Saturday, November 26, 2011

Airiindeshou DVD Donation Project [11/28 UPDATE]

Okay, so a lot more people positively responded to this idea than I expected so here are the details to my donation project in Q&A format. The last few questions are very important (especially the very last one about exactly how to donate) so please read them!

Note: Airiindeshou is and always will be free. I will still continue uploading things as normal. This is just for those that want to see more. 



(thanks to Raffi for the banner)

What is this?

Hello! Project DVDs are taking longer and longer to appear on the internet (and sometimes they don't appear at all). As a result, I often buy new releases (like concerts) with my own money so that I and everyone else can watch them in a timely manner. But, this practice is getting expensive - each DVD is about $45 plus shipping. Blu-ray DVDs are even more (anywhere from $60 to $100). This is a project that I've come up with in hopes that the foreign H!P fan community will come together so that we all can benefit.

What are the benefits to donating?

1. You and the rest of the world will get to see a new DVD release on or around it's release date (usually it will be on the exact release date, but sometimes there are shipping delays).

2. I will mention your name and your blog (or twitter account or any similar personal website) in the download link post if you want. Everyone will know of your kindness and you'll probably see a spike in views to your website as well.

3. A chance to win the DVD (more details below).

4. You are supporting H!P because an actual copy is being bought.

You said something about winning DVDs?

Frequent readers of this blog know that I've successfully ran 7 contests in Airiindeshou's history. The prizes have ranged from photos to posters to CDs, but never DVDs. This is your first chance to win something as expensive as that!

Any donation of at least $5 or ¥400 or €4 will automatically enter you into these DVD raffle contests. As in all of my contests, shipping will be free to anywhere in the world. The winner will be selected at random from everyone who donated (more info on that below). The more money you donate, the better chance you have at winning.

NOTE: I will only run contests if at least half of the DVD was paid for by donators. It would be unfair to me to give away an expensive DVD if only $3 out of $45 was paid for by donators, for example.

How exactly will you pick the contest winners?

For every $5 you donate, I will write your name down on a piece of paper. For example, if you donate $30, you will get your name written down 6 times.

I will then pick one name out of a hat at random and that person is the winner.


How much do I have to donate?

Any amount! It doesn't matter if it's $10, $1, or $4.26. Anything you want to give is fine (though, again, only donations of $5 or more will enter you into the DVD contest). Every little bit helps!

What currencies do you accept?

I only accept Japanese Yen (preferred), US Dollars, or Euros. If you use a different currency in your home country, Paypal will automatically do a currency conversion when you donate.

I don't have any money to give, but I still want to help! What can I do?

Advertise this post! Tweet it, blog about it, tell your friends, whatever. Spread the word around (just don't spam). The more people that donate, the easier this process will be.

I have money but no credit card/bank account. Can I still donate?

If you live in the US, yes! A donator has brought to my attention something called MoneyPak. Basically it's like a prepaid card you can buy at places like Walmart and CVS using cash. Unfortunately these are only available in the US so for other countries you still need a credit card or bank account.

What if I only want certain DVDs? Do I have to donate every time?

Nope! For example, if you only care about watching C-ute concerts, then you can just donate towards those.


How will you know what DVDs to buy?

You guys are the ones who will make this work, so you will decide! 

Every time a new concert DVD is about a month from releasing, I'll make a post about it, telling people to send their donations if they are interested. If we have enough to buy the concert, then I will contact everyone and I will purchase the DVD from CDJapan.

What if I don't care what DVD you buy?

If you don't care about specific DVDs or you just want to support this project in general, you are welcome to send money at any time using the method described in the last question.

How much do you need in order to buy a DVD?

This depends on the release, but normal concert DVDs are usually 3800yen (about $45). Then, I have to pay shipping.

Basically:
- 5500 yen total for the DVD plus super fast shipping (arrives on the release date)
- 5000 yen total for the DVD plus pretty fast shipping (might arrive the release date, probably 2 days after)
- 4300 yen total for the DVD plus slow shipping (takes at least 2 weeks, probably 4-5 weeks)

In each post, I will highlight exactly how much money we need for that particular DVD release.

So what you're saying is that if we don't raise enough money then you won't buy it?

Not necessarily. Yes, I can't buy everything alone, but I can contribute some money, too. I can probably match whatever you guys raise (keyword being "probably"), so if you guys can raise half then there is still a chance for the purchase to be made.

Sounds good. So, how do I actually donate?

For the US and Canada ONLY:

It's a little complicated. Normally you would just click a donation button and be done, but Paypal charges a fee to do that (yes even for donations. Google Checkout does the same thing). So, here's a better way.

1. Go to Paypal and log-in (or make an account if you don't have one - it's free).

2. Once logged in, click the send money button at the top.



3. Enter my email (airiindeshou@gmail.com), the amount (I would prefer JPY but you can pay using USD if you want), and make sure to select "I'm sending money to family or friends".


As you can see, it's free if you use a bank transfer or if you already have money in your Paypal account and use that. If you use a credit card, you must pay a small fee, sorry.

4. The next page will look like this. Click "Send Money" and you're done!


For other countries:

If you live outside of the US and Canada, I've been told that you will have to pay a fee no matter what. In order to limit the fee, I would suggest NOT using a credit card and to use a bank transfer if you can. If you send money that way (or use money already in your Paypal account if you have it), the fees will be very small (usually under 1%).

If you only have a credit card and not a bank account then Paypal will charge you a higher fee (3.9%) no matter what. In this situation you have two options.

You can either pay the fee yourself (for example if you want to donate 10 euros, you'd have to pay Paypal 10 euros plus about 0.55 euros in fees for a total of 10.55 euros). If this is what you want, use the same method as the US and Canada above.

Or you can have Paypal subtract the fees from your donation. For example, if you want to donate 10 euros, Paypal will take out about 0.55 euros from that and I'd receive about 9.45 euros. To do this, select "I'm paying for goods or services" in step 3 of the US/Canada method above.

If you have any questions, please ask!

21 comments:

  1. I hope this works out. I'm sorry I won't be able to donate, though. Hopefully, in the future, I can!

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  2. Ñaaaaaaaa! I want to donate! :3 but I am not able... when I asked my mom...
    'Mom... do you have credit card??' she told me...
    ehm... nop
    XD If I can I'll donate!
    and a question! I ordered a CD by EMS and... it arrived 15 days after... mmmmmm why in the site says 2 days after the release??

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  3. ^ It depends on what country you live in. It takes about 2-3 days for the US but it will take longer for other countries.

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  4. I hope this works, because I don't have a cerdit card, only my (how is it called?) normal bank card.
    I'll try to send you some money each month, but it will be christmas soon, so I have to take over that first. And I have to make sure that my mother doesn't notice what I'm doing, she won't be that pleased when she knows that I "randomly" send money all over the world xD

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  5. Firstly, I would like to just thank you so much for all your contributions. For foreign fans such as myself who can't purchase the actual DVD's it's really great to be able to view them online so again, thank you.

    Secondly, I was hoping if I could help out, specifically for fans who want to donate but can't. There's this really cool website called "SwagBucks". They pay you for taking surveys and just using their site in general. For every 700 "swagbucks" you earn, you can "buy" $5 in paypal cash (which can then be donated to airiindeshou!). Anybody can do it and it takes about anywhere between a few weeks to a couple months to earn 700 swagbucks (depending on what surveys you take and how much time you put into the site) but it doesn't cost you anything. It's not a scam and it's perfectly safe.

    I plan on contributing via swagbucks soon. I just spent all of mine on a black friday sale so I'm back to zero (/-o-). It'll take a while to me to get it back up to 700 but I'm definitely donating as soon asap!

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  6. I was interested in doing this but I had a few questions first.

    What's the downside to sending $ using the option for paying for goods/services?

    If we donate money and you end up not buying the DVD because there wasn't enough $ raised, would you "credit" the $ towards another release or what would happen to that donation?

    Please let me know ^_^

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  7. @MiracleHappyLove: Your normal bank card is fine (it's called a debit card). Just don't get in trouble for me~

    @Anon1: Cool, sounds great.

    @Anon2: The paying for goods option is free for you, but not for me. Paypal will take out 3% plus an additional 30 cents, meaning if someone sent 30 cents, I'd get nothing and you'd just be giving money to Paypal.

    I set this up so that that shouldn't happen (because no one will send donations until we're sure we have enough). But, if it does happen then I'll just refund the money unless they want me to keep it for future purchases.

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  8. If I have extra money by the end of this year or the end of January (or something!), I'll definitely try to donate. I feel bad being a leecher lolz. I hope this will work out fine! :)

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  9. Oh, I forgot to ask something. If, let's say, the donation for Abc DVD is not enough but they're still in demand from your fellow readers, will you wait until the donations accumulate more (and buy 'em another time, not neccesarily on the release date itself) or just abandon the idea of buying that Abc DVD?

    I hope I got my question through clearly. ^^;

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  10. How long does it take to download a full DVD rip and is there another way to download it besides with megaupload?

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  11. ^Curious because I'm not good with downloads and stuff so I don't want to donate if I won't be able to download it.

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  12. ^ You could always use Flashget to speed up your downloads - that's what I always do anyways.

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  13. I wish I had money to donate, but I'm posting this on my blog.

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  14. @Misa: That's a great question. Unless someone wants a refund, I'll hold on to the money for a week or two to see if either the DVD was uploaded by a wota somewhere or if we finally have enough to buy it. If not, then I'll either refund it or put it towards another purchase depending on what each donator wants.

    @Anon: It depends on your country and your internet speed. I upload to multiupload, which has 7 different download options. I can also make a torrent of it and upload it to the H!O tracker.

    @Tess: Thanks!

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  15. Would I be able to donate in advance to avoid the $0.33 each transaction?

    Like for example I know I want to donate for Ai-chan's graduation, Buono's concert and the upcoming H!P winter concert, can I send the $ to you all in one transaction so I don't get charged the $0.33 each transaction? And if those don't get purchased you can put the $ I donate towards something else. And how long in advance would you like the $ to be sent? Like a week or 2? I might change my mind last minute and want to donate to a certain release so please let me know! ^_^

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  16. ^ You can send it in as one payment, sure.

    The reason why I've asked people to wait to send in the donations is just in case we don't have enough for the DVD they want, but if you're fine with it going towards anything, you can send it in now or anytime you want.

    I won't spend your money on something you don't agree to, so when I know exactly how much everyone is donating for each DVD, you can choose which DVD to put your money towards then.

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  17. I'll try to keep this short, since I have go to bed. :)

    First let me say that it's not fee-less. There is something called "Border Transaction" fee. Jedimastertrunks' is based in the USA so everybody outside of it has to pay it (don' know about Canada).

    Furthermore there are some exceptions in some countries: Germany- and India-based accounts can't send "Personal Transactions" (It's always commercial).

    Go to paypal.com, scroll down to the bottom, click on Legal Agreements and choose your country region, to see what applies to you.

    I'll post tomorrow more questions, remarks and suggestions.

    But in general I find this a great idea and I' willing to contribute as soon as my greatest doubts are cleared. (Trusting the money to you is none of them ;)

    OpenID doesn't seem to work,,,

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  18. ^ That sucks but thanks for the info!

    If anyone has any problems sending donations let me know.

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  19. OK, here is the info about the fees. All detailed info can be found here:

    Paypal Fees Policy

    To make it short: For US-Americans and Canadians it's completely feeless. For all others the fee is minimal.

    In 10 €, for example, the fees are around 0.55 € (Germany is also feeless, since receiver has to pay it.). If you combine it with a currency change it's less than 1 €.

    Or to go the other way around, if you want to donate 10 $ just add 8 € to your account, convert the currency to $ and donate.

    All fees across the other currencies are comparable.

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  20. Do you have C-ute/Buono! solo angle DVDs? Can you upload them somewhere? I will gladly donate for this.

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  21. What if I want to buy the dvd's instead of through the contest? Can you send the dvd's if I send you the money?

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