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New Payment System and Schwagging Schedule
Hey, good news: a new payment system is on the way from TrustCommerce. They seem to have the best payment setup around, and they’re a heckuva lot more flexible than Paypal. The big change for you, our members, is that you’ll be billed when your schwag actually ships. No more paying-then-waiting-a-month. Woohoo!
Novachild got wind of this yesterday and commented:
“They’re supposedly working on another payment system. That will be nice. Heck, if they only charged at delivery, they wouldn’t necessarily have to make it a monthly thing. They could go bi-monthly and give themselves more time to collect quality schwag.”
Not a bad idea. We’re not going bi-monthly, but the new payment system will add scheduling flexibility that we’ll use to make each package as good as it can be. Since schwag supplies are so variable from month to month, we’re going to take the time we need to gather quality stuff and send it out when it’s ready.
Some packages will make it out in a month and some will take longer. It will be like a surprise, but we’ll always let you know before we bill you, so you can cancel if you maxed out your balance gambling in Las Vegas.
We still have to hitch up the new payment system and transition over, a process that promises to be fun and interesting. We’ll keep you updated on progress, with technical details for those who are into that sort of thing.
Some of you will certainly have opinions about this, which we invite you to share in the comments. If you feel angry with the old payment system you can express that here. This is your safe place. If you’re not a writer feel free to record a video or a song about the old billing system and link to it in the comments.
July 27th, 2006 at 11:47 pm
This is great! Taking the concept of corporate schwag collection to its extreme, you could play a monthly change in carrier and payment system as a new feature of the service.
This would give all your subscribers opportunity to build a collection of envelopes, stamps, delivery notes and stylish ‘you were not in, collect your crap at the depot’ cards from yet more cool organisations like DHL, UPS, Paypal, webcash.com…
July 28th, 2006 at 1:51 am
I’m really happy with the present system, I’m not bothered about “pre paying” for schwag…will Paypal still be available as a payment option ? I hope so!
July 28th, 2006 at 4:14 am
While I’m reasonably happy with the current payment system, I think it’s great that the new system will make things more flexible - it means better schwag, which is good for everyone.
And because I felt like writing^H^Hadapting some odes to ValleySchwag:
Once upon a months deliv’ry, while I waited, weak and weary,
For my quaint and curious volume of some ValleySchwag…
Or maybe:
I saw the best schwag of my generation, distributed by ValleySchwag, sparkling, hilarious, naked(?),
Wandering the valley streets at night looking for a vinyl-sticker fix.
Heh. Yeah. Not very good.
July 28th, 2006 at 4:22 am
First things first - I love my schwag, anyway and anytime I get it - thanks for the hard work! I was just wondering if the people who have been charged via paypal for more schwag than they’ve received will get “caught up” before we are switched over to the new system?
July 28th, 2006 at 4:30 am
All I have to say it thank god . In the near future I could see some of us prepaid way in advance.
Oh and BTW when is the next swag out (no pressure).
July 28th, 2006 at 4:58 am
I’m with burty, I have no problems with how it is now. Its like a party every month when the mystery package arrives and I run inside to see the cool stuff. Thanks for keeping us informed!
July 28th, 2006 at 5:05 am
Why change the payment system when the current Paypal one is fine?
If you do introduce this new one, I sure hope you keep Paypal as a secondary option, because I highly doubt that TrustCommerce accepts Paypal payments.
I don’t have a credit card to use, I just use funds from my Paypal account (from freelance work, etc). So, if you take away Paypal completely as a payment method, I will no longer be able to subscribe to ValleySchwag. Period. I don’t want that to happen!
I have no problem pre-paying, infact I prefer to prepay. I pay, forget about it, and then surprise! Schwag at my door.
So, if I am allowed to state my opinion, it is that Paypal should stay as an option… it is the MOST WIDELY USED online payment system. If you remove it completely, your subscriber count will definately be crippled. PayPal isn’t used just because it accepts credit cards… it is used because many webmasters and web guru’s have large enough balances in Paypal and recieve/store money in there to spend online without using a credit card.
Thanks
July 28th, 2006 at 5:11 am
The idea is that the currently Paypal system is fine, but not fine for everyone’s tastes, and also that “fine” isn’t “great.” I have no problem in paying through which ever system, but I’m glad a new one will (hopefully) help the people who get jumpy when $17 is out of their sight for a month.
July 28th, 2006 at 5:14 am
Update:
For all those people who are annoyed that they were charged months in advance and ended up paying 2-3 times and only recieving 1 package so far, here is what you do:
1) You go to the ValleySchwag.com homepage, click JOIN NOW, fill out the form, and then pay via Paypal.
2) After you have made the payment, login to your PayPal account and you’ll see an active subscription listed in your recent transaction history. Click ‘details’.
3) On the details page, click CANCEL SUBSCRIPTION. This will make it so that Paypal won’t auto-bill you any further. Think of it like you’re paying a 1-time fee. Keep in mind, your payment that you just made will be counted, and you will recieve the schwag for that month.
4) The next time you want schwag (the next month), go back to the valleyschwag.com homepage around the middle of the month and click the JOIN NOW button and repeat the steps. Note: Use the SAME email you did in the last transaction. What this will do is let you keep your ValleySchwag profile that you login with, and nothing will be reset or changed in your profile. All it will do is pay VS for 1 more month. Then go and cancel the subscription again.
Basically, if you follow these 4 simple steps, it is the equivalent of paying 1-time fee for the month and not having to worry about subscriptions and paypal charging in advance, etc.
This is what I currently do because I feel more secure knowing that I wont be billed randomly by Paypal, and I know that I have made the payment securely for my month’s schwag.
–Chad
July 28th, 2006 at 5:16 am
Btw, with the method above, you can make the payment right before the schwag is shipped out… you dont have to make the payment right at the beginning of the month and have to wait 25-30 days in suspense. I dont mind doing it, but for those who are bitting their nails waiting for something to arrive at their door… this may be the solution.
Goodluck!
KEEP paypal!