The idea of a “tip jar” on blogs and other content sites to help bring in a few extra dollars has been around for years. Donations and payouts are generally made through PayPal, and there are a number of plugins for various blogging platforms to make the process easier.
New Y Combinator startup TipJoy is designed to make it even easier to get people to click that tip button. Readers are not required to create an account or have a PayPal account to leave a tip, so there is little friction to them getting started. If they want to leave a tip they just click the button and type in their email address. I’ve added a tip button below to show how it works - any money we receive we’ll be distributing back to other bloggers who add the button, and/or donating to charity.
If you leave a tip as a new user, you start to build up an account debit. You can eventually pay that off via PayPal (TipJoy keeps 2% 3%), although no one comes after you if you choose to skip out on the bill. You can also start to ask for tips on your own site, and anything people leave for you offsets what you’ve given to others.
The TipJoy site shows popular sites that have received a lot of tips, and you can also send any URL or email a tip directly as well. As a tipper, you can choose the amount you’d like to tip by default (starting at ten cents). Then, every time you click the tip button on a participating site, that amount is added to your bill.
If you want to cash out of your tips you can choose to either receive an Amazon gift card or donate the amount to charity. For now, you can’t receive cash since the company wants to avoid becoming a regulated money transfer service. In the FAQs they suggest they’ll be adding this functionality eventually.
I like the service because it creates a network around the idea of tipping for content. Users are both tippers and tippees, keeping a balance that they pay off eventually. I also like the fact that people don’t have to pay off that bill. It creates an interesting psychology where people find it very, very easy to leave the tip, and then may feel guilted into paying off the bill. At the very least, TipJoy is an interesting human psychology experiment.
The service has a number of options for integrating buttons and graphics on to the site. I imagine they’ll be adding plug-ins and other tools as well over time.
TipJoy was founded by Abigail Kirigin and Ivan Kirigin. The company blog is here.
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Ironically, with all the controversy on Google about penalizing paid blog links - this could be the answer those cash strapped Bloggers were looking for
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/.....ent-117690
Josh, if a tip jar at starbucks causes you this kind of anxiety, you need a little more self confidence.
@Josh You sound like an asshole. Are you suggesting we don’t tip anyone because “its their job”?
Josh,
Dude, maybe next time you order a coffee at SBUX you should stick to non-decaf:)
Tip jars can be annoying - like at the take out counter at Chili’s where I’d pick up my salads to go. Even the dry cleaners in my town had one…
I can see this being useful as a tool for donations to help sites or list servs who don’t rake in money from advertising, or non-profits - that’s all good (like Jim’s Jobs, he’s been running that job group for years for no compensation). Normal news or sites using them for good causes - that’s good too. I hope not every site starts having these though.
Sorry to announce you Jamie - he is right.
Why do I have to pay you extra for doing your job.
Its not like I’m your boss or something. Ask him for extra money.
It is simple marketing. Every person pays for good service. It is your job if you want to pay more. But do not make somebody an asshole just because you don’t agree with that person.
PS: I’m a graphic designer and I do my job quite well. I’m not seeing my boss chasing me with money from the satisfied customer. Why ? Because it was my JOB to do it right.
Andy - my guess is you are making a little more money than the average cafe worker.
Oh, and now regarding the service - nice. Also nice article.
Michael, it is his choice to get a better job or stick to customers tips.
Suppose I leave you a $50 tip now, then because nobody comes after me, I don’t pay it. Can you still donate that to charity/amazon gift voucher it up? There’s an untied end here…
Ah, in the FAQ’s:
If they are a tipjoy user, the money is automatically transferred into their account as soon as you pay your tip bill. If they are not a tipjoy user, we keep track of all the money they’ve earned (by associating it with the URL/email address submitted), and once it reaches a certain amount, we will contact them and help them get signed up with tipjoy so that they can claim their earnings.
So you don’t actually get it until it is paid by the tipper.
If you feel guilty about consuming good content for free, then perhaps it’s your mind telling you to do something about it! You don’t have to use Tipjoy, just like you don’t have to click the “please donate” buttons that many good services provide. And if you do decide to tip, it doesn’t have to be a large amount. The point is, Tipjoy makes it possible for appreciative consumers to easily show their gratitude for a blogger’s effort and content.
I have to agree with Andy I stared giving that speech long before Mr Pink.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NcjPxkv7vA
As I get older and softer I do tip, why not be kind when you have the chance?
Still guilt or automatic custom is not a good reason.
This is awesome. I hate having to click on adsense ads on people’s sites that I like to make sure they get money for their work. I’d much rather drop ‘em a quarter and not have to see an ad. Best of luck to the TipJoy’ers.
Let’s not forget that tips are optional. Wether in brick and mortar locations or on the web, no one is forcing you to tip or trying to induce guilt. If you don’t want to or can’t afford to tip, then don’t do it. There’s no reason to be angry at businesses or employees for it!
To Andy:
Do you really think everyone working in coffee shops specifically chose that profession?
Or do you think perhaps not everyone has the same skills and opportunities available to them?
I’m willing to be alot of people in professions utilising tip jars probably aren’t in that job because they just love making coffee. Of course you don’t HAVE to tip people, and I’m sure people won’t frown upon you for not tipping. Generally I think you’ll find people are happy enough for others to be polite and treat them with respect.
You know I think I might go to town and tip some coffee shop staff.
Perhaps order a muffin.
I do wish I liked coffee.
Anyway I digress. As for TipJoy, I like the sound of it, but I can imagine that by the time one comes to paying the tips, enthusiasm may have waned somewhat for less visited sites.
Tim, you’re a d1ck wad. People choose the profession of working at SBUX or any companies they wish. If the money they take in is not good enough, they jack up the price. I don’t feel sorry for people who aren’t smart enough to find opportunities or invest money in making certain things happen.
My question is this. Regardless of what I think about TipJoy….how do they make a business plan for this and get funded by Ycombinator and the likes?. As I speak this I am trying to write up a exec summary to raise a small amount of capital for my company (a small angel round to complete our next version) and we are way ahead in terms of user base and generate some revenue too (enough to pay for a small office, data center etc)
I’m starting to get a bit jealous some folks have it so easy ?? I guess “connections” is what I lack
Is it against Google’s TOS to have a donation link (to say a Paypal page) whilst running adsense on the same page?
This would be like walking into Starbucks, ordering a coffee and shoving an IOU note in the tip jar. It’s not a tip - there is no monetary transaction until the tipper physically pays their tip bill. How that is achieved is they key - if one can automate payments according to a billing cycle or price ceiling then it might be a useful service. Then again I could set a price ceiling of $100 (not unreasonable considering the transaction fees - it’s hardly worth it to consider a lower ceiling) which means I’d have to make 1000 tips until they all actually get paid…that’s potentially a very long time; we’re talking years for a casual user.
The other reason I think this is different to the tips jar in a public location such as on the Starbucks counter is that, whilst we will all pretend it is, tipping in these situations is not a completely philanthropical act. You’re doing it to get a smile from the staff, perhaps even to get an approving glance from the hot chick standing behind you in line, or perhaps it’s just because you have a lot of change in your pocket and you want to get rid of some. Not all the time, but that can certainly factors like these can be a motivator. And that is lost under this system - it feels a lot more anonymous. There’s no reward to the user other than some self-satisfaction and call me cynical but I think we need more than that.
Perhaps if they introduced a widget (instead of the current, static banners) that had a tip button AND displayed the top 5 tippers and the amounts they tipped? That might help things to be a bit more social and also give a little thanks back to the people who are tipping.
yongfook - good point in your second paragraph
Regarding tips …
If I get standard service I leave 10%. It is not required because it IS INDEED their job, but it is a courtesy to do it.
If I get bad service I will NOT LEAVE any tip. Heck no .. no way. It is their job to provide a satisfactory service and I am paying money for not only the goods, but the service.
If the service is ULTRA SUPER SUPPER than I will leave more of a tip than 10%. It goes beyond courtesy it goes to the hart of capitalism. You are paying for services and goods and you want to be the MAN so-to-speak.
So what they are doing their job. It is not required for you to leave a tip, but it is good KARMA!!
I noticed a very tiny bug, which the makers might want to make note of.
In Firefox, when beginning to enter my email address and tapping down, a dropdown appears with my email address(es) in it. However — and I haven’t noticed this before on any other sites — when I scroll down to use my previously-typed email, and select it, for some reason your hyper-active autopopulator refills the input box with the promotional slogan (something about 10c) again. Again, a very minor bug but one that may be trivial to fix?
yongfook - the widget thing is out there now - i think its called “top links” or something similar… seems to be big on the money making sites and the search sites.
maybe people will finally come around to my feed for a buck idea
http://www.centernetworks.com/feed-for-a-buck
No thanks. I’ll stick to inline advertising.
http://www.RSSLiveTV.com
in spite of this ‘ease’ of donating widget tool - it makes no difference to me…i still don’t/won’t tip
i’m even surprised this tool made the Y-combinator pool
I don’t tip…ever. Must be an American/U.K thing. The concept of tipping is none Existence in most countries I have been too. Not in China, Taiwan, Japan or most asian countries….. Not sure about Europe, haven’t been there yet.
Here a tip for ya: GET a better JOB.
The idea gets awfully complicated in practice. If I like every article here, do I tip every one of them? and every one at every great blog I read? No thanks.
I always tip for exemplary service — when someone does more than what’s required by their job. 50-cents here or a dollar there doesn’t affect me that much, and it’s good way to encourage people to be all they can be. =D
How is this better than the PayPal Donate button again?
@24: This is called ‘ScratchBack’
@ #26
nah, you can see why. the pitch sounds great on paper - it’s an “alternative” to the banner ad in terms of earning revenue for small site owners, and it involves a transactional fee for the company running it. In principle it’s an interesting idea, certainly one worth investing a few thousand dollars in if you are Y Combinator; who I’m sure receive many pitches without as clear a revenue model as this.
The idea just needs honing, that’s all. I don’t think it’s an outright flop. Currently it provides no incentive for the donator, it just makes the process potentially simpler than clicking a paypal button. Really if I am engaged enough in a site to want to donate I’ve already been sold on the idea and whether it’s a paypal button or a tipjoy button is irrelevant. The real key to this project’s success is going to be providing the incentive to a completely new group of donators to want to donate. And that requires a whole other level of analytical thinking, far beyond simply having the ability to solve a problem or provide a process with some code and graphics - which is where I think a lot of these young, relatively inexperienced teams at Y Combinator fall short of the mark.
We’ll see though.
It’s true that tipping is a cultural thing… very common in US for just about anything, but not in many other countries. Taken out of the normal context, without the social pressure, I could see this giving very disappointing results.
But it’s certainly worth trying.. I’m looking forward reading about their progress.
Currently, it appears you must receive a bill via snail-mail to pay your balance. Either that or I’m missing something.
I’m curious about the donation to charity piece. How does this look/work. Do they integrate with an existing donation service for the charity search / eft, etc
#3 and #4 and #5
I dont like the idea of paying for a service, then being expected to pay more for doing that service. I have an 8-5 job, and I get a paycheck. I dont have a tipjar sitting on my desk.
#4. Exactly. If they go above and beyond, then sure. If not, then no.
i would never use it.
I think the term tip is better than make a donation and will work ok but I can’t help but think this business is not a business that it will not last long. YC seem to have backed a rubbish ideas recently and this is not the worst that I have heard off thats still not been released to the public yet. Ok I know they back teams but I can see the pitch for this going on about there are billions of blogs and freesoftware out there and we can help. I hate to pan a startup but this one just seems plain wrong.
Another failed micropayments attempt. DOA.
btw, why ppl need funding to do such things? you can get a server and do it in a wk.
DOA kind of like nearly every YCombinator start-up. Most people only tip out of guilt/socialiazed behavior. There is no social norm for tipping for good content. The social norm is to pay for good content.
This is a great start towards solving the micropayments problem. I can’t wait to see what else TipJoy comes out with!
I’m sure you all know this, but there are some professions where tips are part of the person’s wages. Granted, as some of you have pointed out, it’s their choice to stay there or move to a job where your paycheck is guaranteed. Of course if everyone did that, we wouldn’t have restaurants, pizza deliveries or exotic dancers. Some of you need to lighten up a little bit. If your one of those people that don’t feel like they should have to tip for anything, then don’t. Just don’t be surprised if people in these said professions start to remember you and give you horrible service.
As for you 8 to 5 people, do none of you get bonuses above and beyond your paycheck for a job well done? Why should YOU get extra money for doing your job?
Anyway, I think it’s a good business model, but I’ll be interested to see if it takes off. Like someone else said, you typically tip in non-traditional scenarios when you can be recognized for it, which this appears to lack. Still, there are those few who give anonymously simply because they can and ask for nothing in return, including recognition.
We just added it to our URL shrinking site– thanks!
http://ri.ms
It’s painfully obvious from this thread that there are a lot of people who don’t know that tipping is not common in large parts of the world. Maybe once they graduate college they can travel outside of their native country and learn about other cultures.
@yongfook @arrington: Ze Frank’s “Gimme Some Candy” system solved the problem of making the “tip jar” visible. Ask a Ninja, Jonathan Coulton and others are using it today with varying amounts of success. Ze pulled in $5,000+ from it *per post* some days…
@44:
I don’t know what’s funnier, us being stereotypical self-absorbed Americans or you being a stereotypical douche-bag foreigner.
Here’s 10c for you Michael … Good job
Michael, it is showing you as having $30.14 in tips so far (not bad). Can you update us in a month or so to let us know how much actually gets paid.
We will be implementing this on all Yahoo properties to unlock the untapped value that we are sitting on. We anticipate that tips alone will justify a $75 billion offer from Microsoft.
So no one wants to tip? Maybe we can do like the non-tipping countries do and include the “service” in the bill. Since there is no bill for websites, we can lobby the government to pass an internet tax to be collected by ISPs and distributed pro rata to every website based on traffic numbers from Alexa.
Or maybe we can just click the tip button and feel good about supporting content we like.
Doesn’t seem to verify if the site you tip actually exists.
I tip sometimes when I have the funds for good service because I enjoy the service and want the people to stay in business! Recognition never even crossed my mind! Same thing with websites. If I like a website and want it to stay around then I will donate to it if I have the funds!