Donations temporarily disabled

kovidgoyal · 09-22-2012, 01:57 AM

Hi all,

PayPal has restricted my account, so the Donate to calibre buttons will not work for the moment. They say it's because they cannot collect "donations" in India. They want the button text changed to something else. I'm working with them to resolve the issue. Unfortunately, they take days to respond, so things are in limbo at the moment.

I will update this thread when I have more information.

If you were planning to donate, thank you for the support, and please check back in a few days.

Adoby · 09-22-2012, 02:22 AM

As I understand it, PayPal has decided that the word "Donation", and variants thereof, are restricted for use by nonprofit organizations and charities only, and they have to be able to demonstrate that they are a "registered" charity or nonprofit organization. Can be hard to do for charities outside USA/Canada.

One reason for this might be that PayPal has reduced rates for donations.

However it should be possible to use a phrase like: "Support Calibre" or "Support Development of Calibre".

I hope that you get your business up and running again soon, Kovid.

kovidgoyal · 09-22-2012, 02:34 AM

Yes, that is my understanding as well. I just hope that PayPal are reasonable and accept "Support calibre" rather than insisting on "Buy now", which would be very confusing for calibre users.

Adoby · 09-22-2012, 02:48 AM

I think that it would be a good idea for plugin developers, and others that currently also have a PayPal donate button, to quickly change the wording on the button. Otherwise they also risk having their account locked.

kovidgoyal · 09-22-2012, 02:51 AM

The email that I got from PayPal implies that this is an India specific restriction, so I dont think it applies to most plugin developers. Quoting the relevant passage from the email

Code:

We noticed that you have replaced the PayPal donation button to "Donate to
Calibre" at your website. However, due to legal and regulatory constraints
in India, PayPal Pte. Ltd. is unable to process donation payments since it
uses PayPal solely for online donations without involving the purchase of
any goods or services.

We understand that all the donations are contributed to the development of
the wonderful software "Calibre" , but unfortunately you are not permitted
to use the Donation button to collect online donations.

Thus, in order to complete our review and restore your account, please
remove all the wording of donation/donate at your website and you may
replace donate button with other PayPal button (e.g. subscriptions button)
on your website.

xrayman2k4 · 09-22-2012, 11:02 AM

I suppose as long as you stay clear of the word "donate" you should be in the clear. "Buy me a burger" one developer for World of Warcraft Add-ons uses "Buy me a Coffee" on his site

Or you could play semantics with them - fire up your button generator and feed it a thesaurus "Assist" "Support" "Contribute" etc. Good luck!

Agama · 09-22-2012, 11:22 AM

Or even, "Buy me a cup of Tea".

Kovid may prefer tea to coffee.

– There again, he may not like either!

theducks · 09-22-2012, 11:29 AM

Stinking, Nit picking, Lawyer types.

Kovid
Sell us a Registration 'Key' that simply adds an overlay to the Heart that says (translated to Locale) "I Gave"

Agama · 09-22-2012, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theducks

Sell us a Registration 'Key' that simply adds an overlay to the Heart that says (translated to Locale) "I Gave"

Good idea, (or even a gold-heart icon in place of the red one.)

This all seems a bit silly by PayPal, especially since calibre really is free and donations really are voluntary.

kovidgoyal · 09-22-2012, 01:33 PM

I've changed the buttons and accompanying text to read "Support Calibre" and "Contribute to support the development of calibre". Let's see what PayPal has to say to that.

I hope this gets sorted out soon, it's the donations that allow me to work full time on calibre.

Agama · 09-22-2012, 02:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

I've changed the buttons and accompanying text to read "Support Calibre" and "Contribute to support the development of calibre". Let's see what PayPal has to say to that.

I hope this gets sorted out soon, it's the donations that allow me to work full time on calibre.

Just tried to support calibre but got message: "This recipient is currently unable to receive money."

Are you expecting a delay before your account is released?

Adoby · 09-22-2012, 03:22 PM

PayPal has a reputation for not being very helpful and active in finding a resolution in this type of situation. Unfortunately...

kovidgoyal · 09-22-2012, 11:27 PM

PayPal support says it will take 3-5 business days for the review.

fratermus · 09-23-2012, 12:13 AM

Flattr might be an additional way to accept donations. I use it to donate to Cyanogenmod, EFF, etc, each month.

kovidgoyal · 09-23-2012, 12:18 AM

IIRC flattr requires a paypal account behind the scenes to receive money.

09-22-2012, 01:57 AM	#1
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,843 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Donations temporarily disabled Hi all, PayPal has restricted my account, so the Donate to calibre buttons will not work for the moment. They say it's because they cannot collect "donations" in India. They want the button text changed to something else. I'm working with them to resolve the issue. Unfortunately, they take days to respond, so things are in limbo at the moment. I will update this thread when I have more information. If you were planning to donate, thank you for the support, and please check back in a few days.

09-22-2012, 02:22 AM	#2
Adoby Handy Elephant Posts: 1,736 Karma: 26785668 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Southern Sweden, far out in the quiet woods Device: Thinkpad E595, Ubuntu Mate, Huawei Mediapad 5, Bouye Likebook Plus	As I understand it, PayPal has decided that the word "Donation", and variants thereof, are restricted for use by nonprofit organizations and charities only, and they have to be able to demonstrate that they are a "registered" charity or nonprofit organization. Can be hard to do for charities outside USA/Canada. One reason for this might be that PayPal has reduced rates for donations. However it should be possible to use a phrase like: "Support Calibre" or "Support Development of Calibre". I hope that you get your business up and running again soon, Kovid. Last edited by Adoby; 09-22-2012 at 02:34 AM.

09-22-2012, 11:27 PM	#13
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,843 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	PayPal support says it will take 3-5 business days for the review. Last edited by kovidgoyal; 09-23-2012 at 12:09 AM.

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09-22-2012, 02:34 AM	#3
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,843 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Yes, that is my understanding as well. I just hope that PayPal are reasonable and accept "Support calibre" rather than insisting on "Buy now", which would be very confusing for calibre users.

09-22-2012, 02:48 AM	#4
Adoby Handy Elephant Posts: 1,736 Karma: 26785668 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Southern Sweden, far out in the quiet woods Device: Thinkpad E595, Ubuntu Mate, Huawei Mediapad 5, Bouye Likebook Plus	I think that it would be a good idea for plugin developers, and others that currently also have a PayPal donate button, to quickly change the wording on the button. Otherwise they also risk having their account locked.

09-22-2012, 11:02 AM	#6
xrayman2k4 Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 20 Join Date: Sep 2012 Device: Nexus7 & an Old School Kindle	I suppose as long as you stay clear of the word "donate" you should be in the clear. "Buy me a burger" one developer for World of Warcraft Add-ons uses "Buy me a Coffee" on his site Or you could play semantics with them - fire up your button generator and feed it a thesaurus "Assist" "Support" "Contribute" etc. Good luck!

09-22-2012, 11:22 AM	#7
Agama Guru Posts: 776 Karma: 2751519 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: UK Device: PW2, Nexus7	Or even, "Buy me a cup of Tea". Kovid may prefer tea to coffee. – There again, he may not like either!

09-22-2012, 11:29 AM	#8
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 29,782 Karma: 54830978 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	Stinking, Nit picking, Lawyer types. Kovid Sell us a Registration 'Key' that simply adds an overlay to the Heart that says (translated to Locale) "I Gave"

09-22-2012, 01:33 PM	#10
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,843 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	I've changed the buttons and accompanying text to read "Support Calibre" and "Contribute to support the development of calibre". Let's see what PayPal has to say to that. I hope this gets sorted out soon, it's the donations that allow me to work full time on calibre.

09-22-2012, 03:22 PM	#12
Adoby Handy Elephant Posts: 1,736 Karma: 26785668 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Southern Sweden, far out in the quiet woods Device: Thinkpad E595, Ubuntu Mate, Huawei Mediapad 5, Bouye Likebook Plus	PayPal has a reputation for not being very helpful and active in finding a resolution in this type of situation. Unfortunately...

09-23-2012, 12:13 AM	#14
fratermus e-bookworm Posts: 86 Karma: 630090 Join Date: Sep 2012 Device: PW2, K3, KF2, Touch (dying)	Flattr might be an additional way to accept donations. I use it to donate to Cyanogenmod, EFF, etc, each month.

09-23-2012, 12:18 AM	#15
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,843 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	IIRC flattr requires a paypal account behind the scenes to receive money.