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Remember, we're not going from 0% to 5%. Paypal takes 3% from us. Granted not everyone uses paypal (or MSR credit card payments for the future), so lets average it out to 2% per entry is taken with paypal and instead of 5%, maybe we're only going to 4% (accounting for cash payers on site), so we're only going up ~2% not to mention the features of MSR from a membership/events/calendar/registration/payment perspective allows the redo of the website to be braindead: static content displayed in a sexy manner and redirects to MSR for dynamic stuff etc.
We are going up from 0% to 5% on membership renewals, since in prior years those were paid in cash/check. Memberships actually account for about 1/3 of the clubs income. That accounts for $350-$400 of my estimate. The rest comes from the increase from 2.8% to 5.0% charged on event entries receipts. Going from 2.8% to 5% doesn't sound like much but it adds about $400 of costs. As close as I can guess the club (not counting the track program) takes in about $25K per year, most of which goes right back out as expenses. At the November meeting there was about $1400 left in the general account. If we had used MSR for the 2013 season we would have had only ~ $600 left. That means using MSR in 2013 would have cost us over 50% of money we had left from last season.
The real point to remember that this costs us 5% of the gross receipts not 5% of the profits. It's costing us more like 50% of the clubs profits.
The percentages can get confusing so look at it this way, in 2014 if you include the track program we will pay MSR approximately $7250 for handling payment processing, registration and memberships. That just seems like a ton of money for what they are doing, especially considering that just a few years ago we used to be able to handle all that ourselves, for free.
Having said, since this whole MSR thing is a apparently a done deal, I think the club should increase entry fees and membership dues to offset the costs that come with switching and clearly explain why we are doing so. Starting to use paypal costs us a lot of money and MSR will almost double those costs. If we don't make a change we will feel the impact in our bank account pretty soon.
As I sit here typing this I may have finally figured out why the whole MSR thing rubs me the wrong way. We are a non-profit club and the way I see it, MSR has found a way to take the work of all our
volunteer club members and get themselves a 5% cut, right off the top. I don't mind getting out there and working so my fellow members can enjoy a fun event but, in 2014 I won't be working for THSCC anymore, I will be working for MSR. That's what every officer and event chair in this club will be doing, volunteering their time and their efforts to create events so MSR can make their 5%. I wonder if MSR will offer us health insurance since we are all working for them now?
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