Question: How does your pricing work?

Answer:  We charge only $1.25 per entered skater.

Each month, we send you a check for the total dollar amount of all entries we receive for your competition.  Each time a skater's entry is processed (whether by the skater with a credit card, or by you from a paper entry form), our system tallies that entry. On the next statement we send to you, we'll report to you how many new entries were processed, multiply that number by $1.25, and deduct the total amount from your check.

If a skater creates an account for your competition and puts several events into a shopping cart but never actually finalizes the entry, we charge you nothing.

If a skater re-enters his or her account and adds an event or practice-ice to an already existing entry, there are no additional charges.

When skaters purchase practice-ice sessions online with a credit-card, we charge you nothing. Oh, and if you have to make changes to a skater's entry at any time -- again, there are no additional charges.

We believe this price structure is the easiest to understand and the fairest for our clients.

Question: There are no other charges?

Answer:  No -- your initial $125.00 deposit is refundable.  We use it only if it is needed to finalize your last statement.

Configuration Service

We do offer an optional configuration service.  For an additional $50.00, we'll configure your competition for you, saving you the hassle of setting up everything yourself.  While our configuration screens are straightforward, we've found that some of our clients appreciate the option of having it done for them.

Otherwise, you'll never be charged more than $1.25 per entered skater.

Question: How do we determine our total cost for using the system?

Answer: Your total cost is exactly $1.25 per skater. This includes all skaters who enter your competition. Of course, there's no way to predict exactly how many skaters will be participating, but you may be able to estimate your total cost by using the attendance numbers from last year's competition.

The following table may help:

Question: Are there any ways for us to reduce our total cost?

Answer: The best way for you to directly recover some of these costs is to sell web advertising. We suggest contacting any existing sponsors you have and offering them some advertising space on your front page for an additional fee. You can display 4-5 picture ads on one panel of the front page, or 12-15 text ads, or you can mix them. There are two panels, thus plenty of room to sell lots of ads. Web ads can be uploaded at any time -- we provide screens to make it quick and easy.

Question: Do our skaters pay any additional fees (other than their entry fees)?

Answer: In order to recover some of the costs of processing financial transactions online, we must add a small percentage to each skater's total charged amount for online entries. This fee is small, is paid by your skaters, and is only for the recovery of these additional costs. This is similar (but somewhat less expensive) than the processing fees seen with online concert ticket sales, where ticket sellers often charge $15.00 or more per ticket as a "handling" fee.  At this time, the fee is 3.5%; a typical skater paying $120.00 to enter your competition would only be charged a processing fee of $4.20.

Question: When do we get our refundable $125.00 deposit back?

Answer: After we see that your schedule has been published, we'll finalize your account activity. If there are any last-minute paper entries, we'll deduct $1.25 for each one. If not, we'll send you the entire $125.00. Either way, we put a check in the mail during the next billing cycle (the first of the month). No matter what, you still pay only $1.25 per skater.

Question: The system sounds complicated. What if I have trouble using it?

Answer: Our administrator screens (which you'll be using to monitor and manage your competition) employ some of the latest web technology to make your user experience as straightforward as possible. Nearly every page has context-sensitive help available at the click of a button. The system's navigation scheme is very natural and easy to follow, and each page carefully validates your input so you don't accidentally do something wrong.

If you reach a point where you're still unsure how to proceed, even after reading the online help, just call us toll-free and we'll be happy to assist.

Question: How long will our entry data be available after our competition is completed?

Answer: We'll keep your data in our database for 60 days after your competition is completed, in case you need access to the information. You'll be able to access various reports and spreadsheet downloads in order to archive your competition data.

After 60 days, all your competition information and entry data will be removed from our main database.