Fwd: Re: [Ansteorra] Using Credit Cards to pay for events

[Paul Foster]

Answer follows.


>Having worked in retail as a bookkeeper, would you please give an
>explanation on the list of how much this costs the Society as a whole,
>and each group who uses it?  It would be very useful information for
>future Seneschals and Event Stewards alike.
>
>Gratefully,
>Lady Francesca Laviana Sansovino
>Steppes Seneschal

Greetings,

Having gotten a few of these type of request, here is a little bit of 
history and explanation of the system.   ACCEPS = Ansteorra Credit Card 
Event Payment System.

This system was proposed in Ansteorra over a year ago, and has been 
presented at multiple Red Tape and GOofS meetings to the Kingdom Financial 
Committee since then.

It is an Ansteorran system, built and paid for by the Kingdom of 
Ansteorra.   As such, it costs the Society as a whole nothing.  Our reasons 
for building it were fairly simple:
1) reduce cash at gate
2) make it much easier to do pre-paid feast reservations
3) provide a service to those attending our events who wish to use credit cards

The Kingdom has already incurred the initial costs to setup the 
system.  Our goal now is to operate ACCEPS at about break even.   At this 
time, with the providers we currently have, the system costs the Kingdom 
about $500 a year even if it is not used.   Half of this cost is based on a 
transaction minimum and is offset by any transaction fees that are paid.

The Kingdom receives money from the system in two ways.  First, by charging 
a $1 processing fee for each registration.   Note this is by registration, 
not by person.  So if you register one person, you pay an additional 
$1.   If you register five people, you pay an additional $1.    This 
fee  helps to cover the cost of transactions which we are charged by our 
providers.

The second way is charging branches to setup an event to use the 
system.   The Financial Committee (Kingdom Seneschal, Kingdom Treasurer, 
ACCEPS Treasurer) has currently set the branch fee at $10 per event.  The 
first time a branch uses ACCEPS will be free, to allow them to try out the 
system.   This fee helps cover our fixed monthly costs to have the system 
available.

Between these two methods, we hope to generate enough revenue to achieve 
break even operation.   We won't know for several months if this is working 
or not.   A lot depends upon how much ACCEPS gets used.  The Financial 
Committee will review the finances regularly and may reset the fees or 
cancel the program depending on the results.

As you may have seen on the lists, this system is also being closely 
monitored by the corporation, as is any new concept involving SCA 
funds.   We intend to show that it can be done both with security to our 
funds and without costing the SCA money to operate.

Now a few operational notes.

First, the system actually uses two sites.  ACCEPS itself runs on the 
Ansteorran server.   This is where your registration information is 
captured.   The credit card gateway service, currently Verisign, runs on 
their server.   None of the credit card or personal information used to 
verify the credit card is captured or stored on the Ansteorran 
server.  This means you will have to put in your name twice, since no 
identity information is passed to or from the credit card service.

When the charge is accepted, the funds are transferred through a merchant 
service to a special Kingdom Bank Account setup for this purpose.   A check 
is written from that account to transfer the event fees to the host 
branch.   The account is managed by a warranted deputy of the Kingdom 
Treasurer as a standard SCA account.

Currently there are two people involved in the daily operation of 
ACCEPS.  This is the ACCEPS Treasurer and the ACCEPS Administrator.   The 
Treasurer works with branches on fees, refund policies, check distribution 
and all other money matters.   The Administrator creates and manages events 
in the database, resolves problems with the ACCEPS system, and runs the 
reports.   We hope to automate a lot of this activity over time, assuming 
the system gets enough use and remains in operation.

If you wish to setup an event in ACCEPS, you contact the Treasurer.   At 
this time, the only cost to a branch to have ACCEPS used for their event is 
the $10 branch fee as described above.  If you are having problem with a 
registration, contact the Administrator.   There have already been several 
system improvements based on the feedback generated during the live tests.

This week we complete our third live test of the system, with the Loch 
Guardian registration.  Very soon, registration for Ansteorra's Argent 
Anniversary and Coronation will be available.   This is our final acid 
test, to see what volume of registrations we get and how well the system 
handles it.

Our thanks to the many people who have helped make this system a reality, 
and the various Crowns and Kingdom Officers who believed in it enough to 
let it become one.

Rhodri - ACCEPS Administrator
Kaitlyn - ACCEPS Treasurer