First topic message reminder :

The Banda forum, hosted by Forumotion, is a free forum in its basic form, however to make it how it is we need to pay to remove the google ads which would appear ^^^ up there somewhere, and we also pay for the secure chat room.

The current costs are laid out below, although these can vary depending on the $ conversion rate and whether prices increase.

We therefore rely on our fantastic members to donate to help run the forum, and we are now also affiliated to Amazon, Mothercare and Kiddicare (this is the only 3 we will have advertising on Banda).
If you click on the adverts and then make a purchase then Banda will receive around 5% of the sale value in advertising fees.

Banda is 100% non profit - every penny from donations or advertising will go into running the forum, or as has been done before for buying prizes, incentives etc.

Each 12 months I will set out the accounts so everyone can see where the money came from and where it was spent - as I believe its everyone's right to know!

COSTS
CHAT
It costs £8.32/month for the chat version we run now (its $12.50 and the exchange rate is pants right now) , which is paid for til Jun. 1st, 2011
I did trial the mobile edition which allows iphone users etc to use the chat room, which takes the price up to $16, about £10.60 a month, but I'm not sure if we should continue with that in the future?



ADS
Ads are disabled til 16 May 2011, and these are the points needed for each period to disable them
1 month(s) : 293 Credits
2 month(s) : 585 Credits
3 month(s) : 878 Credits = £6.94
6 month(s) : 1463 Credits
12 month(s) : 2925 Credits

Points cost this, but can be bought in the exact amount as above
£3.95 500
£7.90 1000
£14.20 2000
£26.86 4000
£33.18 5000

Shoutbox

We tried a free shoutbox a while back, but it wasn't great and they tend to have advertising in them!
The current shoutbox costs $2 a month, is faster & has more features.


Current Banda fund as at 4/1/11 is £13.93 and services are paid until at least middle of May