Why micropayments are (still) a terrible idea • Hacker News Board

Re: Why micropayments are (still) a terrible idea

#31

Post by eru » Fri, May 29, 2009, 7:54 AM UTC

frossie wrote: post #4

Kadin wrote: post #3

I don't really buy his argument. At first he says that most online purchases are too big to really be considered "micropayments." Well, duh -- there's no micropayment infrastructure, so no true micropayments. The business models that exist today are the ones that somehow get the customer to cough up a couple of bucks. Then the main thrust of his argument is that consumers won't accept micropayments because there's a…

At first he says that most online purchases are too big to really be considered "micropayments." Well, duh -- there's no micropayment infrastructure, so no true micropayments. Exactly. There is no data in his argument - you can argue that people wouldn't want to pay a little versus nothing but how can you know? There is no real opportunity to test this on the Internet. In real life, there are people who make a living…

> For example if I make 10 micropayements of $0.25 to 10 different recipients, i am debited $2.50 once, and all that debit goes to one recipient, with everybody else's money shuffled around until all recipients ultimately get their money in as few transactions as possible.

You know what banks are doing? That's exactly how they operate transfers. Only it seems, not cheap enough. (However, almost every bank in Germany allows you to make transfers to people with accounts at other domestic banks for free. Since ages. It's just not convenient.)

Re: Why micropayments are (still) a terrible idea

#32

Post by dantheman » Fri, May 29, 2009, 9:38 AM UTC

eru wrote: post #30

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've always wondered about this...I live in SF, where a huge number of the little coffee shops are cash only or have a $10 minimum or whatever. As a result, I don't go there, I go to Starbucks instead. I get that the transaction costs of $.25 + 3% is brutal on a $1.50 cup of coffee, but wouldn't it be better to just raise the price of the cheaper items in the store by $.25, or even just $.15? The COG on a cup of coff…

Why not just two different prices? Just make sure to call it a cash discount, instead of a credit card markup. This way the store does not care how a customer pays, and the customer can decide for herself whether fifteen cents are worth the convenience. (By the way, why aren't you paying with cash? I find it much more convenient in general than plastic cards.)

Cash is easier than a card?

You swipe the card and your done, how can it be any easier?

With cash you have to constantly go to the atm, and deal with change.

Re: Why micropayments are (still) a terrible idea

#33

Post by chollida1 » Fri, May 29, 2009, 3:48 PM UTC

adamc wrote: post #22

skinnymuch wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I go to Starbucks regularly and rarely see anyone using the Starbucks card. Though I see it being advertised near the cash register everywhere.

Does it offer any advantage to consumers? (I don't drink coffee.)

My wife gets free soy(instead of milk) in her Chai latte. Normally this is an extra 50 cents each time.

Re: Why micropayments are (still) a terrible idea

#34

Post by chollida1 » Fri, May 29, 2009, 3:50 PM UTC

teej wrote: post #8

blhack wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine that you wouldn't actually have to process the transaction until somebody owes a largish ammount of money (relatively). Something around $10-20. What would work even better (this is how allofmp3.com used to work) would be to buy a bunch of credits...$10-$20 worth of them, then as you make "micropayments", it draws from this supply. Google's ad program also works this way. You pay in $50 or so, then each cli…

Doesn't Apple do this? If you make a purchase, you won't get a receipt until a few days later. It will aggregate all your "store" purchases across iTunes desktop, iTunes on devices, and the App Store on a weekly basis.

> It will aggregate all your "store" purchases across iTunes desktop, iTunes on devices, and the App Store on a weekly basis.

I don't know how they do it exactly but for what its worth I made a purchase on Monday and then again on Tuesday and I recieved seperate charges for each. Though each charge came 2 days after the purchase( Wednesday and Thursday).

For what it's worth I use the Canadian iTunes store.

Re: Why micropayments are (still) a terrible idea

#35

Post by ryanwaggoner » Fri, May 29, 2009, 7:47 PM UTC

eru wrote: post #30

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've always wondered about this...I live in SF, where a huge number of the little coffee shops are cash only or have a $10 minimum or whatever. As a result, I don't go there, I go to Starbucks instead. I get that the transaction costs of $.25 + 3% is brutal on a $1.50 cup of coffee, but wouldn't it be better to just raise the price of the cheaper items in the store by $.25, or even just $.15? The COG on a cup of coff…

Why not just two different prices? Just make sure to call it a cash discount, instead of a credit card markup. This way the store does not care how a customer pays, and the customer can decide for herself whether fifteen cents are worth the convenience. (By the way, why aren't you paying with cash? I find it much more convenient in general than plastic cards.)

Why not just two different prices? Just make sure to call it a cash discount, instead of a credit card markup.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm virtually certain that this violates the merchant agreement with the card networks.