Walter Montego: For specific reasons. Some choosed not to use the euro, some maybe not fulfill the conditions and for the new countries it will take some time. Next year Slovenia will introduce the Euro. Many of the Eastern European countries use the euro as a complementary currency. Czechia also belongs to the countries that don´t want to use the euro I think.

gogul: I don't see Czech Republic in your list, but Fencer takes euros. :)

25 countries? They've been doing some expansion lately, eh? What's with the other 13? Don't like the euro for some reason, or is it a case of national sovereignty and money? Do they other 13 have to accept euros?

Walter Montego: The euro is today the currency of 12 of 25 European Union countries: Belgium, Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal and Finland.

Antje: Your profle say you're in Germany and married to AndersP. I thought he lived in Pennsylvania? If you're in Germany, it might be real easy seeing how that's right next to Czech Republic. If you're in Pennsylvania, you should be able to do as I can here in California. Each state has different laws. Believe it or not, most countries of the world tightly control access to money, especially money leaving the country and they place all sorts of controls and fees on doing it. Also, the governments run the banks in most countries. The United States doesn't do that and private businesses can sell money orders and wire transfers. They charge what the market bares and in some cases it's free. You own bank, if you're in Pennsylvania, might have the money orders for free with your account as part of the service. They might have the wire transfers too, but it sounds like you've checked into that and found it to expensive.

Walter Montego: thanks for that info. Ill try through Eriisa first, then if that doesnt work (since its Paypal??) that will have to be my next choice. i didnt know you could buy international money orders, thats a whole lot cheaper than international fundss transfer through a bank, which i thought was the only way! ill have to remember that for next time. Thanks for that info!

tonyh: I just realized that you're in England. Perhaps it works differently there or in other countries other than the United States.

Edit: Wait a minute. England? Doesn't England use the euro? Why bother with an exchange? Just get a euro money order and send it in. 30 euros in England is 30 euros in Czech Republic, right? Just like a buck in California is a buck in Nevada.

tonyh: What exchange rate? I buy the money order in U.S. dollars. I send it to Filip in the Czech Republic. If it's an international money order, they don't charge him anything to cash it. Least ways that's what he told me. If you send him a personal check or a domestic money order that's something else and the Czech Repbulic has very high rates for those transactions.

Example:
Today a one year Rook membership costs 30 euros. The exchange link says that today 30 euros is the same as 37.7058 dollars

30.00 EUR = 37.7058 USD http://www.xe.com/

I go to the liquor store and buy the international money order for $37.71. There's no exchanging involved for me or anyone. That cuts out the middle man for Filip too. There's the cost of the money order and the postage, plus you have to wait a few days for it to get to him, but that's it.

tonyh: Please do, you must shop around, there are alot of travel agents now who offer no commission.

WatfordFC: I will check tomorrow!!

tonyh: I am sorry but i have to disagree, i recently went abroad and got the full amount back, there was no commission, the rate was 1.41 and that was exactly what i got. That was from a small sub post office not a main post office.

WatfordFC: I agree that the daily rate is good - but Post offices deduct their take from the rate - or charge you a commission. And Banks are worse. If the Euro is 1.44 to the £, then you can bet the banks will be giving you 1.38!!

tonyh: The exchange rate for Euros at the moment is pretty good.

Walter Montego: Do you find that you get a good exchange rate at the liquor store or Post Office? My experience is otherwise, with UK Post Offices.

Antje: Do what I do. Check today's exchange rate.
http://www.xe.com/ With this knowledge you go down to the liquor store or Post Office and buy a money order. It costs between 35¢ and 95¢ depending on where you go. Make sure they sell international money orders, otherwise go somewhere else. There's no extra charge for international money orders and that's what you need when Filip goes to cash it in at his bank or they'll charge him for it. Buy the money order and then mail it to Filip in the Czech Republic. Postage was 80¢ the last time I did this. I just checked, it appears rates have gone up. It is now 84¢
Airmail Letter Post 4 - 7 Days $0.84
http://ircalc.usps.gov/intl_speed.asp?CID=10086&MailType=envelope&Pounds=0&Ounces=1 There's a link on the rates page about what can be sent to the Czech Replubic.
Ask Filip for the mailing address. When you mail the money order include your account number and handle with it. And put some neat stamps on it for Filip. :)

I haven't tried the customer service route in the United States. Seems like Eriisa has been doing it for awhile, it works well, and the postage is less for domestic mail.
http://brainking.info/service.html Customer Service link

Eriisa: No, but if you do a google search, you can find a Forbe's article about it.

Summertop: Is there a link t Gbuy? I was looking but didn't find one.

I'm always looking at new options for payments with my ebay business.

Fencer: I checked paypal like you asked. that bites that you cannot accept payments (but can send money) through PayPal. Is this something with PayPal or does it have to do with some Czech law governing incomming moneies?

Google's GBuy is expected out June 28th. I too hope that it will work and be released on time.

Eriisa: Thats a good solution so far

Eriisa: Thanks for that, thats billiant.

gogul: nope. My ebay business takes internation funds all the time.

Eriisa: Does it matter from which country??

As most of you know, I take payments for people who wanted to mail their payments. If you need to use Paypal, contact me, and I can take your payments and forward them to Fencer.

Jason: i think its 40 days for black rooks as i saw some black rooks with 40 days .. but i am not sure

i used paypal as well .. but i guess anything else via which i can easily use my credit card will be ok as well :)

ok how many vacation days do you get (max)i think its 30 and is this the same for black rooks ?

About Harley, I am sure she'll be back. Just give her a time to relax. Everyone needs a vacation sometimes.

tonyh: The problem is that I cannot accept PayPal payments directly (find Czech Republic here). And it's not a good feeling to use other people accounts for that. PayPal was always a pain for me.
I hope Google's Gbuy will fill this gap soon.

Reza: Yes seems very strange especially since shes just brought the black rook membership.

I am sure Harley wouldnt leave, but i stand to be corrected on that one, maybe she has gone on holiday, she is a lifetime member, so cant see her deserting us, well i hope not anyway

I just read the posts. I had already noticed that Harley hadn't loged in for quite awhile, but is it true she's gone?

Why would she do that?

I have never had a problem with paypal either. Its going to be very interesting to see what alternative payment method is going to be introudced.

Jason: Fencer, please tell us what the Paypal problem is - or have I missed something?

I have used pay-pal for over 10 years without any problems too (but not as a buissness which is where the problems can be or so i have heard) .I wont even try the money brookers because i have heard alot of negative stuff about that one .

can we just use our credit/debit cards or is there plans to be able to use these in the future ?,

All other methods are either slow or more expensive to use .

I'm curious to know what the problem was with pay-pal.  I use Pay-Pal for eveything I buy on line. Have had 2 different accounts for around 7 yrs and never had a problem (not to say there wont be one  LOL)

But yeah, gonna make it difficult to renew now 

Antje: why not try the American Express money order, it should have a inexpensive fee

how does the international wire transfer work? when i go to my bank to transfer money to a european account, each transaction costs 60 USD. so i dont want to pay that amount to renew for a year over and above the cost of Brainking. is there another way?

ok, but i cant make a payment until a new method is found. Money Brookers requires a european cell phone number, which i dont have, i have a credit card, but how can i use it here? ive looked at your link, gogul, and it lists the representatives for other countries.

Antje: Select your payment type:
Wire transfer (only in Czech Republic)
If you can make a money transfer directly to our bank account, take advantage of this fastest way of payment.
Bank transfer via MoneyBookers
This method allows you to make a money transfer in more than 30 countries using local bank transfer with minimal fees. It requires to create a personal account on MoneyBookers.com. The basic amount is defined in EUR but you can pay in lots of other currencies using the current exchange rate.
Wire transfer (international)
If you have neither a credit card nor a PayPal account, you can make an international money transfer directly to our bank account. This operation usually takes 5-7 business days and the price is a little higher due to additional bank fees on our side.
American Express Money Order
If your bank provides this service, you can ask it to make this kind of cheque (American Express Money Order) for me (Filip Rachunek) as a recepient. Then send it via a standard mail in an envelope (ask me for my postal address) and when it arrives, our local American Express office will give me the money.
Money order
You can also send cash money in an envelope if you are not satisfied with any previous ways of payment.

I believe that fencer has also said that he is looking for a new way to pay also.
I wouldn't believe that about the Americans, this is a business

http://brainking.info/payment.html
I´m not sure if this link is up to date.

can anyone tell me what to do about renewing? since Paypal is no longer an option, what is everyone on the american side doing to pay? ive heard some rumors that the americans arent wanted on this site?? is that just something someone said, or why cant americans pay online now? or am i missing something?? obviously by mail isnt a good idea, ive always used paypal with Harley, but I understand she has left the site? what is everyone else doing?

rod03801: There have been at least a few posts in the past about it. From what I have heard, it is not a top priority for Fencer.

Summertop: I posted a bug report to bug tracker a few days ago about this. I haven't heard anything back about it yet. :-)

Summertop: You buy a 1 year membership and then click on quantity 2.

On the tournaments page, there a several tournaments where the due date was as much as 80 days ago. One of them (64 days ago) is even complete. Yet, they still show up on the list. Is there something I am missing?

Brain Tournament
Estern bunny

Czuch Chuckers: According to XE.com Currency Converter, 60.00 EUR = 75.7380 USD.

what does 60 euros equal in usdollars these days/

you can use firfox adblock image, works well

http://brainking.com/images/icons/1131.jpg

Czuch Chuckers: Can you see me?

Czuch Chuckers: It seems they are gone now from my friends list...is it a different script how these two lists are updated?