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Flattr: New Micropayment System - Gets the Model Right?

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Hermit2003:
justice, as far as I understand, there will be no "unused" money by the end of the month: because that is when all the money in the account is divided by all the support clicks you made. And after that you transfer the next batch of money into the account, to be divided by the "amount of support" in the next month.

The only thing that bugs me is that monthly plan. I don't feel like donating every month.
-housetier (February 11, 2010, 05:17 PM)
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This one also bothers me. It's not that I don't like donating every month, it's that I can't always afford to, much as I might like to.

Hermit2003:
I have given this some thought in the meantime... There might be people who absolutely love the idea of donating a fixed amount each month. My initial skepticism mostly came from my own extremely limited financial resources.

Despite my doubts I want this kind of micropayment system to succeed. Even if only to "show them" it can be done.
-housetier (March 09, 2010, 01:13 PM)
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Ah yes, indeed. Me too.

mouser:
Let's hope they dont REQUIRE you to do a monthly recurring charge -- there is nothing about the idea that depends on that.

40hz:
Too many open questions right now for me to get behind it in anything but spirit.

The fact that it was set up by Peter Sunde doesn't give me "warm fuzzies" either.

Still, it's an interesting concept...but I wonder how it's going to play out long-term considering it is providing what, in many jurisdictions, would be considered banking services. PayPal ran into a problem just like that with India's Central Bank when it was determined that PayPal needed authorization from its regulators to operate a cross-border monetary transfer service.  PayPal had to temporarily suspend serving India until it obtained proper clearances from the banking authorities. And PayPal is an established web service whose financials and bona fides were never in question.

So I hope Mssr. Sunde has crossed every "t"when he set up this service. Otherwise he risks seeing problems just like he did with his last 'venture.'

I'm gonna mark this one "wait & see." :tellme:

steeladept:
Let's hope they dont REQUIRE you to do a monthly recurring charge -- there is nothing about the idea that depends on that.
-mouser (March 09, 2010, 04:42 PM)
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Without looking into it at all, just from what I read here, this is my thought on the model.  You must pay in a set amount each month, but the amount is set when setting up the account and can be changed at any time starting the following month.  The moneys are deposited into an account at the beginning of the month and then aggrigated into high yield short term Certificates of Deposit (or equivolent).  Then at the end of the month the monies are "distributed" (read funded) for payout mid-month.  The next month's payments come in, and are used to pay out the funds.  If the system is growing, the remaining monies are deposited into the new high-yield CD's.  Once critical mass is reached, the interest on the CD's, plus the increases from growth will outstrip the cost of doing business and profits will be made after payout.  Cashflow would be positive and excellent after this point because next month's monies would come in before payments are made (the same way Amazon was able to take off by selling the books, getting the money, and selling more before the initial bills were due).  And end users would have a warm fuzzy about it because *ALL* of their monies are paid out.  What everyone misses out on is the opportunity cost of having your money tied up interest free like that.  Actually not a bad business plan though, if you can reach that critical mass where your costs equal your interest earned.

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