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A Solution to the Fundamental Problem of Micropayments.
The psychological barrier to spending "anything" versus nothing is often said to be the fundamental roadblock in the way of micropayments.
I propose a site where one would subscribe and deposit a fixed amount each month, which would then be divvied up and distributed to sites based on up-votes which the user delivers through an embeddable widget, a la Reddit.
This would remove the psychological cost of micropayment transactions, since each "payment" does not affect the amount of money the user will spend.
- noodle 17y agosounds a lot like tipjoy.
- wmf 17y agoThat's like Contenture, except Contenture is easier because you don't have to vote.
- asciilifeform 17y agoTheir site appears dead.
- ScottWhigham 17y agoI don't see how this get around the fact that merchant fees will be 10, 20, or 30% of the amount sent to the website/corp/user that ultimately receives the payment. If you pay the "wrapper" site (what I'm calling the site you propose) $30 and it has to be divvied up x times, the wrapper site pays $1-$2 in processing fees to receive the money. They then take a cut and divvy the remaining money. Let's make it $25. If there are 25 sites to pay $1 each, what payment method does the wrapper site employ so that the merchant payment fees don't make it unprofitable? This is a lot like that piratebay "donations" scheme earlier this month.
- wmf 17y agoThe middleman aggregates payments across customers and time, so it sends a few large payments to each site.
- ScottWhigham 17y agoOk - makes sense. Definitely a win for the middle man - they earn interest on OPM until the payout period.
- stcredzero 17y agoThe fundamental problem is one of marketing and convenience. A tip jar at the counter of Starbucks is unobtrusive, entirely voluntary, and convenient. You see, decide, pay, done. The idea of a tip jar is widely accepted. To reach the same level of acceptance, micropayments need to come with the browser. They should also be voluntary.