list as it is in banking cheques, though the latter is a modest pain (eased slightly by the ability to now pay cheques in via ATM). 

[Delph Cyclist]

I prefer online entry fees, both as an Organiser and a rider.  I don't think I'm alone in that.  In fact I think some of our younger riders don't even possess a cheque book.  It's a lot of trouble to print out an entry form, write out a cheque, and pop it in the post. 

There was a threat some years ago that cheques would be withdrawn.  Although that was overturned, we seem to be heading that way from personal choice.

Crediting the cheques to my bank has just had to change as my local bank has just been closed, but my local Post Office will accept my cheque credits free of charge - except for an extra day delay.  So that's actually an improvement (until the Post Office is closed).

I'd have no problem with dropping the PayPal supplement and standing the cost in the entry fee.

[Philip Whiteman]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40648641
Says it ncludes PayPal - Will presumably affect audaxes? Might see the return of the good old cheque.

Good question, I had not thought of that!

[Wobbly]

If AUK is ever to appeal to the "younger generation" then *all* types of 21st century payment methods need to be acceptable.

Where's the Audax App...?

[Whitedown Man]

^ +1

[mattc]

If AUK is ever to appeal to the "younger generation" then *all* types of 21st century payment methods need to be acceptable.

Where's the Audax App...?

What a load of twaddle. There are plenty of riders under 25. (and quite a few under 16 )

Sure, they're a minority - but no more so than 30 years ago. Endurance sport is like that.

You do know how antiquated the concept of a human-powered bicycle is, don't you?!?

[grams]

If AUK is ever to appeal to the "younger generation" then *all* types of 21st century payment methods need to be acceptable.

If this isn't a veiled request that AUK accept payment in nude selfies, I don't know what is.

[Martin]

I charge more for postal entries than Paypal for my perms but less for calendar events, the surcharge is to cover the stamp for postal return of a route sheet / brevet card. I'm trying to encourage paperless perms hence the discount.

If Paypal dropped their commission I'd make it the same

[MikeFromLFE]

I've had and made a few low value payments through Circle (which appears to be backed by Barclays) - no charges, instant payments. I think we'll see quite a few of these type of apps and payment systems cropping up as the banks try to wean us off cash & cheques. PayPal isn't universally loved, and is starting to look & feel expensive and outdated.
With these thoughts in mind maybe organisers (and AUK) maybe need to thinking about the future beyond PayPal?


Tapatalk puts this signature here, not me!

[Phil W]

PayPal already have in their terms and conditions that you can't charge a different price to other payment methods. We came across that when setting up the LEL Shop for the merchandise.

[jsabine]

Paypal does seem to be in the position of being the worst choice around, apart from all the others.

I think it's tolerated rather than loved - and barely at that - but for AUK purposes it has the advantage of being well recognised, (reasonably) trusted, and (mostly) just working.

It's caused problems for organisers a few times, but despite this I think it's currently mostly adequate - and of course, it's fairly well embedded.

We're certainly keeping an eye on other options: inevitably though, when there's an alternative available that's better/cheaper/more reliable/as trusted/as well known,  that'll only be the start of persuading 200-odd organisers to sign up to the new super service ...

PayPal already have in their terms and conditions that you can't charge a different price to other payment methods. We came across that when setting up the LEL Shop for the merchandise.

I suspect that's not proactively enforced though, only in response to complaints (at any rate for low cost transactions). And at least organisers can say that cheques only pay for the entry, while Paypal receipts are for the entry plus stamps and envelopes.

[Cudzoziemiec]

What stamps and envelopes? Don't organisers ask you to send 2 SAEs for that gubbins? Certainly used to be the case. I don't bother with it now cos I use GPS; has it changed in the last year or two?

[huggy]

What stamps and envelopes? Don't organisers ask you to send 2 SAEs for that gubbins? Certainly used to be the case. I don't bother with it now cos I use GPS; has it changed in the last year or two?

Only for postal entries, PayPal can't handle delivering physical SAEs to the organiser for sending route/info sheet and validated brevet if necessary.
Of course, if all communication is electronic and instant validation of brevet for a <=200k event is available then no SAE is needed.

[Cudzoziemiec]

It's not dependent on payment method, but surely it could be made standard practice for riders to send SAEs if they require a printed route sheet and return of brevet card, and not if they're happy to print their own RS from a pdf or use a GPS? There's no point sending route sheets to people who aren't going to use them or are happy to print their own, nor sending brevet cards back to people who aren't interested in keeping them. Some audaxers treasure their completed brevet cards and relish the sound of a C5 envelope containing several sheets of printed A4 landing on the doormat, some don't care about it. Unless it somehow makes the organiser's work easier to send envelopes?