

Stormpulse showered with tips. - jsmcgd
http://tipjoy.com/joy/57378/

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jonknee
Too bad Stormpulse can't actually get their money...

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wensing
First of all, I think tipjoy is a fantastic idea. We initially saw tipjoy as a
perfect fit and also appreciated Ivan's communication with us.

However, as the graph shows we ended up deciding against continued use of
tipjoy as a revenue stream. This wasn't because we were worried that we'd only
ever be able to get an Amazon gift card (although I did spend a few minutes
one day thinking what we could buy). I truly believe that the tipjoy team will
get the legal taken care of and allow users to withdraw cash.

So why did we take it down? Ultimately there was some confusion around
tipjoy's functionality and benefit ... and no, I'm not referring to the man
that told us he would be passing our site on to his attorney that keeps a list
of abusive web practices. Rather, I'm referring to actual emails from users
that were concerned about our financial well-being and wanted to make sure we
were compensated in some more tangible, verifiable way.

While we don't let our users decide things outright, this turned out to be a
move we don't regret, given the number of direct donations we have received
(we managed to trigger a flag inside PayPal and got a phone call). However, I
will use this opportunity to add that if the tipjoy team made a few changes
(being able to change the default payment amount, not asking users to ante up
$5), I think the service would be a no-brainer for many a website.

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jonknee
Any idea what the legal hangups are? Trying to avoid being part of the
regulated banking industry? They have been around a while and not letting
people have their money seems like a huge deal breaker to me (I wouldn't have
launched the site without it honestly).

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mattmaroon
I'd guess the PATRIOT Act is involved. What's to prevent a terrorist
organization from tipping large sums to their American sleepers? Our
government really, really hates that sort of thing even being possible.

This is why on Draftmix, we do not allow people to do interaccount transfers.
And it's been one of the things the DoJ has been using to justify their
persecution of online gaming.

I imagine TipJoy would be exposing themselves to all sorts of legal woes, and
that would just be one of them. The are certainly going to have to iron that
out at some point.

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brlewis
Amazon FPS claims to enable interaccount transfers. Do they take care of the
legal requirements?

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mattmaroon
Amazon probably does a lot more to identify the people using it than would be
practical for TipJoy. It's certainly not illegal to do transfers, it's just
asking for trouble to do so without knowing who both parties are. That could
pose a serious problem for someone like TipJoy who is all about ease of use.

I'm sure they'll find a way.

~~~
LogicHoleFlaw
The account identification routines were a big part of what sunk egold as
well. If you can't positively identify the owner of an account, then you are
on the hook for illegal scams and money laundering activities. It's ugly.

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vegashacker
Wow, that's really cool for both Stormpulse and tipjoy. Maybe Stormpulse will
be the first official YC-rejected "success".

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LogicHoleFlaw
It looks like tipjoy is positioned to grab a lot of this flashmob-style
payment. I had only previously thought about it in terms of recurring content
updates, but this behavioral style could also be lucrative.

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mattmaroon
This kind of stuff is where services like tipjoy just might change the
economics of the web.

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matt
Make it rain.

