Retromags Slush Fund

[E-Day]

I have been thinking lately that this site needs some sort of slush fund. Every now and then, a post will pop up on Craigslist somewhere, or an auction will be going on at eBay, with a large number of magazines, but no one has the money to purchase it for scanning on their own. A slush fund could help the site get some of those magazines that are needed.

How it could work is that a Paypal account is set up for this site. Anyone who wants can donate a few dollars or however much they want. Then the money would just sit there until it is needed to obtain magazines. I'd keep track of who donated what, so in the chance that the money isn't used, it goes back to the donor.

Thoughts, ideas?

[triverse]

If this does get going, look into the "gift" option on Paypal.  Lower fees, if any.

[E-Day]

So does having an account as a donation account I believe.

[KiwiArcader]

The problem with this E-Day, is that it throws the onus upon oneself ... namely you ... to manage the bidding, purchase and scanning etc of the mags unless you obtain enough funds to then forward them to someone else to take on the scanning side of it. With attendant risks that they may not arrive ..or that the receiver may or may not process them in a reasonable timeframe. Or not at all .....

If the slush fund was used to reimburse someone that had bid/ won auctions and who then fronted with finished mags that might be an alternate solution ... but my purchases might not be what most people want to contribute towards for example ...so then you have issues around deciding how to disperse funds without creating annoyances to the contributors. Or having issues with people buying stuff but getting nothing to help out for their time/efforts.

All very messy .... great idea .... just messy. As soon as money becomes involved it takes it out of the realms of hobby and turns it into a business in some ways ....

[E-Day]

Well, I wouldn't use it for someone wanting to grab one magazine from eBay for $6 or $10. This would be more for large auctions with dozens of magazines that will not be cheap to obtain, or for a lot of a hundred magazines being sold on Craigslist or someplace similar. Like the ad on Craigslist in Toronto where the guy has 400 magazines for sale. A slush fund would help dampen the cost of obtaining the magazines we need.

There would also be rules and stipulations in place. Donating does not give you any sort of leeway or power to try and push what you want on the site, nor does it give you any pull. It also wouldn't be used to reimburse new members for purchases, as we don't know who they are or if they'll follow through (help once they've supplied some scans would be the option there). Regular members who have been around a long time wouldn't have to go that route.

The other issue is members expecting there to be money there all the time and expecting some help when they buy something large without inquring beforehand.

It's something that has a lot of chances to fail, but it could be something worth trying. For now I just want to see what people think about the idea

[KiwiArcader]

Hence the comments

Seriously ....don't get me wrong ...the idea sounds great but it does to my mind add an element of stress when you start taking contributions from people that are going expect to get something back for their generosity. By stress I mean that it does result in a bundle of mags sitting there on YOUR floor requiring scanning etc along with any you already have. I have 1000+ mags yet to be scanned and I just went and purchased another 15 Amstrad CPC mags because they were cheap but now I have 1015+ to scan/edit. Actually .... I forgot I bought 70+ PC Gamer mags recently ... make that 1090 odd mags ....

If you can make it work then go for it.

[Mister Zero]

By stress I mean that it does result in a bundle of mags sitting there on YOUR floor requiring scanning etc along with any you already have.

This is what concerns me, although I think the point is more for the mags to be in a member's possession to where they will be available for scanning. Not necessarily scanned right away unless someone absolutely wants an issue or two done.

I mean, it would be a donate-as-you-want and if you want type deal. It's not like you're being required or even rewarded for doing it. More like, hey I have a few bucks to blow might as well support the site in some way. Again, not everyone will see it this way, but no one is required to donate to the cause, either.

I think overall it might work, but of course may be a point of controversy as well. Also, it's not guaranteed that we'll eventually have enough money(sometimes in the 100's) in the fund for it to be useful.

[E-Day]

I'd pretty much only want to use it for those rare auctions or listings that come along that ae too good to pass up but too pricey fo one human to pay themselves.

[KiwiArcader]

Fair enough.

Of course we all saw the commotion caused by some people recently over contributions made where mags hadn't been released? I just hope that sort of thing doesn't rear it's ugly head over here if you used funds to purchase a collection for this site. That whole "He hoards all the mags for himself" thing was soo annoying .....

[E-Day]

They'd get over it and find something else to do while they waited for them to be scanned.

So far thoughts on this idea are not very favourable, so I doubt we'll ever have to deal with a slush fund.

[KiwiArcader]

Geez .... don't take my comments as gospel .... only Mister Zero has commented here other than myself so that doesn't reflect everyone's thoughts. LOL

Seriously .... as long as people get their expectations set properly from the get-go then they go in with donating knowing what to expect.

[E-Day]

I'm not. But so far you, Mister Zero and Tiverse have all had the same concerns. No one else has been behind the idea fully; not even myself.