Originally posted by ...:

4.99 per month? REALLY? i already paid for this shit and now i have to pay 4.99 per month? fuck this greedy site and owners. im out

This thread is for discussion on it, not bashing it. This should really be moved to 'Suggestions' now, but all the comments would be gone.

That wouldn't be reasonable anyway. Why would they let you pay less just cause you have alts?

Originally posted by Sneeza™:

There's no way that we'll be able to accept keys as a form of payment, it's totally out of the question (unfortunately).

I am currently discussing internally to see if I can get the cost of premium changed, but that's as much as I can tell you on that front. I'm also looking to see if we can get an alternative method of obtaining premium in place - an idea I've been throwing around is a referral system that would reward you with x days worth of premium per member referred.

Thoughts?

Thank you very much for taking the time to look at this post, it does mean a lot. I realize my mistake in the key donations after Blue linked me. I can see why they can't be taken in huge masses since they aren't exactly legal tender. You must know how many donators will be lost though due to a variety of reasons. Outpost is a wonderful site and I'd hate to see it die due to other sites having cheaper donations. I do like the referral idea. A lot of complaints on the new system I've seen are 3 things mainly;
1. Price naturally. $60/yr for assisted trading is a lot
2. Monthly fees. It was so much easier to donate and be done with it before.
3. Distrust. In the original terms of donation, it said you would have donator forever. So thousands have donated, and are now finding that outpost has gone back on its word, and donator rank will run out. What will stop this from happenning in the future if Outpost can just change their terms and nobody can do anything about it?
If possible, there could always be ranks, but you can just pay for more bonuses.
$5/yr for 2 hr autobump and 10 trades and a green name
$10/yr for 1hr autobump and 15 trades and a red name
$15/yr for 30 minute autobump, 30 trades, and a blue name for your rank.

Similar to the old system, but more viable for more people

Side note: With PayPal chargebacks, how will Outpost handle people chargebacking their donations?

Several months ago, the the new donation system was revealed. Then all options to donate were postponed until the new donation system under way. With the old format, people could donate 1 key for a small benefit permanently. The deadline for these people is April 10th, which is coming through rapidly. But now, people can no longer donate keys, or pay anything for a permanent donator rank. So here is the question you must ask.

What will happen come April 10th and the following months when the previous donators lose their ranks? I know from a personal standpoint that a lot of people with the 1 key donation fee will be leaving outpost for other sites. So what will outpost do to combat the mobs of people leaving the site come April 10th? With the new donation system, there are very limited options. $4.99/mo by BluePay, Paypal, or Credit/Debit. There are a few problems with this that will stop a lot of users from coming back. For one, there is a small "younger audience" that plays TF2 and trade. These people obviously do not have cards that they can pay from. So now that they don't have access to a means of payment, these donors will be gone. I personally would not mind paying by my own card, Outpost has certainly helped me enough. Then, there is the monthly fee. It is $4.99/mo, or ~$60/yr. There are so many ways that you can spend a monthly fee for $60/yr than a website to assist you with trading. Then this $60 is only for a few benefits. Why pay $60/yr for a few extra trades and autobump when you can buy something like a year's worth of Xbox Live or a WoW subscription? Something more worth the money.

I don't mean to rant on outpost, I'm just foreseeing a large portion of trading leaving the site once their donor rank is gone. My suggestion? If it must be a monthly fee, at least bring back the option to pay by keys. Even if the price is higher, I'd gladly pay 2 keys/mo hassle free than pay by card. As of now, the new donation cost is not worth the price tag when there are many other things that are much more worth the money on the market. It was so much easier before to trade a bot and be done with it. With this new system, does Outpost expect to get more money, more donators, or nothing changing? I'm curious on the thought process behind it.

I'd rather not put this as a suggestion, as I am not pleasing directly for a change, I am just looking for open ended discussion about the topic. Please post your thoughts and criticisms.