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EE- event closed last night at 20 dogs and just a minute ago 22

7K views 35 replies 20 participants last post by  DuckTruk 
#1 ·
Most of morning event showed 20 dogs closed last night at midnight. All of sudden, there are two more dogs added.

How does that work?
 
#2 ·
I don't know, but here's a guess. I believe they accept mailed-in entries. Maybe they had a couple that arrived yesterday but didn't get entered into the computer until this morning?

Kelly
 
#3 ·
Good Point, so mail in entries could go past close date? Interesting. Oh well, more the merrier.
 
#6 ·
That's not what I meant. The mail-in entry may have ARRIVED AT THE EE OFFICE before the deadline, but the EE staff might not have gotten it entered in the computer system until this morning.
 
#7 ·
If you want the direct & most accurate answer, rather than speculate on a forum why not make that toll-free call to EE & ask them? There is no agenda among EE personnel other than to provide the best customer service possible & they will give a very truthful, direct and straight-forward answer. They are the same folks who have worked at EE for years & the rules that govern entry and entry closing have remained the same under current and previous ownership. Among the reasons which could change entries after closing but prior to finalization are computer problems at EE, scratches made prior to closing but changed after closing and prior to finalization, complance with a directive from the AKC and possibly enter mail-in entries that were received at EE prior to the closing but not entered electronically until after the electronic closing time. Point is there are two (and only two) full time employees at EE doing a great job to keep up with all the work, handle the numerous weekly calls to correct entries that have been entered by owners or handlers with errors, interface with the club administrators on a number of subjects, correct dog names to match AKC registrations in some cases, split flights in AKC HTs that exceed AKC maximums, handle refunds, collect past due fees, layout catalogs, have catalogs printed & shipped ...among other duties, foremost among those duties being to comply with the rules and procedures that govern the entry process. And to do all those tasks and more at very reasonable labor rates. Why not give them a call rather than imply some impropriety.
 
#9 ·
David, I did send an email and got the answer. very legitamite reason and was not trying to imply improprieties. Just hadn't seen it happen before.
In regards to work load on these two ladies sounds like a managment decision if they are requried to handle more than they should. I know they work hard at reasonable labor rates.
Thanks to those ladies for their response.
 
#11 ·
Also brings down unemployment. :cool:

"Progress" is killing us regards,

JS
 
#13 ·
Chad Baker; said:
How many entries were there last week times 4.50? .
After subtracting a 3-4% credit card transaction fee that $4.50 gets much smaller. If everyone paid with a check it would be different. One would assume that the pros are all VIP accounts and pay by check, most individuals pay by credit card. I know the giant retailers get a much better deal than 3-4% due to volume but small retailers, professionals, etc. do not. When those entry fees hit $100 after subtracting the transaction fee there isn't much left.
 
#15 ·
If you send the money on PayPal as a gift it is free but they probably couldn't get away with that just saying regards
 
#17 ·
It might be beneficial to EE to set up to take Electronic Checks. Electronic checks have a lower processing fee some services below $0.25 a transaction. They process either instantly or at most 5 days so it will clear before start of trial/test. A huge number of EE's customers are repeat customers and their is no other way to enter events so they have a monopoly going. Electronic checks would also save money by reducing the number of paper checks they handle and process. Of course as an incentive you could reduce the entry fee for electronic checks to say $2.50 and still make more money on those transactions then the transactions using credit cards.

Just a thought.....
 
#18 ·
The more options you add, the more moving parts you have, the more opportunities that you have for things to go wrong.
For ease of administration, it makes sense to limit the option. As a consumer of EE services, I would prefer to charge entry fees and delay payment, rather than pay by check

The higher the entry fee charged by the club, the less profit margin there is for EE.

Assume 3% credit card charge.
If $80 entry fee charged by club, $2.40 goes to credit card company.
If $100 entry fee charged by club (and I suspect we are not far from first $100 trial), $3.00 goes to credit card company.

That $4.50 is getting chewed up pretty quickly.
 
#19 ·
As a consumer I would rather save $2 an entry and have enough after 35-40 entries to pay for one with the savings;) Credit card usage has more moving parts than an electronic check and their is more room for fraud which is why the have such a high cost to use for the merchant. Credit card use is a cash loan that the merchant (passed on to consumer) pays for. An electronic check is not a cash loan so there is no interest added into the use. Credit card companies also cahrge the card holder interest if they do not pay off their card every month.
 
#20 ·
I'd rather pay a couple more bucks in entry fees and have the extra money go towards a a better display of entries. I'd like to see dog name, breed, owner, handler, breeder, etc, on a single line. I'd like the option to filter or sort entries by breed, age, etc.
 
#23 ·
You're right Chad, someone is doing OK, it's the banks. Credit card fees are 2.5-4.5% (depending upon the credit card used)of the total entry charge (example: $80 entry fee + 4.50 handler fee = 84.50 x .045 = $3.80 credit card charge taken off the top). So as club entry fees go up, EE has less margin.

And no 8mmag, the club doesn't share in the credit card fee, EE absorps the total cc fees. And while there may be a few who are willing to pay a higher handling fee, the vast majority want better service for lower costs. Many may remember when fees were increased from a sliding scale of $3-4.50 to a flat $4.50; go look at the thread that covered that increase & you might appreciate more that EE is attempting to provide the best service possible for the lowest possible costs to the handlers & clubs.
 
#27 ·
Every business is entitled to make money. If the revenue is the 4.50 per dog to cover salary OH direct costs of printing and shipping. CC fees based on the entire entry fee then I imagine there is not a lot of margin

But EE is not a public company so basically it's none of our business and only speculation

I've been to the charleston office definately not plush
 
#30 ·
Ad revenues are the property of the Retriever News and don't even pass through EE. EE just includes the ads provided by Retriever News in the catalog layout (you do understand that the Retriever News owns the retriever entry services of EE?). Even so, advertising in an event catalog is no source of riches because ad pricing is based upon circulation. The "over-priced" ribbons are bid annually and offer a lower price than can be had by clubs directly from the same source (EE just gets a better price because of annual volume). But clubs can buy direct if they choose. Post card pricing goes up with every USPS price increase, the EE charge for printing and handling has remained the same since 2008. The search function improvement is on the list to be improved/made more reliable but its price tag for software costs will delay implimentation. Point is, EE is & has been a break even proposition at best with losses in most years since 2005.

EE offers a valuable service and convenience to clubs and individuals who enter events and was never intended to bring riches to its owners. And because of the services that EE offers, it actually encourages participation. In my personal case, I used to enter 5-8 events per years when entries were manual/send to the club with check by mail affairs. Since EE was begun, my personal event entries have increased to 12-18 events per year primarily because of the convenience of entry & a summary knowledge of events in one place that I could use for planning purposes. Also there are very few clubs that could attract and keep a club secretary or treasurer who would want to handle all the details related to holding a trial or test that are accomplished by EE in a reliable, inexpensive manner. Proof is that clubs can still opt to handle there events in a direct, manual fashion. In that regard, I don't know if there is even one club that chooses to handle their events in a manual manner anymore.
 
#34 ·
David,

I am a secretary, I really don't care that EE is making some profit on the deal. They are providing an excellent service that makes my life easy. Point is they are making money, anyone who says otherwise is nuts. Would RN have bought them out otherwise? What does it matter if EE is breaking even when their parent company is increasing revenue?

I just want a search function that works.
 
#35 ·
I may be nuts but I know of what I speak. Actually EE doesn't have a track record of making money, proof of why EE was sold to Retriever News. And The Retriever News, IMO, doesn't have a profit motive because its not their mission, they just want a break-even proposition to provide essential services in a reliable manner to the AKC clubs. Retriever News is a non-profit established for the benefit of the AKC FTs & HTs & the clubs that run the events. Owned by the AKC clubs as a collective group, the Retriever News sees the importance of the entry service and how it serves the community & centralizes performance record keeping, with which they are charged by the AKC. What I see as an outsider is a concerted effort to provide the clubs with a low-cost service to help promote the games & disseminate information.

Sorry Ken, I should have been more percise...all AKC retriever events.
 
#36 ·
Since when did making money become a crime? Think about this.....if EE has 2 full time employees in the office that are making $ 10.00 per hour that is around $ 61K per year for just those 2 employees (adding FICA, SUTA, WC Insurance, and considering 120 hours personal time). This means at $ 4.50 each it takes about 13,500 dogs to just pay the salaries of these 2.

And you have to have some office space, office supplies, postage, printing, oh yeah....and site upgrades.

Hope this helps some folks to understand some previous comments. I don't have anything to do with EE (personally or professionally). As a matter of fact my EE account is probably not even active any more as its been so long since i've used it.
 
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