OCA Gripe

[OldsDoug]

Well, I just got inspired to renew my OCA membership that has been "inactive" (all right, expired!) for some time... went to the website and lo and behold, you can now join online! So I fill out the app, get to "method of payment", click on Visa/MasterCard and... I get a popup that says, "Sorry, OCA cannot directly accept Credit Card payments. Please use the PayPal option."

Well, shoot! Why show the option if it's not supported... and why not put on the application page, "PayPal Only"!!

Dopes...

I don't have a PayPal account for a good reason... I don't _want_ one!

Sheesh... OCA is gonna have to do without me for awhile longer. Baah.

Mind you, it doesn't bother me that they don't take credit cards, but f'Pete's sake, say so, and don't make me think you do when you don't! (Honey, don't!)

Thanks for the bandwidth... rebuttals welcome.

[Guest JRZYBOB442]

I'm surprised you don't have a Pay Pal Account - it's even more secure than a CC and if you are buying on the web . . . .

But the real issue is that most smaller club sites really don't want the expense of setting up a CC account and the "shopping cart" software.

My guess is that they had one for awhile and then dropped it because of the cost, but didn't change the site (another cost).

Clubs like the OCA are operating on very thin margins - that's why they're clubs and not businesses.

[Guest imported_starfire]

Hmmm, looks to me like a generic drop-down menu that probably is not editable by the user (OCA). I don't ever remember the OCA taking credit cards. The fees are way too high to make it worthwhile if you are not doing a lot of business. Our chapter looked into accepting credit cards for registration for the '08 Nationals and it was just not practical for us. I don't know if this happened where you live, but here in southeastern Michigan, when the gas prices went up to $4 a gallon many gas stations started having two prices, one for a cash purchase and a slightly higher one for a credit purchase. The credit card companies charge the vendor a percentage of each sale for the "right" to use their services and so that upcharge was to cover the increased CC fee costs.

I solved the problem of them not taking Visa/MC, I just write them a check every two years.

[Earl B.]

Well, if you use a credit card with your paypal account, which is owned by ebay, paypal charges the receiver a fee. After you accept one credit card, from then on, a fee is charged, even if the payer is using a bank account to pay the bill.. sooooo.... paypal ain't doing nobody no favors..no way..no how!!!