The $2 PayPal coffee is a failure
A month and a half ago, I had the idea of asking users for a $2 PayPal donation to get me a cup of coffee. I thought it would work well, since (a) it’s not much money and (b) it’s a concrete, common item that people often buy each other.
I’m here to report that the idea has failed. I received $6 in donations. (Thanks to the 3 of who you obliged me.) But on the whole, it just hasn’t worked.
Why? I’m not sure. I thought I’d ask your opinion. Here are a couple of possible reasons:
- The picture and donation text are not prominent enough.
- The coffee idea is a bad one.
- Giving $2 seems like more hassle than it’s worth. People either give nothing or something more substantial.
- People don’t want to give money to a jamoke like me who already has ads on his website.
July 1st, 2006 at 12:51 am
Nothing against you, it’s a cool idea.
Paypal just sucks my fucking ass. My account was locked because I forgot my password and tried some of the normal passwords I use on other accounts. (Who really can keep track of all the fucking passwords you need on the internet?) … anyway, I tried one too many times, and they locked my account until I send them a notarized birth certificate, three pubic hairs and a DNA sample or some ridiculous fucking shit.
(Sorry about the f-bombs. But I really, really hate Paypal. Their customer service blows. I know three people that have been burned BADLY by their funny money accounts. Add in my bad experience, and I’m dying for some upstart (or google) to step in and show those fucking bitches how to do it.)
July 1st, 2006 at 1:41 am
Try a candybar or soda.
Also, move the ad back near the top.
Finally, how many visitors do you get each day? Perhaps some advertising is in line?
July 1st, 2006 at 10:06 am
Will, f-bombs are welcomed here with open arms! See Exhibit A.
Klkx, why do you think those other items would be better? I definitely get enough visitors, but the ad placement is almost surely part of the problem. Then again, when it was prominently featured in the sidebar, I fared no better. Hmm.
July 1st, 2006 at 11:00 am
Put me down for number 4 please. Kthx.
July 1st, 2006 at 1:46 pm
If coffee didn’t work, other items may be slightly more enticing. Perhaps a candy bar would be silly, and soda is useless.
Veggie burger at Burger King?
July 1st, 2006 at 4:30 pm
I think the coffee is the perfect item. Although you could try a Red Bull and then tie in the post you wrote about it.
I’m not going to donate 2 bucks on the site of a friend, but I would buy you a cup of coffee in the flesh. And that’s not just to you, but any one I know. I might be more likely to donate if I didn’t know the person. Not sure why, but I suspect that would be the case.
Maybe the price point is a bit high. A single buck might seem like less of a donation. Or maybe some uneven amount like $0.79 might trigger a little more curiousity or novelety in the donator.
And yeah, Paypal does indeed suck ass. Someone else needs to make that shit work better and more smoothly.
July 2nd, 2006 at 9:56 am
Chad - thanks!
Klikx - veggie burger? Now I’m really selling out. :)
Jada - I don’t expect anyone whom I know irl, or even regular Internet readers, to donate. I get a lot of enjoyment out of folks’ comments and input, and I definitely don’t need $2 in compensation. In fact, for putting up with some of the crap I write on here, I should probably be paying you.
What I was more in when I started the PayPal thing was whether random visitors (coming in via the search engines) would give anything. That answer is no. For some select entries, such as one about hotlinking, I thought that the amount of helpful information there (and time I put into it) might translate to a donation.
July 6th, 2006 at 11:36 am
i was about to do it but when i clicked on the link in your article i got page not found
July 6th, 2006 at 11:43 am
Fixed!
July 7th, 2006 at 1:28 am
you got coffee
July 7th, 2006 at 10:28 am
Thanks!!!
July 11th, 2006 at 4:03 am
I think you are on to something. I was in fact thinking of copying you.
perhaps allow yourself to rate articles on a scale of 0.25 candy to 25.00 consultancy. Post a “if you found this usfull/funny/sexy… then buy me a …” at the end of each post. So people who read the post are then given the option of paying for what they just consumed.
If you were a Nucleus CMS user I’d write you a plugin… but you’ll have to tackle it some other way.
Make sure it gets into your XML feed too.
September 8th, 2006 at 12:35 pm
Hey, how come it’s a failure? Gosh can I have my money back? (just kidding).
By the way I had same experience as Will - I forgot password and entered wrong passwords, also trying my usual ones. And they suspended the account, though it was fairly easy to get a new password (had to call their customer service).
Meanwhile, I decided not to try the path of donations. I mean, I tried that too and it didn’t work at all - well I didn’t have any clicks on my site. So I just went ahead and donated myself a cup of coffee, lol.
Now I am trying to do something different. I wanted to print tshirts for about 5 years and 3 weeks ago printed my first designer t-shirt. If you’re curious, here’s the link: Farennikov Apparel. Not making too many sales now, only 3 on-line sales and some to my friends here in CA, and yesterday got my first international order for 4 tshirts, how cool is that.
Anyway, good luck and I hope you have your cup of coffee today (try something different then Starbucks this time). You deserved it.