Updated Raffle Sales Plot

[Jeremy Scuteri]

 

[Dee2]

That looks like there are 50 days left. I was guessing maybe around 30. Am I missing something or is there a lag in the data? Nonetheless, thanks for adding this.

 

[Hmerkle]

I knew we were starting out slow, but I didn't realize we were over $1000 behind where we should be. Thank you for posting this Jeremy!

 

[Mike Davis]

Look at the purple dashed line. It ends at about 65 days and $10,000.

 

[Phil S]

What am I missing? The plot was up dated yesterday 4/19 which was day 26 of raffle sales. Now add the 29 days until the raffle closes at the picnic. That would mean the raffle closes on day 55 on the chart

 

[Jeff]

The raffle opened on March 16 and it will close on May 18. That's 64 days, including May 18.

Calculate Duration Between Two Dates – Results

Results page for Date Calculator. Shows number of days between two dates.

www.timeanddate.com

Phil, March 16 to April 19 is 35 days, not 26

We should be in the ball park of $10,000 (+/-) so that's pretty good.

Is the blue line the projected raffle sales vs the actual sales so far? I'm curious, what are the raffle ticket sales typically used for?

 

[Jeremy Scuteri]

Sorry, I didn't update the plot after getting the latest data. That plots was not up to date on the day it was posted. Good eye on those that sensed something was wrong. Sorry about that. Just noticed Jeff's comment about the 65 days vs. 64 days. Silly to hardcode a mistake like that when MS Excel will calculate the difference for you. Ugh.... Here is the latest, latest:

 

[Dee2]

What am I missing? The plot was up dated yesterday 4/19 which was day 26 of raffle sales. Now add the 29 days until the raffle closes at the picnic. That would mean the raffle closes on day 55 on the chart

There you go. Confused by the obvious. I'm guilty of always truncating the axes to fit the data range. The current campaign is shorter than the 2018. As Bob Dole would say, "I'm a dofus."

 

[Hmerkle]

I'm curious, what are the raffle ticket sales typically used for?

Jeff, I am choosing to respond to this specific question for your benefit (and the rest of the membership)
Raffle ticket sales allow the board to choose or if we are forced to have a donation drive!
The money raised from the ticket sales are applied to the running of the site. I would defer to Ken for specifics, but there are a lot of costs for the site and other things we choose to do (like the picnic). Typical total expenses run in the $15,000 range. So a $10,000 goal for the raffle is important and if we raise more money, all the better.

 

[Hmerkle]

NOW.... let me make my correction - with the updated chart we are over $2000 behind our projected numbers at this time - c'mon people - let's get some raffel tickets bought - remember, while it is great to win (and there are a lot of great prizes (https://www.ncwoodworker.net/forums/index.php?threads/2019-ncww-raffle-official-prize-list.67079/ ) every ticket purchase allows us to "keep the lights on and the heat running" on this GREAT website!!!

 

[Jeff]

NOW.... let me make my correction - with the updated chart we are over $2000 behind our projected numbers at this time - c'mon people - let's get some raffel tickets bought - remember, while it is great to win (and there are a lot of great prizes (https://www.ncwoodworker.net/forums/index.php?threads/2019-ncww-raffle-official-prize-list.67079/ ) every ticket purchase allows us to "keep the lights on and the heat running" on this GREAT website!!!

Good suggestion Hank. I've tried 2 credit cards and they've both failed. Other members have had the same problem with their credit cards too. Ken tells me I can't buy raffle tickets by sending him a check at NCWW.

What do you suggest for those not going to the picnic?

 

[ScottM]

Good suggestion Hank. I've tried 2 credit cards and they've both failed. Other members have had the same problem with their credit cards too. Ken tells me I can't buy raffle tickets by sending him a check at NCWW.

What do you suggest for those not going to the picnic?

Good question Jeff. I think the poor showing to date in part reflects the issues people are having with the credit card sales.

 

[Mike Davis]

Has anyone contacted the CC processing company to see if there is some common error, bug, issue that they may be able to fix or advise us about the rejections? Can someone do that if it hasn’t been done please?

 

[Dee2]

Jeff,
Is it possible to add a (red?) vertical line showing the picnic date? Might add a little impetus to buy.

 

[Jeff]

I think that it may be our NCWW site and maybe Ron can clear that up. There isn't a common credit card company to contact (Master Card, Visa, American Express, etc) and I don't know if they all have a common processor.

Has anyone contacted the CC processing company to see if there is some common error, bug, issue that they may be able to fix or advise us about the rejections? Can someone do that if it hasn’t been done please?

 

[sawman101]

I had no trouble buying blocks of tickets on 2 separate occasions with my VISA card. Maybe I'll try another card for another block of tickets. Come on everybody, I don't want to win ALL the prizes!

 

[KenOfCary]

I've seen multiple declines with the generic "Declined" reason code - my understanding is that this is due to our Card Processor sending it to the Credit Card company of the purchaser and them declining it on their end. The reason is not forwarded to us so we're at a loss to determine the cause of the decline.

It was thought originally that it might be related to the word raffle in the purchase description (which some companies equate with gambling sites), so we changed that to only mention ticket purchase. The Card Companies have gotten very strict on what is allowed and not allowed on cards and a lot of things trigger a fraud alert unfortunately. Maybe we are triggering that on some purchases.

If we can figure out what it is we're doing to trigger these alerts - and unfortunately it may be in the past and we've gotten ourselves on a Black-List with some card companies - I've never seen this problem this bad in the past.

We seriously apologize for the problems people are having just to purchase a legitimate ticket from us and we welcome any feedback you can provide as to why your card company declined our charge.

Anybody that can help us figure out why this is happening and solve the problem, I will personally buy them a ticket and it might just win a big prize. It is very frustrating to me that this is happening so often. We had a few instances last year, but nothing like this many declined cards.

 

[FlyingRon]

If someone who has been getting declines could try again. I poured over the differences between the old software and the new and could only find one slight difference. I've made a change. Probably won't make a difference, but it is worth a try.

 

[tri4sale]

I just tried with my VISA that was declined last time I tried, it was declined. Tried w/ another VISA of mine and it went thru. I called my credit card company for declined card, and they said it was that the 3 digit code on back was wrong. I am like 99% sure I had typed it in correctly, but the card company said they could bypass the error and I could resubmit. So if you are getting declined, call the credit card company (number on back of your card) and ask them why declined, and they will tell you.

 

[FlyingRon]

Thanks, Daniel.