[comp.sys.apple2] Hard to pay shareware

neufeld@physics.utoronto.ca (Christopher Neufeld) (01/20/91)

In article <11147@ucrmath.ucr.edu> rhyde@ucrmath.ucr.edu (randy hyde) writes:
>I can't speak for the rest of the world, but for me the big problem with
>paying for shareware is that it is damned inconvenient to do so.  I can call
>up a mail order house and pay by plastic.  I can walk into Egghead and pay
>by plastic.  For shareware, I've got to go through a lot of work (writing a
>check, putting it into an envelope, stamping it, and mailing it).
>
   It's worse in the rest of the world. I've been writing cheques in
canadian funds, putting on the exchange rate, so that a US$10 shareware
fee would get a cheque for about C$11.50. I've recently heard that there
is a new policy in american banks, that it costs over US$10 just to cash
a cheque in canadian funds. This means that I have to go to the bank,
stand in line, withdraw money to buy a money order, and pay the $3.50
fee to do so, before I can put it in an envelope, stamp it, and mail it.
For a $5 or $10 shareware fee, a $3.50 service charge looks silly.
   I too would like a company set up to pay shareware fees directly to
authors. I've discussed this with people here. It would be most
convenient if they could take cheques in canadian funds, maybe if they
had an account set up in canadian funds as well as in US funds. Credit
card payment could also be useful, though not everybody has a credit
card (I don't, yet). It also takes a lot of hassle out if you can pay
shareware fees on several programs in one lump sum cheque with a single
stamp.


-- 
 Christopher Neufeld....Just a graduate student  | "Shtarker! Zis is KAOS!
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