Re: [Debconf-team] PayPal donations, and fees

[Moray Allan <moray@sermisy.org>]

On 2013-03-30 07:09, David Prévot wrote:
> Could we know the amount of money (percentage) that will be “donated“ 
> to
> PayPal on behalf of the matching fund initiative.
>
> I mean, on top of the conversion fee: is it something like 3 % ?

I try to avoid using Paypal myself for reasons unrelated to their fees, 
so I am no expert, but this page seems to give their fees:

https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/merchant-fees
2.9% + $0.30 per transaction, before discounts.
"International Sales: 3.9% transaction fee plus a fixed fee based on 
currency received."

However, your message seems to imply that other methods of donation 
don't carry equivalent fees, which unfortunately they do.

e.g. http://www.spi-inc.org/projects/associated-project-howto/
"All transaction costs (such as the 4.5% for credit cards, and wire 
transfer fees) are deducted from the contribution.  5% of the remainder 
is deducted for SPI overhead, primarily accounting, photocopying and 
postage.  The remaining money is held in trust for the project."

These fees are shown in the SPI Treasurer's reports, e.g.
http://lists.spi-inc.org/pipermail/spi-general/2013-March/003171.html

"       Debian
          Debit Card Fee              3.00
          Processing Fees            31.83
          SPI 5%                     39.93"

The debit card plus processing fees there seem to sum to about 4.4%, 
meaning that 9.4% of the donated amounts didn't reach Debian, using 
non-Paypal payment methods.

--
Moray