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Revision 10 as of 2008-04-22 02:23:07

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MemberManual / PayingDues

1. Figuring out how much you owe

We currently have two recurring sources of costs: hosting costs from [http://peer1.com/ Peer1] for our new infrastructure (deleuze, mire, etc.) and [http://interserver.net/ InterServer] for our old server, fyodor, which we hope to decomission soon. The first costs $750.00/mo, and the second costs $150.05/mo. When we are billed for each of these costs, we divide the amount evenly among all current members.

You also have the option of pledging to pay more, to help offset costs for less well-off members. There is [https://members.hcoop.net/portal/pledge a portal page] where you can learn more about this and set your pledge amount.

2. Deposit policy

Miscellaneous exceptions:

3. How to pay

The easiest ways are by [http://www.paypal.com PayPal] or [http://checkout.google.com/ Google Checkout]. We recommend that you pay via the customized payment links on [https://members.hcoop.net/portal/portal the main portal page]. If you somehow can't access that, there is [https://join.hcoop.net/pay.html a generic, publicly-viewable page] with the appropriate links.

Remember that both providers deduct service fees, so that we will receive and credit you for less than you type in to send. You'll find fee information on the portal's [https://members.hcoop.net/portal/portal front page] and [https://members.hcoop.net/portal/money financial page]. While the fees may seem steep, they may actually be the best fees you'll find for online transfers of our volume. Your credit card company imposes similar fees, but you just don't see them because merchants jack up their prices to compensate! However, if you have a better suggestion for how to accept payment online, then we're all ears on the hcoop-discuss mailing list.

We will also accept physical payments, like mailed checks or international money orders or whatever you find necessary, though it is significantly more of a pain for us. If you feel that you can't pay with PayPal or Checkout, [https://bugzilla.hcoop.net/enter_bug.cgi open a support ticket] explaining exactly which payment method you want to use and why you can't use PayPal or Checkout. Many people refuse to use PayPal because of "horror stories" that they've heard, but it seems very rare to meet anyone who personally has experienced anything bad of this kind from PayPal. It really is quite a safe and convenient way of sending and receiving money.

4. Epilogue: How did we come up with these payment policies?

We want to switch to automatic debiting of a flat monthly fee from members, but we're not there yet. For now, we need to make sure that we don't let members stick around, using our services, even when they've stopped paying. Quite frequently, members disappear and stop responding to attempts we make to contact them. Our bylaws allow the Board of Directors to vote to boot members whose balances have been negative for three months. Thus, we set the deposit requirement to three months of costs, so that we can boot anyone who has obviously disappeared, before the point where he's paid less than he's been charged.