Author Topic: [LEL17] Bloody Paypal  (Read 2888 times)

[LEL17] Bloody Paypal
« on: 08 January, 2017, 05:21:35 pm »
Those of you who were around in 2013 may remember LEL having a boatload of grief with Paypal. Having taken all your entries for LEL2013, Paypal promptly froze our account and made us jump through endless hoops to get money out of them. It nearly scuppered the event.

Fidgetbuzz has been negotiating with them for the best part of a year to try and make the relationship a bit smoother. They even called us out of the blue last week to discuss further, promising to send us more forms to complete. The forms never arrived, but they are withholding 70% of all funds we receive until after the event.

Frankly we've had enough of this, so we're seriously restricting Paypal with regard to LEL.

Regrettably, if you want to enter LEL this year you won't be able to use Paypal. Payment will be by bank transfer only. If you want to whack the entry fee onto a card you can use a company such as transferwise to make the bank transfer. You can even do this if you're in the UK, by paying us in euros (or dollars).

We're still going to use Paypal for jersey sales, as we can absorb that restriction onto our cashflow. But for entry, I'm afraid we're going to have to ask you to carry out a bit more admin than we would have liked you to.

Very sorry, but we hope you understand.

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: Bloody Paypal
« Reply #1 on: 08 January, 2017, 06:05:43 pm »
THAT IS OUTRAGEOUS!!!

You have my sympathy and, no doubt, the sympathy of many other AUKs who are grateful for all your efforts.

Bairn Again

Re: Bloody Paypal
« Reply #2 on: 08 January, 2017, 06:10:04 pm »
I experienced similar grief from PayPal albeit smaller scale vis a vis Mille Alba back in 2012.

If I was doing anything of a similar scale or bigger in future I would use only direct bank transfer. It's probably cheaper too. 


marcusjb

  • Full of bon courage.
Re: Bloody Paypal
« Reply #3 on: 08 January, 2017, 06:29:24 pm »
Their UK offices are around the corner. Brick or firebomb? Your choice.  ;)

Gutted for you and Fidgetbuzz - a lot of work and preparation cocked up.

70% is vastly over-cautious, especially for an event that is not being run to create a significant margin.

I hope that you can come to a better arrangement with them to release more of the funds you need.
Right! What's next?

Ooooh. That sounds like a daft idea.  I am in!

frillipippi

  • from Italy
Re: Bloody Paypal
« Reply #4 on: 08 January, 2017, 06:46:21 pm »
Only recently I came to know that you experienced such problems with Paypal in 2013.
Since then, I've taken a new habit: when I have to pay something, I use Paypal only if the counterpart doesn't give me any alternative.
Your words are corroborating my will and I'm considering trying to convince other people to boycott Paypal as well.

Re: Bloody Paypal
« Reply #5 on: 09 January, 2017, 10:47:21 am »
Is there a way to accept credit/debit cards directly?

The reason I ask is some people regard their bank details as confidential, even though they were printed on every cheque they used to write.

Accepting credit cards is not something I know about, but no doubt the merchant has to meet certain criteria which a privately organised event such as LEL might not.

In one respect I'm pleased Paypal has been dumped.

I will not use it for the reasons stated, and others including security which those in the mainstream banking industry regard as poor.

Fidgetbuzz

  • L sp MOON. 1st R sp MARS . At X SO sp STARS
Re: Bloody Paypal
« Reply #6 on: 09 January, 2017, 11:37:19 am »
This is not a problem .. there is only a tiny amount stuck there .. and we were aware of the potential problem .. so  all of the first 400 and then the AUK and Guaranteed were always asked to pay to bank .. we were going to allow paypal for the last offer .. and even now .. extreme difficulty in paying   we might let go thru paypal. For example we did allow Greece in 2015 .. when they were in the middle of their banking crisis
I was an accountant until I discovered Audax !!

vorsprung

  • Opposites Attract
    • Audaxing
Re: Bloody Paypal
« Reply #7 on: 09 January, 2017, 02:25:24 pm »
you guys should alter this page

https://londonedinburghlondon.com/2016/12/2017-entry-news/

"If you’d like to pay by Paypal, you can only enter from 20 January 2017, and the entry fee is £329"  Probably need to alter this

Re: Bloody Paypal
« Reply #8 on: 20 January, 2017, 08:02:19 pm »
What about CurrencyFair?

Re: Bloody Paypal
« Reply #9 on: 20 January, 2017, 08:06:29 pm »
I used Transferwise for my registration & thought it was straightforward...That seemed to be the general consensus.