[MR] Re: Prohibition to Online Payments

[The Sheltons]

Not sure how they are doing it unless it is because kingdoms outside the US
sometimes have different regulations?   Or perhaps they have a special
dispensation as did Gulf Wars for a trial of the process.  I asked our
extremely talented Kingdom Exchequer for specifics and she sent me the
information below from the Society Exchequer.  It should answer things
pretty clearly and demonstrates what the corporation is doing to expand
services in a fiscally responsible way.

In short, we do not do it because we are in compliance with this policy.

Anne le Coeur
Seneschal, Atlantia

-----Original Message-----
From:   SuzanEarley at aol.com [SMTP:SuzanEarley at aol.com]
Sent:   Tuesday, May 11, 2004 11:17 AM
To:     Kexch at sca.org; sca-exchequers at yahoogroups.com;
scagc-l at listserv.aol.com
Subject:        [Kexch] Announcement - longer version


Greetings to the SCA populace from Susan Earley, Society Chancellor of the
Exchequer.


You may have seen in a forwarded post a notice regarding the Ansteorran
Credit Card Event Payment System (ACCEPS). This looks like a Really Good
Thing, and I'm certain that people are wondering a) why their Kingdom isn't
doing it (or something similar) and b) when they can do something similar. I
want to make it clear that ACCEPS is currently in an experimental phase, and
explain what this is and why we have some policies currently in place
preventing branches from doing similar things at this time. I've already
seen some misinformation posted and I want to clear things up.

There is a policy in place that we CANNOT use PayPal or other on-line bill
payment systems, or personal credit card accounts, for doing SCA business.
This has been in place for several years, and is available at
http://www.sca.org/docs/finpolicies/SocietyExchequerPolicies.pdf. The
relevant policy states: "Use of online credit card acceptance companies
(Paypal, Billpoint, etc.) by SCA groups is not permitted until further
notice. SCA groups are NOT to use the personal credit card acceptance
account of a member under any circumstances, as this violates our policy of
no commingling of funds. (Requested by Carolyn Richardson, approved July
2000)" This was included in the latest version of the SCA Exchequer's
handbook, so every Exchequer should be aware of this.

At the time this was done, Carolyn Richardson evaluated PayPal and a few
other systems, looking to see if they could be used according to our
policies and procedures. She did a lot of research, and found there were
significant safeguards we require that were missing and unable to be
replicated in those on-line payment systems. Therefore this policy was made.


Anyone using PayPal (or other on-line payment system) linked to an SCA
account is instructed to stop immediately and disconnect the SCA account
from the service.

We can't use personal credit cards to take reservations because we can't
have money for the SCA go through another account - personal or merchant
(Pennsic is the ONLY exception).


Anyone using personal or merchant credit card accounts to take reservations
for SCA events is instructed to stop immediately.


In 2003, the Gulf Wars autocrat wanted to set up on-line reservations using
credit cards. They had to create and submit documentation for their process
to me, the Treasurer, and the Board to get approval to try it out as
a test. They received permission to try to do credit card reservations using
a pilot program for the 2004 Gulf Wars event. They had some fairly serious
problems, some with the technology, some with the communication between
systems, some with the assumptions they had made about the whole thing, and
some with the services they selected. It worked, but it could be much
improved.

Ansteorra started designing ACCEPS last year as well. A former Board member
who works in computer applications and his wife, a former Kingdom Exchequer,
designed the process. As a computer application developer and database geek
myself, I wanted to make sure that they were developing a professional
production application with the process designed and documented (not just
the computer stuff), just like I would have to at work. Because it's dealing
with money, we have to be VERY careful. They have satisfied all my
requirements and I think it's a good system.


ACCEPS is the ONLY credit-card event registration system allowed right now.
IF AND ONLY IF it is successful in the pilot phase will it be allowed to
expand to branches in Ansteorra.


They have set their process up so that the treasurer in charge of the SCA
account dedicated for this is a warranted Exchequer, and the process follows
all our rules for money handling. They waited for the Gulf Wars trial
results to see if they needed to make any changes. They made those changes,
and are now in their own pilot phase, using a test plan. Their large stress
test will be the Ansteorran Argent Anniversary event. Once that event is
passed, and the process has been judged a success, it will be opened up for
any Ansteorran branch to use for their events.

If you've read this far, and you don't live in Ansteorra, you're probably
wondering, 'What about MY kingdom?'

The volume required for a program like this to make money is larger than any
one kingdom can provide. That's not an issue keeping this from Known World
use.


The main issue is that there will have to be a significant time commitment
from whoever volunteers to manage this service. Someone will have to set up
the web page to take the reservations, monitor the activity, deactivate the
web page at a certain date/time, and produce the funds and reservation list
to send to the event staff to ensure that it gets there BEFORE the event
starts, as well as manage the relationships between the vendors involved.
This could easily be the equivalent of a part- to full-time job with
required skill sets should this be open to the Known World. We won't know
how much time will be required until it's been up and running for several
months in Ansteorra.

My hope is that we can find a way to either use this system, or make it
possible for other kingdoms to duplicate the system, without making it into
another office where it becomes a marathon to make it through the term and
burnout and/or life attacks are large risks to the success of events
everywhere. Please be patient - this sort of thing takes time to work out
the kinks, and anything financial has its own baggage that must be cared for
in order to be successful. We're being careful, and taking baby steps.

Please be assured that I'm watching this very closely, and am VERY
interested in it being a successful tool for autocrats. I hope this answers
some questions. If you have further questions or comments, you can direct
them to me at exchequer at sca.org.

Susan Earley
Society Chancellor of the Exchequer
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sean D. Sorrentino" <sdsorrentino at yahoo.com>
To: "Merry Rose" <atlantia at atlantia.sca.org>
Sent: Monday, September 27, 2004 7:25 PM
Subject: Re: [MR] Re: Opinions about a possible PREREG ONLY event


>
> --- The Sheltons <sheltons at sysmatrix.net> wrote:
>
> > In principal that might help but on-line payments
> > are currently prohibited
> > by our parent corporation.
>
> may i ask why? i know that Drachenwald makes liberal
> use of electronic funds transfers for events and for
> heraldic submissions. why couldn't we set up some sort
> of PayPal type account for each landed group and pay
> for pre-registrations the same way i buy stuff off of
> EBay?
>
> Domenico
>
> =====
> Sean Sorrentino
> Email:
> sean at seansorrentino.com
> check out my photos @
> http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/sdsorrentino
>
>
>
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