Amazon Starts 'Tip Jar' System

BeFiend writes "Looks like Amazon is trying to develop a "micro-payment" tip jar system for Web sites. They're calling it the Amazon Honor System and looks like you can give as little as a buck, while that's not really a micropayment it is a step in the right direction. I've only seen a couple of sites BBspot and SatireWire with the pay box already, but I'm sure we'll see them popping up all over the place with banner ad revenue plummeting." Amazon says says they don't track you on sites that use this system, even though since the payment box is served from their servers, they easily could (indeed, Amazon's regular No-Privacy Policy directly conflicts with the above page - which one controls?). And Amazon takes a hefty chunk of each payment in processing fees. But perhaps this model could be useful for sites which need cash but don't want to serve advertising.

Comments

I tried, it's failed.

[BilldaCat]

I tried doing the whole PayPal donation thing, which is very similar. Had it up for about a week now on my site (the one in my sig).

I've received a grand total of 20 cents.

If I get another nickel, I can buy that gumball I always wanted.

It's very depressing, actually. It makes me question why I'm doing this, if it's obvious people don't appreciate it that much. There's next to no money to be made in banners, and the cost of the server will soon become too prohibitive to handle by myself, so I'll likely be forced to shut it down. Kinda blows, but I guess that's survival of the fittest for you.

Question:

[cybercuzco]

How long before Amazon patents the Digital tip jar? A week? Two weeks? Start getting your prior art ready

charities, donations

[Mr.roboto]

When you see one of those cans in a store, or see some donation place, it's often run by someone else who takes most of the money for themselves. Amazon has set up an interesting paralell. While %15 is not much by first look, it really does add up when you have a few million in donations cross their wires. I think it would be better for them to send a check in to the people, despite the convience of this type system. That way you are sure all the money goes to the group it belongs to. And I wouldn't trust their privacy policy as far as I could throw it. It would be rather easy to slip a web bug into an image for the "donation system."

Lightbulb went on in my head....

[kenthorvath]

Imagine. Now we can tip all of those live-feed strippers on adult websites.