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First of all, I think tipjoy is a fantastic idea. We initially saw tipjoy as a perfect fit and also appreciated Ivan's communication with us. However, as the
by wensing 18y ago
First of all, I think tipjoy is a fantastic idea. We initially saw tipjoy as a perfect fit and also appreciated Ivan's communication with us.
However, as the graph shows we ended up deciding against continued use of tipjoy as a revenue stream. This wasn't because we were worried that we'd only ever be able to get an Amazon gift card (although I did spend a few minutes one day thinking what we could buy). I truly believe that the tipjoy team will get the legal taken care of and allow users to withdraw cash.
So why did we take it down? Ultimately there was some confusion around tipjoy's functionality and benefit ... and no, I'm not referring to the man that told us he would be passing our site on to his attorney that keeps a list of abusive web practices. Rather, I'm referring to actual emails from users that were concerned about our financial well-being and wanted to make sure we were compensated in some more tangible, verifiable way.
While we don't let our users decide things outright, this turned out to be a move we don't regret, given the number of direct donations we have received (we managed to trigger a flag inside PayPal and got a phone call). However, I will use this opportunity to add that if the tipjoy team made a few changes (being able to change the default payment amount, not asking users to ante up $5), I think the service would be a no-brainer for many a website.
- jonknee 18y agoAny idea what the legal hangups are? Trying to avoid being part of the regulated banking industry? They have been around a while and not letting people have their money seems like a huge deal breaker to me (I wouldn't have launched the site without it honestly).
- wensing 18y agoNo, I don't.
- mattmaroon 18y agoI'd guess the PATRIOT Act is involved. What's to prevent a terrorist organization from tipping large sums to their American sleepers? Our government really, really hates that sort of thing even being possible. This is why on Draftmix, we do not allow people to do interaccount transfers. And it's been one of the things the DoJ has been using to justify their persecution of online gaming. I imagine TipJoy would be exposing themselves to all sorts of legal woes, and that would just be one of them. The are certainly going to have to iron that out at some point.
- brlewis 18y agoAmazon FPS claims to enable interaccount transfers. Do they take care of the legal requirements?
- mattmaroon 18y agoAmazon probably does a lot more to identify the people using it than would be practical for TipJoy. It's certainly not illegal to do transfers, it's just asking for trouble to do so without knowing who both parties are. That could pose a serious problem for someone like TipJoy who is all about ease of use. I'm sure they'll find a way.
- LogicHoleFlaw 18y agoThe account identification routines were a big part of what sunk egold as well. If you can't positively identify the owner of an account, then you are on the hook for illegal scams and money laundering activities. It's ugly.
- ashu 18y agoYes, they do. That's why Buxfer could use Amazon FPS for enabling person-to-person transfers, but we couldn't use PayPal, or do it ourselves.