Online membership renewal [if you get stuck on a PayPal login issue...]

[karlos]

Just wanted to give everybody a heads-up that your May NCCC membership renewals, due May 31, 2011, will be done on-line this year. For payment, we have chosen PayPal, as it is by far the cheapest as well a providing a safe and secure transaction for us. This will allow you to use a credit card directly if you don't have a PayPal account, or to use your PayPal account to more quickly complete the transaction.

People have often asked me why we don't have online registration for entering in the member info and paying - quick answer is "It's not so easy if you've never done it before." This will be quite exciting. All your user information will also be stored in a database on the NC3 server, so much of the manual work by your board associated with tracking members, generating the annual club roster, figuring out who's paid, etc. just disappears.

I also might add that a PayPal account does allow you to enter a username and password instead of retyping in your credit card data, and your personal name, address, etc. every time you make a purchase. Please check out this video if PayPal is foreign to you - click on "See How Paying with PayPal Works".

Besides paying with your credit card or PayPal, the signup gives you the option to send in a personal check, but this does cost you postage, a delay in your membership activation, and 3 things for your board members to do: pick up your check from the PO box, deposit your check, manually record it in the new database. Additionally, the hardcopy form will still be available for those without computer access. We hope the need for both personal checks in the mail and the hardcopy form will be minimal.

The Mgmt

[karlos]

I was able to configure the new software and PayPal interface so that a PayPal login is optional. I edited the announcement above to reflect the behavior you will see when we go live. There is no need for you to rush out and set up a PayPal account, although some of you may still find that an easier way to pay online (your religious choice). - karl
The screenshot you will see looks something like below, with credit card without PayPal showing bottom right (if you don't see the credit card option as a PayPal guest, try deleting cookies from your browser).

[karlos]

I've been monitoring the NCCC renewal and payments and nearly all have gone smoothly. I have noticed that about one out of every twenty  payments did not complete. So far, all the people who had problems were the same issue - namely,  they signed up for a PayPal account long ago and have forgotten the password. It turns out that PayPal remembers you (even if you used it long ago) via cookies in your browser. It gives PayPal members a different user interface, assuming you want to use your PayPal login. Non-PayPal members actually have it easier as they primarily see a credit card option.

If anyone encounters this problem (or any other problem paying), no sweat, as you're already signed up and more than 50% of the way there. First, delete cookies from your browser -  every browser is slightly different. If you don't know how to do  it, click here for instructions which cover every browser under the sun.

To try and pay a second time,  just go back to the Club Info > Membership page and this time click the blue Login button, since your information is already logged in the NCCC member database. After you login, you will get the standard NCCC Membership interface. Select Add / Renew Membership, to try and pay for it a second time. Don't worry, you won't be charged twice. These initial payments are being monitored closely by me to make sure all goes well.

If paying with a credit card or your PayPal account just isn't working, press the blue Login button, Add/Renew Membership, and then select Personal Check for the payment method.

Feel free to email me at membership@northcountycycleclub.com or even call me at 858-481-7910 if you have further problems.

Karl

[karlos]

Just bumping this to the top as we have had a flurry of membership renewals due to the legacy members' original May 31 annual renewal date. There still are maybe one out of every 30 or 40 renewals which get stuck on the same thing. Hope the above post helps.
~Karl - web guy

[karlos]

My annual "bump" to the top as someone just reported they had a problem because PayPal "thought" they had a login...
-karl