It's frustrating when you go to register online for a race and get hit with transaction fees. Registering for a local 5k, a runner can often incur $3 in transaction fees. Registering online has numerous advantages, it's convenient, fast, doesn't require an envelope, environmentally friendly and the data is superior, but there is a cost associated with this service. In a lot of ways Active.com is like Ticketmaster, just Google "Active.com sucks" and you'll see what I mean.
The advantage of online registration for a race director is the data integrity, when taking paper entry forms people often do not fill in gender, age, or you can't read their hand writing. Thus, the race director has to call or email the participant to get the additional information. With online registration the form won't go through if you don't complete all fields. Thus, it's a time saver for the race director.
Consumers HATE the transaction fees, I hear grumbling about it all the time. Runners have a few options, they can send in the paper registration form with a check and save a few bucks or simply wait until race day to register. However, the reason races raise their entry fee on race day is to encourage runners to pre-register.
The usual spread for a 5k is $5 more on race day, but when you factor in online registration + transaction cost, that spread can decrease to $2. Two dollars isn't a disincentive, in fact you might have more incentive to wait until race day that way you can check out the weather, make sure life doesn’t get in the way, etc. The only drawback might be longer lines for race day registration, however I've also been to races where the race day registration line was shorter than the pre-registered line, it's a toss-up!
We wanted to take a look at a few online registration companies and break down their fees; this is what we came up with:
Active.com
Registration Cost
<$30 - $3.25 (flat fee)
>$30 - $1.25 + 6.5%
Getmeregistered.com
Rate - 6.25%, plus $1.25 per transaction
Runraceregister.com
Rate - $1 per transaction, plus 6%, no minimum
Running Guru (Denver, CO)
Rate - $1 per transaction, plus 6%
imAthlete.com
Under $20 is btwn 12.5% - 15% with no minimum
$20-$99.99 is btwn 8.4% - 9.8% with no minimum.
$10 entry fee = $1.25 service fee
$25 entry fee = $2.10 service fee
$35 entry fee = $2.94 service fee
Prerace.com (Boulder, CO)
Fee Structure - $1* + (3%+.30) cc
Fee on $30 - $2.23
Fee on $100 - $4.33
MadSync.com (Boulder, CO)
3.25% + .30 per transaction charged to the promoter. Free to registrant.
Raceit.com
$1 to $50 = 6% + $1
$50 to $200 5% + $1
A typical 5k in the Denver Metro area charges $25. Here is what the runner would pay in transaction fees using the following online registration services:
MadSync.com = Free to registrant. $1.11 to race director/promoter
Prerace.com = $2.05
imAthlete = $2.10
RunRaceregister.com = $2.50
Running Guru = $2.50
Raceit.com = $2.50
Getmeregistered.com = $2.81
Active.com = $3.25
In general most credit card fees are ~2.7%. Thus about 1/2 the transaction cost goes to paying the credit card processing fees.
Curious to hear what are your thoughts on online registration. Do you avoid it due to the cost and can you think of a better way to do it? The race always has the option of absorbing these cost, but most races choose to pass the cost on to the runner.
Without Limits
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