Considering a "Paypal Donate" button for this site . . . . .
 

Hi All

I am considering having a Paypal "Donate" facility to offset the cost of having this website professionally hosted. I do not want anyone to feel pressured into making a donation, nor particularly do I want to feel pressured to jump through hoops because there may be donors. This site must continue to have its free and easy mood . . . .

Any comments / thoughts ?

And then on the technical side, S.Africans may not receive funds (cash) from a Paypal account (our government says so). Apparently we may spend accummulated funds, which will be just fine because our US webhost and software provider accept Paypal. I have made a hidden test button, and am looking for a volunteer with a spare $1 to make a trial donation. Please PM me for a link to the button.

Paypal freely lets anyone make a button for their sites . . . . . . whether you have a Paypal account or not! So it appears that they will happily accept donations that the site owner may never see! (procedure). This is why I want a volunteer for a cheap test please.

Great idea Gerald,

I am a member of another site that has a donate button and I think that the system works well. There site gives a little extra storage to those who have donated so that they can upload more pictures, like you have just done for me ;)

I agree that you should not be expected to jump through hoops just because you received a donation, after all how much do these plans cost...

I would be 100% behind the idea.

Jayson

Gerald,

What is your identity?

In GuiaCNC forum in Brasil, we use this option and who made the donation is an "Colaborador" (Collaborator) :)

Yuri, I have sent you a PM with a link to the test button.

I know that some forums give a special status to donors, calling them gold members or collaborators, but I don't plan to make the money donors visible in public. We have technical donors here as well, who support this site with lots of information and tips . . . . worth a lot more than the couple of dollars someone might give to have his name highlighted as a donor.

Is that the message you got after you tried the button?

Okay Yuri, Got your PM now.

Funds Question.
 

Surely you could get it all setup and have PP load it down to an account you could recieve payment from.

How would we send you money any other way if we wanted? Would it need to be a money order or what.

You should get a credit card machine or setup a section on this site to accept credit cards like paypal does then it is direct to an account there in South Africa and not PayPal. Sort of an online store.

I have a Visa Paypal debit card I use to remove funds from my Paypal account, it works great.

Gerald,

I think this is a great idea...almost suggested it myself.:)

Did you get a volunteer? Or, if you'd like another, I'll be happy to volunteer.
Just let me know.

Regards,
John

Have made contact with PayPal support and they gave me a few tips. The test button is changed now. John, thanks for the offer, I'll PM you a link shortly.

OK Gerald,

Gerald,

I can test paypal aswell if you want....

Are you allowed/possible to use moneybookers (www.moneybookers.com)? I always used moneybookers when I needed to pay people in eastern countries where paypal was banned by gov or when they couldn't receive money back to there bank accounts. Unfortunately moneybookers is less used globally, something to think about.

Anyways, let me know if you want me to test the paypal button.

Ries

Thanks John & Yuri, your tests were both successful! :)

I returned your donations and took away that button because I need to set it up more carefully, and give MechMate its own account. However, I know how to do it now.

Any thoughts on where a "Donate" button could appear on this forum? Easiest for me is to replace one of the rotating pics right on top, because that is outside of the vBulletin code . . . . .but, wouldn't that be too blatant and look like begging? :o

It will only look like begging if you make all 6 pics paypal buttons :p Or if you put a personal button beside each person's name.

You returned ... I thought not to like me ... or money ;)

The last right-side up ? :cool:

If I put it on the last pic, you can make your screen view narrower and then never see it. :rolleyes:

Gerald,

On this page http://www.mechmate.com/ I would put a menu entry 'donate' under contact that points to http://www.mechmate.com/donate.html.
On that page you can make a explanation where the money goes to and how it's used.

I would also put a donate button in the forum right to the MechMate logo on the top left. This will then also point to http://www.mechmate.com/donate.html

just my two cents (but will donate more ;) )

Ries

Gerald,
The donate button sounds fine, would be nice for people who would like to use it. Lots of other sites use them and they dont hurt for memebers. :) Helps offset the running costs. I am sure it is not cheap to run this site all year. :eek:

i see, VBulletin not is a free software?
(attempt to dowload to see the code but I can not)

The button is a good idea Gerald.

Gerald,

If you use another credit card is that going through paypal or another way?

I have nervously added a button on top of this pages :o

Nils, for this account, there is no credit card connected at all. Paypal accummulates funds into the donate@mechmate.com account and I can spend it from there.

Hi
I can do the test I have a pay pal account and I feel
I have gotten plenty of info for free here. If you need
a tester I can do it. Be glad to help as at this time I have
nothing else to contribute, but someday want to build a MM.

I'm In
 

Thanks for all the knowledge and info!!!

I also have a PayPal account. So it's easy to send money via PayPal.

It worked for me.