Dear HoustonPhotowalks Family,
We hope this message finds you in good health and high spirits. As a community, we’ve come a long way since our inception, and we owe this growth to your unwavering support and love for photography.
We’re writing to you today about some changes that are occurring with our event-hosting platform, Meetup.com. Starting this week, Meetup will be implementing an increase in their fees through a “transaction fee” that is applied per-person, per-event.
The good news is that this change will not significantly impact our event costs. The increase ranges from roughly $0.60 to $2 per person, per event. However, for an event with 30 attendees, this could mean an additional expense of approximately $20 for our devoted Event Organizers.
Our Event Organizers are the lifeblood of our community, tirelessly covering not only their own PayPal fees, but also investing their time and money in scouting locations, covering their meal expenses at dinner events, and paying venue fees. Asking them to shoulder this new fee, on top of their existing contributions, doesn’t align with our commitment to making this a community-supported endeavor.
Additionally, our advertising revenue, which has historically covered Meetup’s annual fees of about $200, has seen a decline. As less people are clicking our links, we find ourselves in a predicament where we must reassess how we manage these costs. Rest assured, we are actively exploring other event management options to save costs, but until we find a viable alternative, we need to make some adjustments.
With this in mind, we’ve made the decision to slightly increase our event prices to cover the new fees imposed by Meetup.com. This is a necessary measure to ensure that the financial responsibility does not disproportionately fall onto our hardworking Event Organizers.
HoustonPhotowalks has always been committed to offering value for every dollar spent. We have refrained from accepting donations because we believe in providing an enriching experience worth your investment. Our revised fee strategy will account for the additional 50 cents to $1.25 per person, per event that we are now being charged by Meetup.com.
This new transaction fee is in addition to the existing PayPal fees we’ve been covering. Just to give you a clearer picture, if a $2 fee is charged for an event, 65 cents would go to Meetup, while 59 cents would go to PayPal.
We understand that any fee increase can be a concern, and we’re committed to maintaining the utmost transparency throughout this process. We want to assure you that these changes are only made in the best interest of sustaining our beloved community and continuing our journey together in the world of photography.
Your understanding, support, and continued participation are what make HoustonPhotowalks the vibrant community it is today. We deeply appreciate your understanding in this matter and look forward to capturing more stunning moments together.
Yours in photography,
Joe Lippeatt
Head Walker
HoustonPhotowalks Team
P.S. For further reading:
- The new fee comes in the form of a transaction fee that’s charged on top of what we are already paying for PayPal fees. The fee is between .50 and $1.25, plus an additional percentage, up to 7% of your payment to an Event Organizer.
- So if you provide a $2 or $2.50 tip/fee for an event, about 65 cents goes to Meetup, about 59 cents goes to PayPal.
- Meetup Transaction Fee breakdown: https://help.meetup.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002883891
- Paypal Transaction Fee breakdown: https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/merchant-fees
