Paypal

Christopher Krolak wrote:

Hi Fred, I see you must have added the paypal / credit card API over the offseason.  Can you also setup an option to limit it to "person to person" payments, which should eliminate the per transaction fees?

Hi Chris,

Good idea, but I'm thinking that instead have it where the player can choose either to use his credit card or PayPal account, so that those players without a PayPal account can still have the option to pay online using their credit card.

I'll have to see if the API has an option to force only the PayPal option if the player chooses to use his PayPal account.

Fred

"I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather, not screaming in terror like his passengers!"

Christopher Krolak wrote:

Hi Fred, I see you must have added the paypal / credit card API over the offseason.  Can you also setup an option to limit it to "person to person" payments, which should eliminate the per transaction fees?

Chris, unfortunately PayPal doesn't allow this. I confirmed this with a test. Here is the relevant paypal page regarding this.

Last year I had credit card processing enabled for my leagues, and most of the players that normally would have to mail me a check ended up paying with their credit card. However, I covered the fee. Part of getting this working for everyone to use was an improvement to include an option for the player to pay the cost (which is now the default). I've enabled this for my leagues, so it will be interesting to see how many decide to mail me a check instead of using their credit card this season since they'll be paying the fee. Honestly its not that much, for my $10 survivor league it would be cheaper than the stamp. 

Fred 

"I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather, not screaming in terror like his passengers!"

Fred, thanks for looking into it.  Does the feature on your page allow the player to pay using bank/balance and avoid the fee?  Or does it only allow credit card payments from Paypal with a fee?

I will probably put the fee on the player like you are doing

Christopher Krolak wrote:

Fred, thanks for looking into it.  Does the feature on your page allow the player to pay using bank/balance and avoid the fee?  Or does it only allow credit card payments from Paypal with a fee?

I will probably put the fee on the player like you are doing

No problem. The feature doesn't integrate directly with bank accounts, i.e. using routing and account number info, if that's what you mean (ACH payments). I added it to the to-do list. 

Fred 

"I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather, not screaming in terror like his passengers!"

Christopher Krolak wrote:

actually, I meant does the payer have the option of selecting either credit card or bank account through paypal, or is it hard-coded to credit card only? 

I think if they have a PayPal account there is some option to take the funds from their bank account if they already have it linked. It will still charge the league manager the same service rate through (a cost that he can pass on to the player). 

The nice thing about ACH is it will be a flat rate,  just 25c per transaction. So we accidentally stumbled on a way to make it even cheaper for people to pay online. :) I just don't know if I can get it in this year, we'll see.

Fred

"I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather, not screaming in terror like his passengers!"

I noticed that the paypal charge-up option is not fully covering the Paypal fees charged because Paypal is charging their fee based on the dues+upcharge.   For example, I get paid $10.59 via paypal but then paypal takes back $0.61 (2.9% * $10.59 + $0.30, a $0.02 difference) 

The difference is a nit to me (I will undercharge a buck or two total for my league depending on how many cc payments I ge) but I wanted to make a note in case someone else was wondering why the fees are not lining up. 

There may be a reciprocal formula that could be used to perfectly offset the Paypal fees but I'm not sure what it is.  I did some quick calculations and found that if OPS charged 3.0% instead of 2.9% then the result would be within a penny for all dues under $180, and if OPS charged 3% + $0.31 then the result would be perfect for dues $30 or less, and within a penny up to $105.

Christopher Krolak wrote:

I noticed that the paypal charge-up option is not fully covering the Paypal fees charged because Paypal is charging their fee based on the dues+upcharge.   For example, I get paid $10.59 via paypal but then paypal takes back $0.61 (2.9% * $10.59 + $0.30, a $0.02 difference) 

The difference is a nit to me (I will undercharge a buck or two total for my league depending on how many cc payments I ge) but I wanted to make a note in case someone else was wondering why the fees are not lining up. 

There may be a reciprocal formula that could be used to perfectly offset the Paypal fees but I'm not sure what it is.  I did some quick calculations and found that if OPS charged 3.0% instead of 2.9% then the result would be within a penny for all dues under $180, and if OPS charged 3% + $0.31 then the result would be perfect for dues $30 or less, and within a penny up to $105.

That's interesting, I just confirmed the same thing in my leagues. I also noticed via this page that the charge should be $10.61 for a $10 league, not $10.59.

So I figured out the right formula, which I should have updated on the website tonight. Here it is:

Total charge = (league Fee + payPalFee) /  (1 - payPalFeePct)

or 

Total charge = (league Fee + .30) /  (1 - .029) 

I'm glad this error favored the player and not us.  :)

Fred 

"I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather, not screaming in terror like his passengers!"

Fred Williams wrote:

Christopher Krolak wrote:

I noticed that the paypal charge-up option is not fully covering the Paypal fees charged because Paypal is charging their fee based on the dues+upcharge.   For example, I get paid $10.59 via paypal but then paypal takes back $0.61 (2.9% * $10.59 + $0.30, a $0.02 difference) 

The difference is a nit to me (I will undercharge a buck or two total for my league depending on how many cc payments I ge) but I wanted to make a note in case someone else was wondering why the fees are not lining up. 

There may be a reciprocal formula that could be used to perfectly offset the Paypal fees but I'm not sure what it is.  I did some quick calculations and found that if OPS charged 3.0% instead of 2.9% then the result would be within a penny for all dues under $180, and if OPS charged 3% + $0.31 then the result would be perfect for dues $30 or less, and within a penny up to $105.

That's interesting, I just confirmed the same thing in my leagues. I also noticed via this page that the charge should be $10.61 for a $10 league, not $10.59.

So I figured out the right formula, which I should have updated on the website tonight. Here it is:

Total charge = (league Fee + payPalFee) /  (1 - payPalFeePct)

or 

Total charge = (league Fee + .30) /  (1 - .029) 

I'm glad this error favored the player and not us.  :)

Fred 

OK, I've updated it to use the correct formula. Thanks for noticing this!

FRed 

"I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather, not screaming in terror like his passengers!"