Help with the Mid-West Classic planning Options

[Curvie Roadlover]

Hi WCC Planners,
I have a question concerning the upcoming 2004 Mid-West 914 Classic. Would it be possible to set up a 914.com e-mail address (or something similar) that I could use to set up a paypal account for the purpose of allowing attendees of our MWC to paypal their registration fee to? I would like to allow people to “pre-register” for our event at a $5 discount. This would be for the purpose of saving attendees some money, but also to generate some money to get the ball rolling on the event t-shirts, trophies, coffee mugs, etc. I could use my own personal e-mail for this but I thought people might feel more comfortable paypal’ing their money to a 914 related e-mail address, you know?
I’d like to be able to send out a notice with something like, “The pre-registration entry fee can be pay-pal’d to midwestclassic@914world.com”
Is this “do-able?”
Thanks in advance,
-Tom Mulcrone (Curvie Roadlover)
Event co-organizer, Southeast Michigan 914 Owners' Group (SMOG)
7199 Kolb
Allen Park, MI 48101
(313) 388-8464
tmulcrone2@comcast.net

[seanery]

Tom,

Copy & paste this into a pm to Andy & Brad. They run the server. I'm not sure if the mail server is functioning at all right now.

[Curvie Roadlover]

Will do.
Thanks Sean

[JeffBowlsby]

Hi Tom, good luck with the MWC! Wish I could be an emissary form the West...if you will include a stipend in your budget for emissaries next time, I volunteer... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Be sure to consider when giving the discounts, that Paypal charges a small fee. For our WCC, its interesting to note that only about 1/3 of the registrations were paid via paypal, yet $100 in paypal fees resulted. That is a cost to the event which is probably shouldered by the overall registation fees. Actually, it makes more sense to offer discounts to those paying by check/cash...it avoids the fee.

[Curvie Roadlover]

So, how does the paypal fee work? Is it a percentage?
CCL at Camp 914 paypal'd me some sponsorship money and it all transferred into my account - 100% (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

I will encourage people to pre register by check or cash, but I'd also like to offer the convience of paypal too.

And while I'm here in the event planning forum, any suggestions for sponsors???? I've read the posts here regarding that issue.
Did you get any support from PP? They sponsored the event shirts last year, this year we're having a hard time getting ahold of them. Trying to be proactive in contacting and recontacting potential sponsors without becoming a pest, you know?

[rick 918-S]

I wished I knew you guys were taking over the MWC sooner. I would have been glad to help out. I offered help to be involved with Barber Dave's event two years ago but it didn't seem like he wanted the event to grow. Keep me in the loop for next year.

[JeffBowlsby]

Personal accounts are free, I have forgotten how noce that was, but they will insist that you become a 'business account' after a little activity, or they willl ban you from using their service. The fees work out to be about 2.5% to 4% depending on variables. It seems like extortion, I hate it, but it makes it convenient for people and there is no other similar service. So if it helps people and they are willing to pay the fee, then I guess its necessary.

From the Paypal site:

PayPal charges Premier and Business accounts to receive payments. Personal accounts are free, but may not receive credit card payments.


Personal Account Premier/Business Account

Open an Account Free Free

Send Money Free Free

Withdraw Funds Free for US bank accounts

Fees for other banks Free for US bank accounts

Fees for other banks

Add Funds Free Free

Receive Funds Free 2.2% + $0.30 USD to 2.9% + $0.30 USD

Multiple Currency Transactions Exchange rate includes a 2.5% fee* Exchange rate includes a 2.5% fee*



If you receive a payment from a user in another country, an additional cross border fee will be charged. The cross border fee is an additional 1% for U.S. Dollar payments and 0.5% for Canadian Dollar, Euro, Pound Sterling, and Yen payments. This cross border fee is currently waived for Canadian sellers receiving payments from U.S. buyers.

* If your transaction involves a currency conversion, it will be completed at a retail foreign exchange rate determined by PayPal, which is adjusted regularly based on market conditions. This exchange rate includes a 2.5% spread above the wholesale exchange rate at which PayPal obtains foreign currency, and the spread is retained by PayPal. The specific exchange rate that applies to your multiple currency transaction will be displayed at the time of the transaction.

[Curvie Roadlover]

Jeff,
Thanks for 'splainin' it to me.

[JeffBowlsby]

On the sponsorship topic, we have had very good results, thanks to Jeroen exclusively. But there were interesting things that happened which were important and interesting:

Sponsors were not contacted until we had about 50 attendees signed up. We currently have just over 70 914 cars expected at the WCC, showing potential sponsors we were serious.

All of the sponsors contributed and were asked for only relatively small dollars...$100-200. We have 10 sponsors. Nearly everyone approached eagerly signed up. Jake agreed to sponsor the AX for $200. with trophies indicating his 'RAT' name. We have Rallye Shields for each car, which 3 sponsors funded and have their names on them. Those guys were lucky...that was a deal... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Sponsors have paid for the event T-shirts, which have their logos imprinted on them. Several companies have donated parts to give away at a Raffle in exchange for publicity.

But what was also interesting was that we got no response from some of the larger concerns. I guess that will always be the case. With the experience from this first WCC and the visiblity it has, I think we will be better prepared to do it better next year.

I think the most important thing though was early publicity. Get a webmaster and put up a webpage ASAP. Look at the WCC materials and improve on them. One critical decision early on was made..we piggybacked onto other local events, so that we could leverage the interest in our event with the publicity and activities of the other events already planned. Our area has so many P-car things happening, people here can easily get burned out and they become selective. I wonder if next year we could coordinate a 914 Classic Weekend and hold simultaneous events at several locations throught the country? I guess it depend on the other local events if we continue to piggyback...

Hope the MWC event prospers Tom, all 914 owners will win. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Curvie Roadlover]

Thanks to Rusty (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smilie_pokal.gif) I now have a 914 related e-mail account and the associated paypal account is pending verification as we speak. Thanks to Sir Andy for steering me in his direction. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/clap56.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer.gif)
This should make it convenient for attendees to send early registration money and also for sponsors to send funds. My new e-mail is midwestclassic at highway914 dot net. Pretty cool (IMG:style_emoticons/default/aktion035.gif)
Thanks again
Tom