[Sca-cooks] Fwd: [Ansteorra] Using Credit Cards to pay for events

[Stefan li Rous]

I'm sorry if this is a bit long, but I thought some folks here might be 
interested in hearing about this since one of the things being done 
with this is to pay pre-paid feast reservations. This is an 
experimental program done with special permission of the SCA BOD, so it 
is not available anywhere else just yet. But if you think your kingdom 
might benefit from such a program you might voice that interest to the 
BOD and/or your kingdom officers.

Stefan

Begin forwarded message:
> From: Paul Foster <p_foster at sbcglobal.net>
> Date: May 11, 2004 2:39:58 PM CDT
> To: ansteorra at ansteorra.org
> Subject: Fwd: Re: [Ansteorra] Using Credit Cards to pay for events
>
> 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
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****