New Site

[Carl Hibbard]

Now I hate to be boring but I have replied to you privatley re 'quote', it seems to be stuck in the 'outbox' what button do I press now ??

Ah wrong button...

There is a quote button on the bottom right of a message - use that instead of clicking post reply right at the bottom

Make sense?

[Alex Holowczak]

Why can't the new site have an option to pay for ECF membership online, rather than having to print off the form and post it? Surely it'd be quicker for everybody if the PDF was put on the website in a form where you could type your name, address in (etc.) Then just tick boxes for the options you want, and calculate the cost accordingly. Then, pay online using Paypal or something like that to pay online straight into the ECF bank account. That way, members could mould their membership to get what they want out of it. It would be a lot quicker and save a lot of time in processing the form.

Infact, why not have the option to enter the British Championship online, and again, pay for it online? The whole thing could be made easier, too. An entrant may only need to type in their names, and at the other end, you can automatically see what grade they are/membership code etc. You wouldn't need to fill out any of the information on page 4, for instance, other than name and tick which boxes you want to enter.

Of course the paper way could continue, but if people prefer to enter online, it'd surely reduce administration costs?

[Carl Hibbard]

Why can't the new site have an option to pay for ECF membership online, rather than having to print off the form and post it? Surely it'd be quicker for everybody if the PDF was put on the website in a form where you could type your name, address in (etc.) Then just tick boxes for the options you want, and calculate the cost accordingly. Then, pay online using Paypal or something like that to pay online straight into the ECF bank account. That way, members could mould their membership to get what they want out of it. It would be a lot quicker and save a lot of time in processing the form.

Infact, why not have the option to enter the British Championship online, and again, pay for it online? The whole thing could be made easier, too. An entrant may only need to type in their names, and at the other end, you can automatically see what grade they are/membership code etc. You wouldn't need to fill out any of the information on page 4, for instance, other than name and tick which boxes you want to enter.

Of course the paper way could continue, but if people prefer to enter online, it'd surely reduce administration costs?

I believe this is coming (and part of the general ECF IT plan...) although when is not clear, sorry

[John Upham]

Then, pay online using Paypal or something like that to pay online straight into the ECF bank account.

Alex,
The PayPal account has, I'm told, been set-up. I helped to cause this to happen by making it a pre-requisite for the on-line CoM application. I've not yet been made aware of the details to make use of it. I'm hoping to see ECF items such as the yearbook available for direct purchase via the ECF shop. I'm sure Duncan has all of this in hand and that Sophie's replacement will be a skilled content manager for the new site. I'm also hoping that other ECF persons can contribute content freely without any intervention from the Content Manager : maybe this is already happening?

I've registered as a site user and attempted to use "My Blog Dashboard" and am greeted by

"You do not have the permissions to post or edit blog entries.Please contact the site admin. "

I guess that this feature has yet to be enabled. Things are at least progressing in the correct direction.

[Mike Gunn]

The first time you join the ECF you have to sign the physical copy of the application form and send it (by post) to the ECF. This is because of company law. But I can't see any reason why renewing your membership or applying to play in the British can't be done over the internet by some secure payment system.

[Alex Holowczak]

The first time you join the ECF you have to sign the physical copy of the application form and send it (by post) to the ECF. This is because of company law.

I don't quite understand, do you mean UK law, so the ECF has to do it this way, or a law the ECF has put in place? If the latter, then surely they could change it... But if the former, then fair enough. Daft law in my opinion, but someone must have thought it was a good idea.

[IM Jack Rudd]

The first time you join the ECF you have to sign the physical copy of the application form and send it (by post) to the ECF. This is because of company law.

I don't quite understand, do you mean UK law, so the ECF has to do it this way, or a law the ECF has put in place? If the latter, then surely they could change it... But if the former, then fair enough. Daft law in my opinion, but someone must have thought it was a good idea.

UK law relating to companies. The ECF is a company limited by guarantee, and by joining it as a member, you are becoming a part of that company.

[Carl Hibbard]

The first time you join the ECF you have to sign the physical copy of the application form and send it (by post) to the ECF. This is because of company law. But I can't see any reason why renewing your membership or applying to play in the British can't be done over the internet by some secure payment system.

It is not hard to setup if you know what you are doing and that has always been the ECF's problem...

Now with Duncan on board things should move faster, if he realized what he was taking on that is

[Roger de Coverly]

The ECF is a company limited by guarantee, and by joining it as a member, you are becoming a part of that company.

I've long thought the the FIDE phrase "membership of a national federation" could have been interpreted in a far less onerous manner. I've never been completely happy about guaranteeing the ECF's debts even if the total liability is supposedly only one pound per member.

[Alex Holowczak]

One more thing about the news feeds on the ECF site, this actually made me spend a couple of days learning how to play Go a couple of weeks ago, rather than inspire me to play chess.

[Angus French]

The ECF is a company limited by guarantee, and by joining it as a member, you are becoming a part of that company.

I've long thought the the FIDE phrase "membership of a national federation" could have been interpreted in a far less onerous manner. I've never been completely happy about guaranteeing the ECF's debts even if the total liability is supposedly only one pound per member.

But the ECF didn't become a CLG to fulfil the FIDE membership obligation, did it? I may be wrong but I should have thought the reason it converted was to protect the assets of the directors and the members in case it was sued.

[Angus French]

I agree that the option to pay electronically would be good but it doesn't come free.

Paypal Express Checkout charges 20p per transaction plus 3.4% of the transaction value (assuming it's less than £1,500).

[Alex Holowczak]

I agree that the option to pay electronically would be good but it doesn't come free.

Paypal Express Checkout charges 20p per transaction plus 3.4% of the transaction value (assuming it's less than £1,500).

Well, looking at that link, that's doing it "properly". There must be some way of doing it by the back door, if you see what I mean. If I want to send some money to a friend, I'm pretty sure I don't have to pay Paypal for the luxury. I don't pay any extra, for instance, for buying things on eBay. If I want to send someone money, I can do so just as long as I know their email address. That would be a free way of doing it, I believe.

[Carl Hibbard]

I agree that the option to pay electronically would be good but it doesn't come free.

Paypal Express Checkout charges 20p per transaction plus 3.4% of the transaction value (assuming it's less than £1,500).

Well, looking at that link, that's doing it "properly". There must be some way of doing it by the back door, if you see what I mean. If I want to send some money to a friend, I'm pretty sure I don't have to pay Paypal for the luxury. I don't pay any extra, for instance, for buying things on eBay. If I want to send someone money, I can do so just as long as I know their email address. That would be a free way of doing it, I believe.

There isn't - it has to be done "properly" on a commercial site - although it can be done cheaper than that of course

[John Upham]

There must be some way of doing it by the back door, if you see what I mean. If I want to send some money to a friend, I'm pretty sure I don't have to pay Paypal for the luxury.

As an individual one may transfer funds from one UK bank account to another (where another could be held by an individual or company) via a BACS transfer. I suggested to the members of the clubs that I am a member of and this method is catching on.

For the ECF to receive funds for goods or services then it could allow credit card transactions directly and (also) allow WorldPay or PayPal type methods. In the fullness of time I hope that the ECF will implement these various options along with cheques via the Royal Mail should these things still exist.

If you were to purchase from London Chess & Bridge then you will find a number of payment options.

Unfortunately, a commercial operation must use fully "above board" methods and a consequence of that is that they will be charged at a commercial rate.