Donating to MeFi from overseas (UK)

August 19, 2003 1:41 PM

This is a right piss-off.

Feeling flush enough to donate to Mefi for the first time ever...[more inside]
posted by dash_slot- to MetaFilter-Related at 1:41 PM (44 comments total)

As a registered PayPal 'member', I decided to try & donate via PayPal (as they laughingly call it). I thought for 18 months of membership & twice that of lurking, $30 (roughly £20) was ok. Paypal didnt like that - said "This transaction exceeds your remaining sending limit. Please complete your enrollment in the Expanded Use Program. You will then be allowed to send more money."
So I tried a lower & lower amount till I tried $1. Still the same result. I don't want my donation to leech out to Amazon via their 'Honor System' (they're rich enough, by my reckoning).

Any Brits found a way of donating successfully?
posted by dash_slot- at 1:42 PM on August 19, 2003

Send money directly to Matt or ask him what he wants from the UK, buy it and mail it to him.
posted by riffola at 1:52 PM on August 19, 2003

he prefers illicit drugs and porn, btw.
posted by quonsar at 2:02 PM on August 19, 2003

Actually, if surface mail rates and speeds were better, I would, riffola. The net was s'posed to eliminate that sort of crap, esp. services ike PP.

But how can I send money directly? You mean pop a couple of tenners in the post?

q, send one my friday night treats round to matt, would ya? Post-haste!
posted by dash_slot- at 2:22 PM on August 19, 2003

The way you Brits talk is just too cute.
posted by xmutex at 2:22 PM on August 19, 2003

Glad you can't hear me accent as well!
posted by dash_slot- at 2:33 PM on August 19, 2003

*sigh* But your accent is so cute too! (Says the girl looking for a nice ex-pat boyfriend....)
posted by scody at 3:00 PM on August 19, 2003

How come no one ever wants licit drugs?
posted by WolfDaddy at 3:25 PM on August 19, 2003

they have boring special effects.
posted by quonsar at 3:49 PM on August 19, 2003

& they aren't as cheap.
posted by th3ph17 at 3:56 PM on August 19, 2003

I've heard that if you take a bunch of acetaminophen and then watch the Wizard of Oz while simultaneously playing Pink Floyd's "The Wall", there's a chance you might not get a splitting headache.
posted by eddydamascene at 4:03 PM on August 19, 2003

eddy: No, that's just an old wives tale.
posted by elwoodwiles at 4:28 PM on August 19, 2003

These old wives? Can't someone tell them they're full of shit? I can't, I'm too polite.
posted by squealy at 4:54 PM on August 19, 2003

i offered matt a free holiday in edinburgh ,
but he didnt take me up on it .
apparently he's frightened to leave the u.s. for some reason.
posted by sgt.serenity at 5:59 PM on August 19, 2003

oh , you're all missing the festival here btw .
posted by sgt.serenity at 6:00 PM on August 19, 2003

ask him what he wants from the UK, buy it and mail it to him.

Jelly Babies!
posted by rushmc at 6:08 PM on August 19, 2003

smoky bacon flavour crisps!
posted by jonson at 6:39 PM on August 19, 2003

Visa, It's Everywhere You Want to Be.
posted by benjh at 6:50 PM on August 19, 2003

A bacon buttie and a bottle of Tizer!
posted by Tarrama at 7:56 PM on August 19, 2003

Hook me up with a free trip to Edinburgh and I would go. If necessary I will act and dress like Matt. Normally I only do this in front of the mirror, so it would be a special treat.
posted by Hildago at 8:35 PM on August 19, 2003

Or google ads.
posted by angry modem at 9:32 PM on August 19, 2003

Um, when I was a kid, I had these delicious beef pasty thingies from some vendor at Kensington Gardens...please, sir, may I have some another more?

Hook me up with a free trip to Edinburgh
Pssst.
posted by WolfDaddy at 9:36 PM on August 19, 2003

dash_slot-, PayPal sets a US$250 sending limit on unverified members without a linked credit card. See here and here for what to do next.
posted by dhartung at 10:44 PM on August 19, 2003

"How come no one ever wants licit drugs?"

I do. I need an aspirin, you guys gave me a headache
posted by matteo at 12:51 AM on August 20, 2003

as i remember it, you have to register a credit card with paypal. the thing is, they charge you for the pleasure. it's only a couple of quid, but it's a one off charge thankfully.

i know it should work, because i just made a donation myself. hope it helps.
posted by triv at 1:04 AM on August 20, 2003

Paypal credits your account with with the $1.95 they charge your credit card.
posted by mischief at 1:22 AM on August 20, 2003

Too late!! I just saw the wish list; shoulda mailed my duplicate copy of 'The Office' 1st series, which I got as gifts both VHS & DVD. Instead, he got a donation via Amazon honor system.

Ne'er mind, eh, he said, reverting to type. It's all good.
posted by dash_slot- at 1:43 AM on August 20, 2003

d'oh!! regions 2+4 any good, matt?
posted by dash_slot- at 1:44 AM on August 20, 2003

Didn't you realize Matt is a fat-cat new media type now? That $30 will just go on ivory backscratchers and TiVo subscriptions!
posted by wackybrit at 3:16 AM on August 20, 2003

surely that's TiVo mods?
posted by i_cola at 4:49 AM on August 20, 2003

scody: waTer
;-)

[Engaged...sorry]
posted by i_cola at 7:40 AM on August 20, 2003

$30? I would try $300 if you really want to make a difference. $30 is chump change, fella.
posted by cell divide at 9:50 AM on August 20, 2003

chump change

Which is to say, 'mine is bigger than yours'. ;-P
posted by mischief at 10:52 AM on August 20, 2003

His imagination's bigger, if nothing else.
posted by timeistight at 11:05 AM on August 20, 2003

"How come no one ever wants licit drugs?"

Obviously you must be ill to want licit drugs. [which sorta makes sense]
posted by DBAPaul at 2:32 PM on August 20, 2003

i promise not to be offended by offers of chump change. and i have a british accent. i also have teeth to match (i will not condone cosmetic surgery, dammit). and i just found out that the inland revenue are paying me 2000 pounds for having left the country (any ex-pats out there - you really should fill in the silly form that they ask you to fill in).

well, that's enough about me. how are you?

ps you could change the cash to dollars and post it in a nice card (use a bureau de change, i guess - here in the developing world you can buy dollars all over the place; it's quite the thing to do). and aren't pay-pal evil incarnate anyway?
posted by andrew cooke at 2:37 PM on August 20, 2003

Oh yeah? Well I would contribute $3000000000000!!!!
My imagination and penis are huge!
posted by Hildago at 2:38 PM on August 20, 2003

chump change?

how do you say that in British?
posted by dash_slot- at 3:17 PM on August 20, 2003

Small potatoes..? Peanuts..?

[removes Hildago's penis from front pathway]
posted by i_cola at 3:26 PM on August 20, 2003

[hands i_cola the bollocks from the rear patio]
posted by dash_slot- at 3:47 PM on August 20, 2003

beer money?
posted by andrew cooke at 6:27 PM on August 20, 2003

i am adding this totally irrelevant and intellectually void-of-content postscript because that's what i do.
posted by quonsar at 6:47 PM on August 20, 2003

Please stop.
posted by gleuschk at 6:58 PM on August 20, 2003

Please stop saying please stop.
posted by dg at 7:19 PM on August 20, 2003