Pricing update for collectives in Europe
Published on September 13, 2023 by Jean-François De Hertogh
Hi,
We’re writing to let you know that some OCE fees for collectives based in Europe will change from 15 October 2023.
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What’s changing and why?
What?
In 2023, the payment processing platforms which OCE uses to receive donations and process expenses (Stripe, PayPal and Wise) significantly increased their fees due to "higher network and underlying costs".
Adapting to this and as of 1 October 2023, fees for online card processing on OCE will increase from 6 to 8%. Donations via bank transfers will increase from 8 to 10%.
Why?
Online donations are the simplest and the most common way for collectives to raise funds. They also incur significant costs for OCE, in addition to a high taxation level in the EU. A payment processor fee (mostly from Stripe and PayPal) is charged for each donation received by a collective. OCE has to pay 21% VAT on these fees, but cannot reclaim them due to the nature of our non-profit activities. The higher the stripe fees, the higher the VAT.
The recent rise prompted us to consider the impact it represents for us and to define a model that can work in the years to come, both for OCE and for the collectives that we host.
Our choice has always been to keep the fee as low as possible in the spirit of the collective nature of our work. This is still our philosophy. However, the increasing cost of the services we use to provide the best possible user experience means that we have to adapt to it.
The transaction fees for donations will thus be divided in three categories:
* 8% + Stripe/PayPal transaction fee for online contributions.
- * 10% fee for bank transfers/wire payments.
- * 10% fee for tax deductible donations and grants, previous agreement with OCE
This means that the fee for online transactions via cards now practically equals the level of the transactions via wire transfer/bank transfer. Please note that online contributions are the most direct way to donate. A bank transfer is a manual procedure and usually takes up to one week to arrive at your collective's budget.
OCE is committed to humanitarian projects
From the very beginning, OCE has been actively involved in humanitarian aid groups on the platform. If you are working on a humanitarian project that you believe OCE should support, don’t hesitate to write to us to discuss the adequate pricing.
Feel free to contact us if you would like more details about the pricing update.
Sincerely,
- The OCE Team
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