Hi Everyone,

At the end of every month, we send out cheques that have been processed and collected 30 days before that end of the month.

At the end of September, we have already sent out cheques for earnings accumulated till the end of August 2007. Many of our bloggers will have already received an e-mail from HSBC with the transaction details and many may have also already received their computer generated cheques.

Here are some things to note.

1) Starting this month, every time a cheque is cashed out, our system automatically deducts RM1 from the cheque amount before it is sent out. The RM1.00 acts as a transaction fee for processing the payment.

Now we all hate transaction fees. Who doesn’t?

But please let us first explain the breakdown of this cost.

HSBC’s Part Of The Transaction Fee

The current automated cheque outsourcing service that Nuffnang has with HSBC today costs Nuffnang Sdn Bhd a monthly fee that has up till today been borne fully by Nuffnang Sdn Bhd. However, each time a cheque is sent out, HSBC deducts a small transaction fee from the cheque to cover their administrative and postal charges.

Nuffnang’s Part Of The Transaction Fee

On the Nuffnang side, we too have administrative work to do.

Say today that you have a blog that an advertiser wants to run an advertisement on.

After a long negotiation process, the advertiser agrees to paying you a certain amount for your ad and this is what happens then.

a) You run the campaign on your blog.

b) Then you issue an invoice to the advertiser after the campaign has ended.

c) After that, you wait for 30, 60 or 90 days after the campaign for them to make the payment to you based on the agreed payment terms.

d) Finally, upon receiving the payment you issue a receipt for their accounting records.

e) Repeat the process for each and every different advertiser that advertises on your blog.

It sounds like a lot of work especially since most Nuffnangers have a day job (even being a housewife is considered a full-time job!).

Now with Nuffnang around, our overworked accountants in our Finance Department handle all that tedious work for EVERY blogger in the Community.

When we first started off, we were only sending out about 10-20 cheques a month to bloggers so we were able to forgo the transaction fee.

Today with so many new campaigns starting on the Nuffnang Community each month and also since we reduced the minimum payout from RM100 to RM50, we have been sending out over a hundred cheques each month.

Each of these cheques have to be accounted for by our Finance Department and because of the sheer number of cheques going out each month, the workload has become immense. This transaction fee will help cover for the labour cost of these accountants that work with us.

This is a necessary step for us since Nuffnang Sdn Bhd, just like any credible company is audited every year.

2) The second thing to note is, if you had already requested your cheque to be sent to you on August 2007 and before, you should already have had received your cheque. If not , please do let us know if you have not yet received a cheque or an e-mail by HSBC so we can look into it.

The best way to contact us is through our Help Desk.

Have a wonderful week ahead everyone!

Now I have to go and get us all more ads!

-Timothy Tiah of Nuffnang