Premium Membership

**admin** · 12-06-13, 05:31 PM

Firstly, I would like to say a big thanks to all Austech's whos financial support is vital to us being here.

I dont want people to see this thread as an ask for money as its not really that. However there is something starting to change and thats the Australian dollar which in the last month has dropped well under the US dollar and is likely to keep dropping. This impacts Austech as we are hosted in the US and pay for hosting in US dollars. The more the Australian dollar drops, the higher our hosting costs become. We also have to factor in that Paypal almost blatantly steal money on every foreign exchange we make because their exchange rates are always worst than the official rates. Their current rates are 90 cents, I wouldnt be surprised to see them drop in to the 80's for the first time in many years shortly.

In a nutshell, we are paying an extra 10 cents for every dollar of our hosting bill from what we payed when we signed up 6 months ago....and thats now. Taking a rough look at Premium Members online compared to standard members, we have about 20% of members being Premium members (thats today, I will have to look at night). As our outgoings increase, it would be nice if we could increase that 20% a bit to offset the rises. I am not talking about Austech making more money, I am talking about keeping the finances steady. Our current fully managed dedicated hosting is fantastic and its not something I would like to see become too expensive for us.

If you are an Austech member and not a Premium Member, please consider whether premium membership might be worthwhile for you. $20 a year isnt much, it supports the site and gives you access to a Premium Members only forum, custom title ability, space for 600 PM (private messages) and hopefully we can look at adding more as incentive.

Cheers
Admin

**mtv** · 12-06-13, 05:39 PM

I'll go one step further and appeal to the one-post leeches that ask for, and usually receive, radio programming software and assistance from generous members.

If you don't want to contribute with posts on the forum, that's fine (although, we'd prefer if you did) but by making a small $ contribution to keep the site running, which helps you and countless others, would be a small price to pay for the assistance you receive.

**mkhannah** · 12-06-13, 06:00 PM

I visit this site more than once a day and have been a member for years. I cannot think of a single instance where I have asked a question and never received a reply. There is always something worth reading, something to make you think, something to make you laugh, every day.
It's a bargain for $20 a year. I would urge anyone who visits the site regularly to become a premium member and become a closer part of the austech family.

**satboy** · 12-06-13, 07:25 PM

Just renewed mine about a week ago, well worth it.

**freakee1** · 12-06-13, 08:15 PM

i'm on here daily, so done my bit

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**Rick** · 12-06-13, 09:29 PM

Well worth the $20 for the knowledge,enjoyment and friendships ive gained from this board, dont know Andrew but just a suggestion, maybe restrict some forums from standard registered users? or restrict access to downloads? I personally know where your coming from with costs for server fee's, but a lot dont realize the costs of the actual vbulletin software this forum runs which now stands@ USD$249.00 annually to renew, people also dont realize as an admin the time personally involved to keep the board running smoothly everyday, good bunch of folks on this board i'm sure many wont hesitate to pitch in and become a premium member after reading your thread they will understand more,

**hughdman** · 12-06-13, 09:48 PM

I agree with Rick, also maybe limit the BST thread, there are people like me who use it for commercial use.
ie 1 listing a month for members, no limit for premium members

**admin** · 13-06-13, 02:32 PM

We wont be making any changes with limitations on any particular group. Its all been done before and it simply does not work. The only changes for any group would be more benefits for Premium members.

**marty 17** · 13-06-13, 02:55 PM

I enjoy being a Premium member as there is not as much politics within this section.

**toyboy11** · 13-06-13, 04:23 PM

Well I've considered being a Premium member but the one thing that I need to get clarified is that once you become a Premium member is that you are automatically charged through a direct debit system.................Is that right?

I have my reasons for that and if I was notified say annually that my membership fees where due then I would become a Premium member and would pay by credit card and not by Pay Pal.

Is this a fair point of view?

**mandc** · 13-06-13, 04:31 PM

Originally Posted by toyboy11

Well I've considered being a Premium member but the one thing that I need to get clarified is that once you become a Premium member is that you are automatically charged through a direct debit system.................Is that right?

No...you can opt out or in depending on what box is checked

**admin** · 13-06-13, 04:44 PM

All billing is through Paypal. Paypal is our credit card biller. We do not have a bank account. If you wanted to pay via a debit from your bank account, Paypal does it.

As Mandc mentioned, you can make a one off payment, you can have the payment made automatically every year until you cancel, or you can pay it manually each year yourself. The is fairly straight forward, if you dont want to be auto billed every year, select a payment that doesnt have an asterix next to it.

**toyboy11** · 13-06-13, 04:55 PM

Originally Posted by toyboy11

I would become a Premium member and would pay by credit card and not by Pay Pal.

I have my reasons and don't like Pay Pal.

**jok11n** · 13-06-13, 05:07 PM

to be honest the first time I signed up for premium membership I thought the members section might be more useful and was my reason for signing up, I don't think I ever came across anything I found that useful (for me) although I'm sure there's more there of interest to others, my renewal though was just about supporting the site and I don't mind paying, I know what it's like when the dollar fluctuates as it messes with my business as well, personally I'd have no issue if the premium membership was charged in USD in line with your hosting needs or if you had to raise the price, even if it was $25 or $30 or whatever it needs to be I'd have no issue with that

**admin** · 13-06-13, 05:12 PM

Well thats your choice toyboy. Its a take it or leave it situation, paypal is a biller, you would deal with dozens of individual billers each year when you use a credit card and wouldnt even know it. I am not volunteering my bank accounts for Austech to use as a convenience, then fishing money out, transferring it and then manually adjusting everyones accounts through the adminstration section for them and then manually sending emails out to people to tell them when its expired.

It can all be done with about 2 mouse clicks by the individual without our intervention. Simply, its not worth doing $50 of work for $20.

You dont have to subscribe, your an active member and a regular poster, we are happy with that.

**hughdman** · 13-06-13, 05:15 PM

Paypal gives you the choice to use credit card, so you don't need an actual paypal account

**Rick** · 13-06-13, 05:44 PM

Originally Posted by hughdman

Paypal gives you the choice to use credit card, so you don't need an actual paypal account

Exactly and no hidden charges against using your CC you pay $20 and thats it, only the receiver cops the grubby fee

**mtv** · 13-06-13, 05:55 PM

I'm not a fan of PayPal either, but as a buyer, they don't slug you any fees.

I've been using PayPal for quite a while with ebay and haven't had a problem.

I don't like giving anyone open-access to deduct automatic payments.... had a few bad experiences with that, so I use the manual method of renewing my premium membership, so you can have complete control if you wish to join and/or renew premium membership.

**REDSALT.BARN** · 16-06-13, 03:10 AM

heloo please answer my ticket

**admin** · 16-06-13, 10:59 AM

Originally Posted by REDSALT.BARN

heloo please answer my ticket

You sent a ticket 3 days ago. It did not include your username so I replied asking for it. You provided that information less than 24 hours ago.
We answer tickets within a 48 hour time frame and that doesnt include weekends (not that we are anywhere remotely near 24 hours, 12 would be closer)

I am not even sure what your actual query is. Presumably it is some issue with premium membership which I see you do in fact have. If you still have a specific issue of some kind, please outline it clearly in the support ticket. This forum is not for support tickets.

Thank you