Is Anything Wrong w/ the Cartio Micropayment System?

ballpeen asks: "Obviously it's not the lack of technology that's been holding up a decent micropayment system for years. But a few months back, I tried out the dummy account demo for the new Cartio set-up, and it seems fine. It's based out of the Netherlands, but fully international. Offers credit card, debit, personal check or cash fills. The s/w downloaded in a couple minutes (400K?), installed no problem on Win98, and seemed to work fine. It's made to handle online and offline purchases in the one-cent to 10 bucks range. Has anyone else checked this out? What's the hold-up?" Of course, this is currently Win32 only (a Mac version looks to be in the works). But the system seems sound enough. Might Cartio be the first to do micropayments right?

Comments

Slashdot hypocrisy emerges...

[duffbeer703]

Slashdot, which was once a bastion of FSF "information wants to be free" zealots have now revealed the strength of their convictions. When you're going broke, it's hard to justify giving stuff away.

Micropayments sound like a great idea -- for some lameass that spends thousands of dollars running a free website (with no chance of making a buck) with money taken from gullible investors. After all, it's a chance to sell your "content" instead of giving it away.

People will pay for websites -- namely porn (through subscriptions), technical information (through service contracts) and special refrence collections (medical, engineering, marketing, etc) via subscription. Very few people would ever pay for a run-of-the-mill website like Slashdot, however, because there is no compelling reason to do so.

The only reason people go to websites like this one is the large number of people who tend to congregate there. Some are pretty smart, some amusing, others obnoxious. Require payments and you will rapidly see the quantity and diversity of comments drop dramaticaly.

I am convinced that the only way that high-traffic websites where vistors stay for long periods of time or visit often (ie sites like Slashdot, Fuckedcompany and gamer sites) can survive is through brand advertising.

A combination of text and graphical ads need to be used in a manner similar to newspaper or radio spots. Get rid of those retarded banner ads that nobody ever clicks and use larger, more entertaining or catchy graphics. Make ads informative. Sell ads that create a mood rather than count clicks. Run classifieds ala Popular Mechanics magazine. Be creative.