New Payment Method

[trix]

Hello!

I was wondering if you would consider adding SplitIt (https://www.splitit.com/) as a payment method?

Some items you sell (like the Pyra!) are expensive, and being able to enter a payment plan rather than paying upfront would very likely increase sales quite a bit. Personally, I will order one either way, but if you had SplitIt available I would place my order immediately, rather than having to wait to save up the amount.

I learned of this service when using it to pre-order a Librem 5 linux smartphone. Instead of needing $650 upfront, I am able to pay $55 each month with no interest. I really think this will entice a lot more people to purchase a Pyra!

Just a shot in the dark!

Thanks,
trix

 

[elw3]

*Sigh* Such payment behaviour deserves punishments.

 

[JDTAY]

My browser couldn't even find the security certificate for that site.

Not that the Switch browser is top of the line or anything, but it still doesn't usually have that problem.

Edit: There was a Forbes article about SplitIt though, two months ago.

 

[trix]

*Sigh* Such payment behaviour deserves punishments.

Care to elaborate?

For those of us with stable long-term employment, installment payments can be very useful. Especially with no interest.

Also, when buying a phone, most people sign a multi-year contract that covers the cost of the phone itself, so they don't have to pay the entire hardware cost immediately. At least with SplitIt I could buy a Pyra with a much shorter term installment plan (3 months, 6 months, 12 months) and still have my choice of cellular service provider, without being locked into a 3-year contract.

 

[FBnil]

@trix I keep it under my bed. I' developing a backache though...
No, but seriously, just have a separate savings account that you can not withdraw more than 6 times per year from, and has higher interest rate. Doubles as an emergency buffer and as a piggy bank.

 

[elw3]

Even JDTAYs way of buying a shitload of vouchers is a saner way compared to asking a shady random website to play piggybank.
All this financial plan bullshit is what drives ppl into poverty.
Whats the point of delaying a payment that you have to do anyway in the end?
You also claim its "no interest" but then how does this company make money? Someone WILL pay for the lone IT guy that runs the website. Its either you or the shop owner.

 

[levi]

Yeah, I couldn't work out for the forbes article how this company even pays for its own hosting. Since it states the customer doesn't pay anything extra, I have to assume the shopholder has to pay a fee.

As others have said, for anyone asking for this now, a better option is to save the money yourself. The Pyra isn't even out yet. But it might be worth ED having this on the site once it is out, or even now since the GPD devices are no longer bargain basement, and some of the FPGA boards cost a pretty penny, it all depends on how much this costs (and it not all being a scam, but that forbes article sounded legit to me). Note you can already get 4 months interest free with paypal, and probably up to another month free when you pay off the remainder with your credit card, although that does require slightly more manual intervention to pull off I guess.

 

[TeDaDeS]

The person providing the service to the customer (ED) has to pay the fee. So the customer itself doesn't pay more, ED does.

 

[levi]

Okay, and how much is it and how often? I'd expect them to want to disassociate the cost to them from the cost to their customer (the shop in this instance), so will opt for an apparently low monthly fee regardless of how many uses their buy button gets, which actually amounts to a small fortune going out each year.

 

[Wally]

We might as well request payment in bottle caps now.

 

[Hellfleck]

as a sidenote, use wire transfer to pay if you can ... payment providers like PayPal or Amazon Pay (I like them too because they are convenient ...) typically take 1,5% + 0,35€ from each payment done through them

Example:

If one Pyra costs 400€ and ED sells 500 of them (payed through PayPal or Amazon Pay) that means those companies get 3175€ from that ...

 

[trix]

You all seem to misunderstand how the Splitit service works. It's credit. Like a credit card. I could buy a $2000 Purism laptop right now by only paying the first installment. It's not like Layaway where I don't get the item until the last installment is paid, I would get the item immediately and make payments on it, like when I take out a loan to buy a car. Except that an auto loan comes with interest I have to pay off on top of the loan principle.

For a pre-order of course, I'd probably be mostly done paying for it by the time my Pyra arrives, but in general SplitIt allows me to purchase something *prior* to saving up for it. By the time my Librem 5 arrives, I'll be around half-way through paying for it. And now I got it at the pre-order price rather than the full retail price.

Also, for the record, I would be fine with paying a reasonably higher price for the Pyra, if I can pay it with Splitit.

Edited to add:
I also don't see why people would call it "shady" or make noise in that direction, when the risk is *on them* and not on me. Most of the companies that offer Splitit as a payment method ship you the product immediately. It helps when you take the time to learn what it is you are talking about before you jump into a thread to crap all over someone's suggestion.

 

[JDTAY]

I apologize. I didn't know when I posted that Wally would be coming out of a month of hiding just to crap on your idea.

 

[trix]

I was more referring to Elw3 who (i assume jokingly) suggested people should be punished for such behavior, without understanding that SplitIt basically provides a loan/credit, rather than a piggybank.

However upon further thought, the fault may lie with me as my OP doesn't exactly spell that out and not everyone looks up the subject before chiming in

 

[docbroke]

The person providing the service to the customer (ED) has to pay the fee. So the customer itself doesn't pay more, ED does.

In that case ED can charge little more for pyra when buyer choose to pay using splitit.

 

[elw3]

No i wasnt joking. I am shocked by people who deliberately want to take loans just for the sake of taking loans and even want to pay extra for it.
You cant afford a pyra right now in cash? Obviously that is because you have no idea how to handle money.

 

[Hellfleck]

In that case ED can charge little more for pyra when buyer choose to pay using splitit.

Thats actually no longer allowed under German law : https://www.it-recht-kanzlei.de/verbot-extra-kosten-kartenzahlungen.html

On 13. Jan 2018 new EU law banned surcharges and while it was unclear if that included providers like PayPal or not a German court has rules that it does on 13.12.2018 ... so in Germany surcharges are no longer allowed except for third party credit cards

and yes, running online shops in Germany is pure fun

 

[elw3]

Well now you get a discount when paying sane instead.
Not sure on online shops but local shops usually give 20% discount for cash. Small shops like for fishing or bike gear, not supermarkeds tho.

 

[trix]

No i wasnt joking. I am shocked by people who deliberately want to take loans just for the sake of taking loans and even want to pay extra for it.
You cant afford a pyra right now in cash? Obviously that is because you have no idea how to handle money.

Wow. What an incredibly dense assumption to make about people you know literally nothing about. I think you are projecting, buddy. My financial situation is fine. I am quite certain I have a better idea how to handle my money than you do, random internet stranger. I almost got defensive and was tempted to explain why a service like this makes sense for many specific situations, but I suspect I would be wasting my time and effort on someone who has clearly already planted his metaphoric flag.

I think I should have made this a PM to ED directly.

 

[elw3]

My financial situation is fine.

Yet you need a service to help you doing payments?