Seeking Gudance: Collecting Donations Online for a Small Political Campaign

[WherestheOutrage]

I am the lone Democrat running for the local Village Council in my community in Ohio. Does anyone have recommendations on what online tool or payment system that I can use (low maintenance, easily manageable) to collect donations online? I intend to link to the online application from my blogspot campaign website. Trying to keep the upfront investments to a minimum.

Feedback is appreciated!

[MineralMan]

1. Although not universal, PayPal works great for that

purpose. Going the whole Merchant Account route is a PITA, and PayPal lets people use their credit card to donate, even if they aren't PayPal members.

Some ebayers complain about PayPal, but problems are the nature of online auctions. Donations are another thing. I've used it for years, both for ebay transactions and other transactions, both as a receiver and payer, and have had zero problems.

[Nite Owl]

2. Try

http://www.actblue.com/

They take a small percentage but they are good. Our committee has an account there.

[WherestheOutrage]

3. Looked at both ActBlue and Paypal earlier today

Good to know that I am on the right track. Does ActBlue put a restriction on the size of the campaign? I don't see a big number of smallish local campaigns, but perhaps I'm not looking in the right place. How big is your organization NiteOwl?

[Nite Owl]

4. We're a town

Dem committee. Until recently they didn't have provisions for us but after the elections they said they would do it and they did follow through. I don't think there are any restrictions on size of a campaign, one of our candidates had a page there and it was for a small town judge. There is a fee but it is small. We had tried Pay Pal and they gave us no end of hassles. They wanted information that as a local committee we just didn't need, like IRS numbers and rejected the application.
Here is the # for actblue if it helps, 617 517 7600.