- Joined
- 11 Oct 2012
- Local time
- 9:23 PM
- Messages
- 18,397
- Location
- SE Australia
- Website
- www.satnavsaysstraighton.com
The CookingBites software, add-ons, site licences and domain licences cost me the following: *Note that I have to purchase in 3 currencies due to the location of the developers so I keep all donations in the currency they are donated in to help reduce any loss through converting from 1 currency into another at donation stage and then from the other into the original when I purchase the software - I do hope that makes some sense. I also keep the totals separate so I have spent US$303.91 and €29.99 and £103.19 in 2019 keeping this site running (that was the year we upgraded to XF2 and the new interface so costs were higher).
Expenditure
We are exceptionally lucky that there are no hardware costs, no bandwidth costs, no server licencing, no backup costs and no repair costs because the original owner of this site continues to allow us to remain on his servers free of charge, He picks up all of these costs and they run into thousands in all currencies! so these costs would be considerably higher without his continued support.
During 2019 and 2020 I was able to purchase a couple of 10 year or lifelong support packages for some of our add-ons and at the very end of the year, due to a very generous donation, I was able to renew the domain name for 10 years instead of the usual 1 year making it much cheaper in the long run. Some of the add-on license renewals are due in the next 2 months, the rest is due just before Christmas. (If you want a more detailed breakdown of costs, please contact me privately.)
I know it is possible to run the server without the support contracts in place, and without being able to access any upgrades but I usually have to contact XenForo for support twice a year as it is, and am looking at the possibility that one of our major add-ons (Featured threads) may also have a problem that I will need to contact the developer for in the next month. So it is possible to run much more cheaply, but I would not have this support and I'm not prepared to leave this forum in that state. So I need your help please.
Income
I do get roughly half of that back each year in the way of advertising, though adblockers are increasingly reducing that revenue stream. I could also implement Skimlinks which is where when you shop online you come here to follow my affiliate link to your shop and I get a tiny percentage from each sale, which is free to you. Historically that hasn't brought in much revenue so I let it lapse, (we're talking $20-25 annually because the site is very quiet and people didn't really know about it).
Donations to date this year
This year I have received donations totalling US$55, €10 & GBP £15 (kept in their own currencies) which is roughly equivalent to a grand total of US$86.80 or GB£63 of which PayPal takes roughly 10% of all transactions so I saw about $78 or £57 (grand total after PayPal fees). Donation logs can be seen here Viewing Donation Drive: Monthly Site Maintenance Costs (2020/2021) below the monthly contribution total.
So, if I could use a feature within CookingBites called Account Upgrades to allow people to donate monthly, would you be interested?
If so, what currency and how much? I would need to configure the system to allow each currency at each amount...
At the moment, I have only setup very small values as an experiment. Even I need to learn how it works, but it allows for monthly 'payments' towards account upgrades ordinarily but this can easily be viewed as a monthly donation. PayPal will take their fees each month sadly but I can't get around that unless you are in the UK or Australia (by setting up of standing orders). I can configure a few perks if people are interested - a larger signature, colour in the signature, a banner saying you contribute monthly, an image within the signature, larger file uploads in the media gallery, increased editing times for posts, media files and so on. https://www.cookingbites.com/account/upgrades will give you an idea of the information I am after. If you want to donate something different, because I'm using a feature for something it is not intended for, I need to actually know what monthly amount you'd like to donate so that it is there for you to select. The normal donations software will still be available for anyone wanting to donate on an adhoc basis and as always, if you want to use standing orders/bank transfers, just send me a PM and I can provide the details.
Can't you tell that the tax year has just ended in Australia?
Expenditure
| 2019 | US $303.91 | €29.99 | £103.19 | grand total roughly equivalent to | US $480 or £350 | |
| 2020 | US $281.84 | €14.99 | £191.88 | grand total roughly equivalent to | US $565 or £410 | |
| 2021 | estimated $200 | known €14.99 | estimated £60 | grand total roughly equivalent to | US $300 or £220 |
We are exceptionally lucky that there are no hardware costs, no bandwidth costs, no server licencing, no backup costs and no repair costs because the original owner of this site continues to allow us to remain on his servers free of charge, He picks up all of these costs and they run into thousands in all currencies! so these costs would be considerably higher without his continued support.
During 2019 and 2020 I was able to purchase a couple of 10 year or lifelong support packages for some of our add-ons and at the very end of the year, due to a very generous donation, I was able to renew the domain name for 10 years instead of the usual 1 year making it much cheaper in the long run. Some of the add-on license renewals are due in the next 2 months, the rest is due just before Christmas. (If you want a more detailed breakdown of costs, please contact me privately.)
I know it is possible to run the server without the support contracts in place, and without being able to access any upgrades but I usually have to contact XenForo for support twice a year as it is, and am looking at the possibility that one of our major add-ons (Featured threads) may also have a problem that I will need to contact the developer for in the next month. So it is possible to run much more cheaply, but I would not have this support and I'm not prepared to leave this forum in that state. So I need your help please.
Income
I do get roughly half of that back each year in the way of advertising, though adblockers are increasingly reducing that revenue stream. I could also implement Skimlinks which is where when you shop online you come here to follow my affiliate link to your shop and I get a tiny percentage from each sale, which is free to you. Historically that hasn't brought in much revenue so I let it lapse, (we're talking $20-25 annually because the site is very quiet and people didn't really know about it).
Donations to date this year
This year I have received donations totalling US$55, €10 & GBP £15 (kept in their own currencies) which is roughly equivalent to a grand total of US$86.80 or GB£63 of which PayPal takes roughly 10% of all transactions so I saw about $78 or £57 (grand total after PayPal fees). Donation logs can be seen here Viewing Donation Drive: Monthly Site Maintenance Costs (2020/2021) below the monthly contribution total.
So, if I could use a feature within CookingBites called Account Upgrades to allow people to donate monthly, would you be interested?
If so, what currency and how much? I would need to configure the system to allow each currency at each amount...
At the moment, I have only setup very small values as an experiment. Even I need to learn how it works, but it allows for monthly 'payments' towards account upgrades ordinarily but this can easily be viewed as a monthly donation. PayPal will take their fees each month sadly but I can't get around that unless you are in the UK or Australia (by setting up of standing orders). I can configure a few perks if people are interested - a larger signature, colour in the signature, a banner saying you contribute monthly, an image within the signature, larger file uploads in the media gallery, increased editing times for posts, media files and so on. https://www.cookingbites.com/account/upgrades will give you an idea of the information I am after. If you want to donate something different, because I'm using a feature for something it is not intended for, I need to actually know what monthly amount you'd like to donate so that it is there for you to select. The normal donations software will still be available for anyone wanting to donate on an adhoc basis and as always, if you want to use standing orders/bank transfers, just send me a PM and I can provide the details.
Can't you tell that the tax year has just ended in Australia?