Hating Active.com Rant
459
Member
2762 days
Joe_H posted 1 year ago.
well if you can get in you get instant proof that you are in for your race as opposed to doing it the old fashioned way of snail mail. I think online application fees are outrageous (and not just for active.com) but I assume active and other online race entry folks organize the racer data and results for the RD and thereby justify their $ but if you want in on a popular race online is the way to go (unless it's IMCanada or IMLP where you have to be there the year before to stand in line)
what I'm up to:
http://www.athletefocus.com/forum/sport/triathlon
1037
Member
767 days
ChunkyB posted 1 year ago.
I hate active.com too, so I can't really help you get over your loathing. I'm moving to mail registration next year.
"The melting point of wax means nothing to me": Thrice
5782
Member
2080 days
beads1985 posted 1 year ago.
When I first used active.com a few years ago they had a pretty good search interface and the rates were pretty reasonable.
The rates have gotten out of control and the search sucks.
I will use other online registration if it is available and reasonable but I try and avoid active.com if possible(some races only use this service)
I have done a few races that was mail in and I am happy with that.
'Nothing to it, but to do it!'
307
Member
525 days
J.Michael posted 1 year ago.
I use trifind.com to find the races and most of the race sites have an online reg link. some are abooma, or active. but, most of the time I can register without paying active a penny.
If the tri community as a whole would use 2 or 3 registrar's as opposed to defaulting to active, we could help build up an actual competitor in the industry. when 2 truely competitive companies compete, prices drop......
just saying.....
“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.”
— Winston Churchill
313
Member
1495 days
NotAsFast posted 1 year ago.
Yes, the fees are outlandish, but the standard rate for an business to accept Credit Cards is about 3% + 30 cents, and if it is an international transaction, add another 2-3% on top, so a $250 registration fee will cost active about $7.80 on top of what the Race Director is requesting.
This only part of the cost. Hosting fees, Domain registration and maintenance, computer equipment leasing, software licensing and development costs, not to mention the need to pay the staff, so it all adds up in the end. Tribro, you can attest to these charges.
Now, if Active, or whoever had a better interface, etc that wasnt slow, and cumbersome, then it wouldnt be so hard to swallow the fees.
Anyway, I agree that the registration sites take a chunk of money, but sometimes you have to use them to get into some of the races you want to do, otherwise use the mail method, which I find is becoming harder to find these days.
2255
Member
701 days
TriSooner posted 1 year ago.
Not an active dot com fan either, espeically after they took over coolrunning dot com a year or so ago. The only other registration-related thing I hate more is races that don't do race-day pakcet pick-up. So I sign up on active, pay the active registration fee, then I get to drive to some shoe store across town a day or two before the race to pick up my packet when the RD could bring it to the lake and I could pick it up before the race. That's what my entry fee is for. Or not, because I won't sign up for 'no race day packet pick up' races.
90
Member
794 days
KevDaddy posted 1 year ago.
Definitely not a fan of active.com.
I started as a member of Cool Running and when active bought the CR, they destroyed what I thought was a nice community.
On another thread discussing active.com and CR, I likened active to Ticketmaster. They have mostly sewn up the online signup market and seem to charge really high rates for the services they provide.
I will say that what NotAsFast posted in terms of CC fees did make some sense to me in terms of explaining why the fees are as high as they, but they still seem pretty up there for the service they provide.
My $.02,
Kevin
727
Member
890 days
theShiba posted 1 year ago.
Active sucks. We all hate it...
http://www.trifuel.com/forum/14987/activecom-cool-running
http://www.trifuel.com/forum/14087/event-search-engine
Practically every time it gets mentioned in a thread it's a threadjack for how much active.com sucks. It's the ticketmaster of endurance sports, and I wouldn't be sad if it died a tragic and untimely death.
1
Member
21 days
fedex1 posted 3 weeks ago.
I could not agree more. Active.com and ticketmaster are connected. The current active.com so-called "ceo" is from ticketmaster. They are parasites on the running and tri and athletic community. Plus they are mostly marketing and very little technology. They have all kinds of parties for the "chosen" race directors to basically kick back some of the money that they extort from the runners. For the runners to feed the active.com marketing engine, so that active.com can continue to monopolize the field of athletic online registration seems to me to be counterproductive.
I've written my own online event signup. See http://move.brooklynmarathon.com
It has only the 2.9% + .30 per item. Plus the race director gets the money right away. As opposed to active.com policy of holding the race directors money.
danpatgal wrote:
Is it me, or do others dislike Active.com? The concept is so great, I was really excited when I realized I could sign up for races online back a few years ago. That excitement faded when I realized they'd charge me to sign up for a race that would be free (minus the stamp) otherwise (the fee is $12.38 for an HIM I'm contemplating, for example). I think it must save race directors lots of time, so why not have them pay for the use of the service? They'd be more able to negotiate a reasonable fee for the service and pass the true costs on to participants. Also, I didn't like how it works or searches ... it's like an insurance company (no offense to those truly savvy insurance company loyalists out there) set it up; not someone interested in race events or with basic web development knowledge.I've never heard the other side of the story: how race directors like the service, so I'm curious if anyone uses Active from that side and sees the benefits ... and of course other participants that are not as jaded as I am, to help me past my loathing.
2322
Member
1894 days
PrinceofClydes posted 2 weeks ago.
NotAsFast wrote:
Yes, the fees are outlandish, but the standard rate for an business to accept Credit Cards is about 3% + 30 cents, and if it is an international transaction, add another 2-3% on top, so a $250 registration fee will cost active about $7.80 on top of what the Race Director is requesting.This only part of the cost. Hosting fees, Domain registration and maintenance, computer equipment leasing, software licensing and development costs, not to mention the need to pay the staff, so it all adds up in the end. Tribro, you can attest to these charges.
Now, if Active, or whoever had a better interface, etc that wasnt slow, and cumbersome, then it wouldnt be so hard to swallow the fees.
Anyway, I agree that the registration sites take a chunk of money, but sometimes you have to use them to get into some of the races you want to do, otherwise use the mail method, which I find is becoming harder to find these days.
I used to be able to register for Ironman Canada, on site, Monday morning with a personal cheque.
No credit cards.
No online stress, frustrations.
Immediate acceptance, pending your cheque being cashed (and nobody would think of writing a rubber cheque for an event a year ahead.)
and no, you don't have to sleep on the ground in line all night because they promised that everyone who showed up in person on Monday would get in.
Active.com needs some serious competition to shake them up.
2500 athletes x $550 US is $1,375,000.00
that's 1.375 million dollars in entry fees!
eBay are you listening?
PoC
""Your ass looks fantastic. Are the kids in bed yet???"
- TonisTri. 10/2009
4
Member
135 days
Jabbey posted 2 weeks ago.
I believe it's a breach of contract to pass along card transaction fees to customers.
I try to avoid active dotcom and ticketbastard whenever I can.
Is it me, or do others dislike Active.com? The concept is so great, I was really excited when I realized I could sign up for races online back a few years ago. That excitement faded when I realized they'd charge me to sign up for a race that would be free (minus the stamp) otherwise (the fee is $12.38 for an HIM I'm contemplating, for example). I think it must save race directors lots of time, so why not have them pay for the use of the service? They'd be more able to negotiate a reasonable fee for the service and pass the true costs on to participants. Also, I didn't like how it works or searches ... it's like an insurance company (no offense to those truly savvy insurance company loyalists out there) set it up; not someone interested in race events or with basic web development knowledge.
I've never heard the other side of the story: how race directors like the service, so I'm curious if anyone uses Active from that side and sees the benefits ... and of course other participants that are not as jaded as I am, to help me past my loathing.