Earlier quoted context omitted.
> And if we can't tell bot from human, why would bots choose to pay rather than just use the public endpoints we serve to our customers? Assuming technical indistinguishability, the only solution is what was originally proposed for email: balanced net $0 charges for "normal user" usage patterns (i.e. payments from - payments to = $0). If you x402 everything, and an average user access 5 pages, but a bot accesses 500…
Asking customers to pay anything prior to purchase is a non-starter... Imagine a brick-and-mortar shoe store asking customers to pay an entry fee to shop before customers enter the door?
I often buy gas at the BP with a $0.03/gal higher price than the Shell across the street. Guess which one has a longer line more full of gas guzzlers.