Tag Archives: PayPal

Issue # 25.5 “25 Years: The Payments”

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Saturday, April 18, 2020 
[ 1-Entries | 2-Teams  | 3-Confs  | 4-Charities ]

25 YEARS:  ONLINE PAYMENTS RULE TODAY
Cash, check, and even money orders were how we got our money in the beginning

1995 to 2020 Inflation

SAFER-AT-HOME W/FACE COVERING, CA (smt)- With unemployment claims at record levels due to the effects of COVID-19, ten dollars is something to save now rather than spend on a really, cool betting pool.   While $10 in 1995 is now worth almost $17 ($16.97) in today’s dollars, our entry fee has never gone up.  Or think of it this way, the entry fee back in 1995 would be less than $6 ($5.90) today.  So you are getting more bang for you buck with each passing year.  What has been going up is the number of entries, and thus, the challenge of collecting all that money.  I the beginning there was just cash which would be handed to Andy F or David F and we had just 12 people to worry about in ’95.  But with 111 people like last year?  How do we do that?  So here is another 25 Year retrospective, this time on the various HWCI NCAA payments.

Unlike a lot of other paid tournament pools out there, there is no administrative fee, free entry by the admins, or kickbacks taken by David or I, despite the vast number of hours working on the pool (and David funding to run the server our pool is run on).  100% of each entry fee (including ours) goes into prizes.  Always has, always will.  Like I said in the previous issue, any tips or “extra” people try to sneak in as “thanks”, I put right into the First Four for Charity donation.

So if there are 100 entries, then there will be $1,000 doled out.  Now, every year, there are always stragglers and regulars that pay late or sometimes miss (when I get too lazy to remind again), but I always cover so there will be $1,000 to give out regardless if I’ve collected it all by the end of the tournament.  Most of these are my dear longtime friends who I think I’ll see soon to collect but family and work get in the way.  A lot have given up and gone the online payment or check way but there are a few I’ll have to remind at the next BBQ. 

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PayPal is Deemed Evil (So I’m not calling them that, just deeming them to be so)

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PayPal apparently now charges fees for receiving money of any type if you click their button.  They even take fees for donations!  Apparently the charitable giving is to PayPal, not the recipient.  Don’t know how long this has been going (I checked last year’s payments and they didn’t do this then) but I found out by accident because PayPal doesn’t SHOW you they took fees, just what the “gross” amount is.  So when I’m seeing $10 across the board, everything looks fine.  Click on details, and presto, halfway down the page, -59 cents for fees.  I’ve contacted those who aleady paid and asked them to volunatarily make up the difference (purely optional on their part, their entries still count and I’ll absorb the fees).

The website should be updated, but if you just want to send just $10.00 (no credit card payments), you have to do it the old fashioned way and log in to PayPal, click Send Money to “[email protected]“, choose a PERSONAL reason (not a PURCHASE reason) such as Gift, and send.

If you don’t mind paying $10.61 (regardless if it’s PayPal funds, eCheck, Credit Card or personal bank account), click the PayPal button on your web bracket confirmation page.

Despite all this, PayPal is still the easiest and most convenient solution out there and it allows us to accept credit card payments.  Just wish they weren’t all Pelosi-Reid about this.