IMESA decision #36
2025-11-23 21:20:51
Implementation of decision #27:
We will pay out the calculated pre-registration amount to eligible participants of the World Championship 2025 as soon as technically possible and feasible, and as soon as we have all required information.
Verifying distances
For each participant, we will verify the self-reported distance by cross-checking with the self-reported zipcode at the time of the release of this decision. Since zipcodes without further identifying information aren't personal data, we may use third-party services to do this. If a self-reported zipcode is implausible or not present, we may contact players for additional verification. If a self-reported zipcode covers an area large enough to significantly distort distance measurement based on the exact point chosen, we will use a third-party circle distance drawing tool to approximate based on more parts of the address, bisecting instead of entering the information directly.
If we find that a self-reported distance is too high, we will correct it. If it is too low, we will leave it as is, citing our need for financial certainty to base this decision on. If no distance was reported, we will allow players to submit distances by e-mail retroactively until 2025-12-05 12:00 UTC. In this case, refunds are subject to availability, citing our need for financial certainty to base this decision on (however, based on rough estimates, this shouldn't be an issue). Availability factors in keeping the buffer of up to 300€ mentioned below. That is, we will make sure to keep this buffer intact before we pay out late distance submitters (completely). In the unlikely case that this becomes relevant, we will make these payouts on a first come, first serve basis.
Deadlines
We will only consider submissions of documents verifying eligibility for refunds made by 2025-12-19 12:00 UTC in order to give us time to process submissions, and allow for dealing with cases where we need to ask for additional information. If we require additional information, it must be submitted by 2025-12-22 12:00 UTC.
Process
We will then compile final eligibility totals for all players, and proceed with the post registration deadline stages as per decision #27, using up all funds we have in our Wise account short of 300€ to cover unanticipated necessary expenses, operating costs, and the cost of converting foreign currencies to EUR. We may decide to decrease the size of this buffer, allowing us to pay out slightly more to participants, if reductions in financial uncertainty allow us to do so (for example, once we get a better picture of how much internal currency conversion will be necessary). Our target will be to end the financial year with all refunds completed, all foreign currencies converted to EUR, and our EUR balance at around 250€ to cover unanticipated necessary expenses and operating costs.
For the purposes of this calculation, we will use the total EUR value of all of our balances as presented to us by Wise. This implies that other balances will be considered to represent their EUR values at the current mid-market exchange rate, with no conversion fees.
Payout options
Cash
Players will have the option to request payouts in cash. Cash payouts are subject to availability, and require successfully coordinating a meeting with a board member in Vienna.
SEPA transfer
Players will have the option to request payouts as EUR SEPA transfers.
Wise
Players will have the option to request payouts via Wise transaction in one of our supported currencies:
- Should we have enough of that currency, we will use our balance in that currency, and no conversion fees will be incurred.
- Should this not be the case, we will use our EUR balance to first convert to the desired currency, passing on any conversion fees to the recipient.
- Should our balance in a given currency be sufficient for some, but not all players' refunds in that currency, direct use of that balance and circumvention of conversion fees will be handled on a first come, first serve basis, based on the creation date of the relevant payout request.
- If, in the course of this process, our current balance in a currency is sufficient to refund some, but not all, of a player's claims, we will refund what we can using our balance in the target currency, convert that amount to EUR, subtract it from the EUR payout amount, and proceed with the remaining payout amount as in the remaining cases, converting to the target currency before payout and passing on the conversion fees for the partial amount.
- All conversions are done at the mid-market exchange rate as reported by Wise at the time we handle that payout. No guarantees for a specific transaction time or conversion rate are given.
- If we run out of both EUR and the target currency, the result for the player will be equivalent to if we used our EUR balance. We will internalize the cost of converting foreign currencies to EUR, or sending directly from a balance in a foreign currency where fees are higher than when sending from our EUR balance.
Declination (and waiving of membership fees in return)
Players will have the option to decline to receive a certain amount as a fourth alternative "payout" option. If they do so, they further have the option to ask the board to waive an equivalent amount of future membership fees up to a maximum of 100€/2 years. That is, the board will waive membership fees as if that amount had been paid, including the waiver for two months if ten months are paid in advance as per IMESA decision #12.
Declined refunds may immediately be reallocated to other players, and are therefore final upon creation.
Rejection of payout requests
We may reject payout requests if they are too high, if they are cash payouts and no agreement to meet in Vienna to complete it were reached, or if they otherwise run contrary to IMESA decisions, our statutes, or laws that we need to abide by.
Multiple payouts
Multiple partial payouts are possible. Players specify a fixed amount for every payout.
Changes to payout requests
Payout requests are not editable. However, players can request changes via email to contact@imesa.org. Whether or not requested changes are made is entirely at the discretion of the board, but we pledge to honor any requests that are reasonable and don't negatively impact IMESA (including by causing a lot of extra work for the board) or other players.
Automatic payouts if more funds become available
If a player becomes eligible for additional refunds, they will receive additional payouts automatically. If the player only created one payout, that payout option will be chosen again. If multiple payouts were requested, by default, they will be sorted by creation time, then cash/declination payouts will be moved to the back of the list, and finally, the first payout will be picked. Players can explicitly override this behavior by marking a payout to be used as a template if more funds become available to them.
Deadline for payouts
All payouts will be made by the end of the calendar year. Most likely, additional payouts as described above will be lumped into one final payout per player close to the end of the year.