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FromMessage
maca
22-May-09, 02:54

GK premium membership payout methods
Hi,

When did GK remove the ability to pay one's premium membership via bank transfer, and why? I haven't seen any announcement for this, and it came as a huge surprise for me.

I've always used this method, as I don't have a credit card. My membership expires in the beginning of the June, and luckily, I checked this a bit beforehand. Now, I have a friend who has promised to intermediate the payment for me, but had I only spotted the issue later next week when I was planning to make the payment, I might have ended up without a membership for a few days, which could have meant trouble for my team.


Regards,
MaCa.
kingdawar
22-May-09, 03:46

It would have been a good gesture from GameKnot to notify all people who were subscribed via bank transfer of this change. Saying nothing on the other hand, can be considered quite rude.

To answer you question, I am guessing that it was somewhere in April:
gameknot.com
maca
22-May-09, 08:17

...
Or possibly even before that, heinzkat.


Regards,
MaCa.
maca
30-May-09, 03:39

So...
I suppose I should just contact GK, then, to get an answer for this?


Regards,
MaCa.
kingdawar
30-May-09, 08:50

Maca
That appears the proper procedure. If you really want to know something, you have to use the contact thingy anyway.
maca
12-Jun-09, 01:47

Ok
Sent a message, and we'll hope they'll reply.


Regards,
MaCa.
maca
16-Jun-09, 08:47

I got a reply...
Ok, here's the reply I received:

====================================================================

Hello, maca,

Sorry, unfortunately we had to discontinue accepting bank transfers in Euros
last year due to ever increasing bank fees and service charges associated with
maintaining an overseas bank account, currency conversions, transfers, etc.
etc.. We were losing close to half of each payment in various fees, which is
pretty outrageous. We still accept PayPal payments (PayPal works in all European
countries), and International/Postal money orders in US Dollars, which are
available from many major banks in Europe (some even allow to send them
online).

Thank you for choosing GameKnot as your premier chess battlefield!

Best regards,
GameKnot.com

===================================================================

So, that's pretty much it, then. I don't know about this 'money order' business, it's very confusing. I tried to translate into my language and find out if my bank supports them, but I believe they also need the recipient's bank account information for that. And when I tried to sign up for PayPal, it asked for my credit card number, even though I had already specified that I had no credit card!

I suppose I'm compelled to get a credit card in order to complete the future payments.


Regards,
MaCa.
tugger
16-Jun-09, 09:52

That's unfortunate, but if GK really are losing almost half the fee, can you really blame them for pulling the plug? You don't need a credit card to use PayPal, a normal debit card is enough if it shows the visa, mastercard or possibly electron logo. Check their site for more accurate information. I use PayPal, and I don't have a credit card. You can send a bank transfer from your account to your PayPal account, then pay GK from there, that's how I pay for my membership.

Hope you get it all sorted!
skipwallace555
28-Jun-09, 13:42

Tugger is correct.
I use pay pal regularly through my ebay transactions. It can be linked to a credit card but I chose to have it linked to my checking account; and my bank has fraud protections as well does pay pal. Look into it and I think it will be useful.