4 ms·

What do they mean TipJoy doesn't pay you real money? Isn't the money real as soon as the folks that decided to tip actually "pay their bill" to TipJoy?

vegashacker 19y ago
They pay you in either Amazon gift cards or by donating to a charity. According to their FAQ, "if we allow our users to withdraw money from their account, then we are technically a money transfer service, which requires registration with all 50 states and with the Federal government (in compliance with the Patriot Act). All of that registration requires a very, very large amount of money which we don't yet have."
- mrtron 19y ago
  Interesting, so the Patriot act is an entry barrier for paypal? And people say politics don't impact geeks :)
  - pg 19y ago
    It is a problem for a significant number of startups. But the increased difficulty of getting into the US is a worse one.
  - ivankirigin 19y ago
    It isn't just the patriot act -- each state in the US has different requirements. That is what makes it expensive.
- cstejerean 19y ago
  Ok. Amazon Gift Cards work just fine for me :)
ivankirigin 19y ago
As soon as we close a round of venture, we will be going through the process of licensing as a money transfer service, and allowing users to cash out directly.
- bayareaguy 19y ago
  I tried to leave a tip but nothing happened when I clicked 'Tip This' even after I enabled JavaScript. Does your site support Opera?
  - ivankirigin 19y ago
    Yes, we've tested on opera. What OS are you using? What site were you trying to tip? Thanks for your feedback and patience!
    - bayareaguy 19y ago
      Opera details: Version 9.50 Beta Build 4506 Platform MacOS X System 10.5.2 Since Opera lets me manage preferences on a per-site basis, I normally run without anything like javascript or cookies enabled and only enable those features the site minimally needs.
      - ivankirigin 19y ago
        Tipjoy minimally needs javascript and cookies. It's like most other new sites in that regard.

vegashacker 19y ago

They pay you in either Amazon gift cards or by donating to a charity. According to their FAQ, "if we allow our users to withdraw money from their account, then we are technically a money transfer service, which requires registration with all 50 states and with the Federal government (in compliance with the Patriot Act). All of that registration requires a very, very large amount of money which we don't yet have."

mrtron 19y ago
Interesting, so the Patriot act is an entry barrier for paypal? And people say politics don't impact geeks :)
- pg 19y ago
  It is a problem for a significant number of startups. But the increased difficulty of getting into the US is a worse one.
- ivankirigin 19y ago
  It isn't just the patriot act -- each state in the US has different requirements. That is what makes it expensive.
cstejerean 19y ago
Ok. Amazon Gift Cards work just fine for me :)

ivankirigin 19y ago

As soon as we close a round of venture, we will be going through the process of licensing as a money transfer service, and allowing users to cash out directly.

bayareaguy 19y ago
I tried to leave a tip but nothing happened when I clicked 'Tip This' even after I enabled JavaScript. Does your site support Opera?
- ivankirigin 19y ago
  Yes, we've tested on opera. What OS are you using? What site were you trying to tip? Thanks for your feedback and patience!
  - bayareaguy 19y ago
    Opera details: Version 9.50 Beta Build 4506 Platform MacOS X System 10.5.2 Since Opera lets me manage preferences on a per-site basis, I normally run without anything like javascript or cookies enabled and only enable those features the site minimally needs.
    - ivankirigin 19y ago
      Tipjoy minimally needs javascript and cookies. It's like most other new sites in that regard.