[rtpnet-tact] Network for Good Donation and other options for online donations

[w4chl at amsat.org]

Judy,

This is a tremendous amount of churn and e-mail for a $50 donation ! 

The overhead of PayPal on me as a donor is far lower and reliability far 
higher than with Network for Good and at this point I am not inclined to 
use the Network for Good service again. I suspect that I am more patient 
than many a person who has experience with online commerce, but the 
Network for Good model for e-commerce and its web site is dated and one 
that I am not inclined to use again nor recommend to others. 

I could not get through on the number on the web site, not good for an 
online broker of donations ! Now that each donation made through Network 
for Good explicitly cites costs and asks for reimbursement HIGHER than 
PayPal costs, I see very little reason to use the service. I see promises 
made to improve a service simply to meet the standards of existing, 
competing services but at higher costs. 

Here is a summary of the fundamental differences of common e-donation 
mechanisms available to me, right now for use with RTPnet (and others):

Service                 Ease of Use  Ease of Use   Reliability 
Availability  Direct   Cost    Cost 
                        (Donor)      (Recipient)     Deposit  donor 
recipient
PayPal                  High         High          High          High  Yes 
     Zero    Low (zero to indiv)
Network for Good                Moderate     High          Low Moderate  ? 
       High    Low
Local bank/CU ebanking  Moderate     High          High          High  Yes 
     Med     Med
USPS.gov                High         High          High          High  Yes 
     Med     Low (+labor)
Writing a check & mail  Low          Moderate      Moderate      High  No  
    Low     Low (+labor)
 
Assumptions:
- not a one-time donation, evaluation above changes if e-services are used 
only once
- recipient has some familiarity with at least one e-banking/commerce 
service
- donor has some familiarity with at least one e-banking/commerce service

Net for consumer: 
- PayPal incurs no extra charges to donor, no charges to use service
- Local bank/Credit Union e-banking has fees borne by user (donor) AND 
recipient (a few are now making e-banking "free" with min accounts >$1k)
- Network for Good uses a dated transaction model that incurs higher 
costs. Similar to the discussion about assessing RTPnet.org's value to its 
community, Network for Good is in the same boat where technology and 
availability of lower cost, competing services may soon lead to Network 
for Good's demise - at least in its current form. PipeVine's demise is 
indicative of what will likely happen to Network for Good if it doesn't 
partner with others and change models.

Cheers & 73s de Mark W4CHL

Mark R. Smith  w4chl at amsat.org
Chapel Hill NC  USA   http://rtpnet.org/parc
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