DAMMIT! Need some help..

[DemonGoddess]

First, I got an email from the hosting company, saying that they want me to switch the donations to an individual paypal, which then is used to send to them. Not a problem, except for this..

How does PayPal determine which sexually oriented goods and services to permit?

Physical Goods – PayPal allows U.S. only transactions for certain sexually oriented physical goods, such as videos, DVDs, magazines, or other products physically delivered to the customer. PayPal does not permit transactions for sexually oriented physical goods by users outside the U.S. To determine which types of physical goods to permit, PayPal considers these factors:

Regulations or restrictions on the purchase or sale of the product in the applicable jurisdiction.

Classification of the product by a recognized ratings board.

Description or depiction of sexual conduct in a patently offensive way.

Dominant theme of the material or website.

Literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.

Impact on the safety and protection of PayPal's customers.

Potential medicinal or educational uses.

Digital Goods – PayPal prohibits all account holders from buying or selling sexually oriented digital goods, including downloadable pictures or videos, subscriptions to websites, or other content delivered through a digital medium.

Other Prohibited Goods and Services – PayPal prohibits all account holders from buying or selling any sexually oriented goods or services involving minors or made to appear to involve minors, and any services for which the purpose is to facilitate meetings for sexually oriented activities. PayPal does not include sexual preferences or viewpoints as a factor to determine what this policy prohibits.

The part in bold.

So y'see, that kills me setting up an account where it's specifically the site's.

I do have a paypal account. Have had for years. However, I really did NOT want to put this in to my paypal. It's not my money.

So.....now what?

[untamedlady]

First, I got an email from the hosting company, saying that they want me to switch the donations to an individual paypal, which then is used to send to them. Not a problem, except for this..

The part in bold.

So y'see, that kills me setting up an account where it's specifically the site's.

I do have a paypal account. Have had for years. However, I really did NOT want to put this in to my paypal. It's not my money.

So.....now what?

Well just do as we discussed and set up with your PayPal and keep it all transparent so you are not accused of any misappropriations. It is not your fault the owner of AFF is not interested in the business end of her site at the moment.

I know this won't be permanent since it's not our site. And I think it's damn commendable that you care enough to even do this, so her site does not fall apart. I know you have been working your ass off and have felt extremely uncomfortable in actually running this monster without it's captain.

But you are left with no choice at the moment, and it has to be made perfectly clear that this is what you've been FORCED to do in her absence. A note in the news section won't hurt, so you can keep everyone in the loop and also maintain transparency.

It's just a shame.

UntamedLady

[RogueMudblood]

IDK if this is viable, but at work we use Trident and a lot of websites use VeriSign (we stopped using them because of IP block issues). I know nothing of their fees and nothing of their policies that may clash like PayPal. Those are the information links above, so you can check it out if you think it's something that can be used. IDK Nexcess' policy on how they have to process payments either.

[DemonGoddess]

Generally, like any other web hosting company, Nexcess gets payment via credit card, debit card, pay pal, or mail.

The problem is that by having people send direct to them, while a temporary solution, they won't let me continue it, as they want to ensure that the accounting stays accurate. It would be too easy for things to get screwed up for their AR dept.

So, that means it has to be solidified in one location. Which, at this point, falls to me.

After thinking about it overnight, I look at it this way. I can do this for however long it needs to be done, with the understanding this is not permanent. I don't want this to be a permanent solution to begin with.

Also, in order to be sure that there is NO question as to how the monies brought in are used, I can always show my paypal activity report for each month. Of course, blocking out private information such as emails and my banking details. I think that's fair.

Normally, I use paypal and it debits my bank account directly. So, to keep things separate, the one monthly transaction I have, I can make a deposit to my paypal from my bank, to be sure it gets paid from MY money, not site money. That, of course, would show on any statement as well.

I'll certainly look at the other options, and see if their TOS has similar conflicts. If not, then I'll check the rates and what not for them.

[Nerys Dax]

Other Prohibited Goods and Services – PayPal prohibits all account holders from buying or selling any sexually oriented goods or services involving minors or made to appear to involve minors, and any services for which the purpose is to facilitate meetings for sexually oriented activities. PayPal does not include sexual preferences or viewpoints as a factor to determine what this policy prohibits.

The minors they are referring to in this bit of text are real life minors, not fictional. It's about goods and services involving minors/appear to involve minors, where actual harm to these minors can occur. That's not the purpose of AFFnet. Its purpose is to support a censor-free environment to write fiction, most of it with adult contents but not limited to sex either. The bulk of the fiction here doesn't even involve minors. I doubt PayPal had a site like this in mind when they made that policy. Don't let some of the crazed, obsessed fanatics make you overly paranoid, too. The whole "made to appear to involve minors" is not added for the purpose of encompassing fiction, it's added because actual paedophiles have a tendency to use veiled terminology to escape detection.

Sometimes I wish the world would find their common sense again and focus on that what causes actual harm.

[DemonGoddess]

Oh I know it. Thing is, this actually caused the site some issues years back, hence the using a personal one. Bugger. No real way around it.

[Nerys Dax]

Kind of makes one wonder if Paypal allows users to buy Stephenie Meyer's "books" then. *coughs* Imprinting on babies *coughs*

Or the Anita Blake series by Laurell K Hamilton. I recall it recently had Anita rape an underage boy in it, so...

But somehow I have a feeling Paypal will have no problem if you order those books through them. XD

Edited January 26, 2011 by Nerys Dax

[DemonGoddess]

hehe very likely not

[Guest The Writer's Son]

I don't know how useful I could be, seeing as how I just started using PayPal a few months or so ago. I don't think that setting up something like that could be anymore different than an individual account.

[DemonGoddess]

Hi there,

I actually resolved this last year. But thanks for the offer of help!