Is the Donate $10 to buy two sets of the monthly CI's and get a bonus item coming back? (Such as the silver serpent bracers)

Or was it just an experiment to see if it would increase donations?

I am curious as well, :O

Insomniac: We summon you to answer thy question!

I hope it works! :XD

It was more of a one off thing, and no, it probably isn't coming back anytime soon.

Awe, that's too bad its not coming back. Was an awesome idea!

I can give some input on this which might explain why it's unlikely to return. The FREE actually damaged sales.

See the whole point of it was as a thank you to people who donated larger amounts at once, because we get stiffed by Paypal for small donations. We have to pay a transaction fee for every donation received, and that's higher the smaller the donation is. I think $20 is the ideal amount because the fee is either very low or non-existent from that amount upwards (DON'T quote me on that, I can't actually remember).

But , things didn't work out quite as planned as is often the case (current iPod contest being another great example of this). Consequently, the month after the first FREE, CI sales were down dramatically. This was the Pengu and Phear Me sets and there was seriously no reason for those to not sell well. But people didn't buy them, and that was probably because there wasn't a "freebie" thrown in. Same thing happened the second time around so that showed that it was people just not donating because they didn't get something extra.

In my case it wasn't the "there is no extra" as much as I spent 75% of my money for those two months combined (March and April) on March CIs, if not more.

Hmmm. I see. Paypal really sucks more and more lately, doesn't it?

Well, Paypal does suck if you look at it from one side of the coin, but from the other, they have to fund themselves somehow, and they justify their charges by pointing out that they charge less that other similar services :lol:

True, and understandable. Hmm. Still sucks, though. Too bad they don't provide some sort of frequent usage discount.

Originally Posted by jellysundae

Well, Paypal does suck if you look at it from one side of the coin, but from the other, they have to fund themselves somehow, and they justify their charges by pointing out that they charge less that other similar services :lol:

They need to invest in illegal prostitution rings to cover their expenses. That way paypal can stop bitching at people.

Originally Posted by Silenia

In my case it wasn't the "there is no extra" as much as I spent 75% of my money for those two months combined (March and April) on March CIs, if not more.

THis was my problem as well. I spent more on the months with the free items but that left less to spend the month after.

*nods* this will have been the case for some. We have come to realise that in general the people who do donate cannot afford to give more, and no matter what we do the people who could donate but don't are not going to, no matter how much blood, sweat and tears that we might put into things.

This is why we want to shake things up a bit and make some changes so that we appeal to a broader spectrum of people. The site's never going to break even otherwise and we can't go on forever expecting Inso to make up the difference. I kind of get the impression that a lot of people think that Inso's pockets are bottomless because he's bailed us out so far, but that cannot carry on indefinitely and people shouldn't expect it to. You guys who do give are awesome, I hope you realise how much we appreciate you :hug:

I'm actually surprised inso can manage to hold up the site as much as he does....o.0

I do very much hope that the site can some day break even, I'd hate to see the poor place die someday.

Jelly: That's the main reason I donate as much as I do, despite this commonly leaving me with basically no money for at least one week each month. Oh well, I still live with my parents so I have food and shelter despite of it, but believe me, Menewsha is the only site I would do this for. Love you guys. <3

Me as well, I usually try and donate as much as I can.....its because we love you guys *huggles*

Can i ask this....
Did you look into the Global Financial Crisis?
It too might have been a cause as well, not many people had money to spend on the items too...
All-in-all, it's a lose-lose situation for both the site and the users.
I really wanted those Penguin items, but didn't have the money to make a payment...

Originally Posted by jellysundae

But , things didn't work out quite as planned as is often the case (current iPod contest being another great example of this). Consequently, the month after the first FREE, CI sales were down dramatically. This was the Pengu and Phear Me sets and there was seriously no reason for those to not sell well. But people didn't buy them, and that was probably because there wasn't a "freebie" thrown in. Same thing happened the second time around so that showed that it was people just not donating because they didn't get something extra.

Personally, I didn't like the Pengu and Phear Me sets as much as the sets before that. I'm sure some people loved them, but I only got them for selling and not for personal use. I found them hard to sell at the time, but that's just me.