Festival Entry Fees

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ned c
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Festival Entry Fees

Post by ned c »

A plea to Festival organizers; please include PayPal as a method of payment; particularly for International entries. I am not going to do a credit transfer where my bank account number goes to your bank which is probably hacked regularly!! There are at least two International festivals on the Event list that want international payment this way.

ned c
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John Roberts
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Re: Festival Entry Fees

Post by John Roberts »

Hi Ned, I'm sure BIAFF does give PayPal as an option for the entry fee? In fact I'm 99% sure (even though I pay by that lovely crisp non-virtual method - a cheque!)

:D
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John Roberts
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Re: Festival Entry Fees

Post by John Roberts »

Yes, BIAFF definitely does - I've just checked back in my emails and some European friends of mine paid for their 2015 entry via PayPal.

I'm not sure how the IAC stand regarding fees though - PayPal usually charge for withdrawal if money is sent 'for goods and services' and not 'to friends and family' although the fee may be waived if the PayPal balance being withdrawn is above a certain amount. The fees can be quite steep, I was recently sent £40 and PayPal wanted nearly £4 just to transfer it.

I can't speak for other International festivals though Ned, I don't hold a current passport so BIAFF is as far as I've got! :lol:

John
Mike Shaw

Re: Festival Entry Fees

Post by Mike Shaw »

Speaking from memory - I believe I paid by PayPal - and was charged an extra £2 for the privilege - which would probably be to cover the PayPal cost. But that is from memory - I could well be very wrong


Wouldn't be the first time!
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Dave Watterson
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Re: Festival Entry Fees

Post by Dave Watterson »

There is a 5% surcharge for paying BIAFF entries by PayPal which covers the costs to IAC and is much less than most other forms of money transfer.

For some countries Transferwise (https://transferwise.com) works well. It is far cheaper than other methods and I have used it a couple of tims without problem.

Many European countries no longer use cheques, which makes that method difficult.

Why not drop an email to offending festivals and explain that if they made PayPal payment possible you would submit films ...
Brian Saberton
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Re: Festival Entry Fees

Post by Brian Saberton »

I find Paypal to be very convenient. The Scottish Photographic Federation has adopted Paypal this year for entries to the Scottish Salon allied to an on-line system for completing entry forms and submitting images (prints still need to be posted of course).
Brian Saberton
Mike Shaw

Re: Festival Entry Fees

Post by Mike Shaw »

Convenient - and very reliable I think. A few years back, it seemed someone had 'hacked' my PayPal account and it looked like money was being withdrawn (or going to be withdrawn) to pay for some on-line gambling venture. I'm not a gambler (in that sense) and when I found out - I was at the Kent Film Festival - I phoned PayPal though lord knows how or where I got their number from. They took details and said they'd get back to me. When I got home, an email was waiting for me from PayPal, to the effect that they had already seen the string of 'payments' and had put a block on them while they investigated the situation. My phone call had confirmed their suspicions. In the event, no money was ever actually taken from my bank account by PayPal, they totally blocked all payments and I believe they were able to 'catch' the perpetrator(s), although I was never informed of that. They did say that if I had lost any money from my bank account as a result of fraudulent transactions to let them know immediately and it would be refunded. But I lost nothing - they had spotted it before any damage was done.

This gave me even more confidence in PayPal than I had before: and since then they have come up with new 'security' measures - and have introduced a 'two week delay' on most transactions - you pay by PayPal, they pay the supplier, but the money isn't drawn from your bank account for two weeks, giving you time to contest the payment (perhaps through non-delivery of items). I do have a 'full' account with them - whereby they link directly to my bank account for payments rather than taking the money from a credit/debit card. It sounds risky, but I have found it to be extremely reliable and safe.

Strangely though - PayPal was introduced by eBay, and apart from one or two purchases in the early days. I never buy from eBay any more (having bought Pirated software without realising it!) - wouldn't trust it!! I stick to Amazon now.
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