Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Requesting feedback about accepting payment on websites

[Lorraine Faris (lor.f50]

Thanks so much for your response
Lots for us to think about

Lorraine
Cohousing of Greater Baltimore

On Thu, Nov 7, 2024, 3:21 PM Pare Gerou <paregerou [at] gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Lorain,
>
> We have a Wix site, and I’ve found their customer service incredibly
> helpful!
>
> You don’t need anything fancy to collect Explorer dues on your website. Add
> a button linking directly to your bank account or PayPal for payments. Once
> they click the button, making a payment is straightforward. I also created
> buttons next to the payment option for our Explorer application, Explorer
> Questionnaire, and our Community Resume, adapted from Cynthia Tina's
> excellent community resume.  Creating the buttons and putting live links in
> takes less than 2 minutes.
>
> Also, you can set up an automated email triggered by the submission of the
> Explorer application to send them the "Next Steps" email, which informs
> them about particular explorer orientations, sociocracy training details,
> the buddy system, etc.
>
> However, we’ve faced a challenge, so I responded. We require all interested
> people to go to a Friday coffee first, and we then screen and have multiple
> conversations with each other.  We have these email or Zoom conversations
> to "vet" the potential Explorer members who have gone to the information
> coffee to ensure it is a good fit, can afford the homes, know the timeline,
> etc.  - all before they pay their dues and fill out the application. This
> is a variation on a common cohousing theme.  We require an information
> session, Our Friday Information Coffees and members get to meet prospective
> members during these informational coffees.   Again, not unique.
>
> However, despite clear website instructions telling people they have to go
> through the Friday Coffee and then talk with us and request Explorer status
> before they pay or fill out the application, we've encountered issues where
> individuals pay Explorer membership dues and fill out the application
> before attending the information coffee or talking to us,
>
> As a result, once you activate that payment link, there’s a chance that
> some people not yet qualified for Explorer status will pay, which could
> lead to the need for reimbursements.  I've solved this by using temporary
> links in the buttons.  The link only lasts a short while, and then I need
> to put it in again for the following qualified person we've talked to.  It
> is worth it because we are international, and Wix is tracking all sorts of
> important information when we do it all through the site.  Adding the link
> occasionally sounds like a pain, but it only takes 30 seconds.
>
> So my advice is to add the button on the website and use it-- for
> statistics and for tracking and for national and international member
> reasons, but use only temporary payment links that are put in right before
> the individuals you've talked to joins as an Explorer.
>
> What do you think?  Do you have an improvement to this method?
>
> Hope this helps,
>
> Pare for Greek Village Cohousing
>
> On Thu, Nov 7, 2024 at 5:41 PM Lorraine Faris <lor.f50 [at] gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Hello
> > We use WIX to host our website.  We are exploring an eCommerce upgrade to
> > collect Explorer payments directly on our website to reduce a barrier to
> > becoming an Explorer with us.
> >
> > We would appreciate feedback, especially from others whose sites are
> hosted
> > by WIX, about this approach to making it easier for people to become
> > Explorers.
> >
> > We are a forming community, with a site identified and in the process of
> > getting it under contract.
> >
> > Thanks!
> >
> > Lorraine Faris
> > Cohousing of Greater Baltimore
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