If you wanted to send me a monetary tip for my excellent Mastodon posts, which platform would you prefer to use?

[edent@mastodon.social]

@liaizon Ah, I see. Sadly, they're all different widths and don't use the official fonts. So I'm not sure if they'll work for my purposes. But I'll give it a try - thanks

[sstarr@mastodon.social]

@jackmcconnell @Edent “Dead drop in the local park” would get my vote

[m0yng@mastodon.radio]

@fersman @ret @Edent I dont think that's the kind of content I want

[raven@fedi.at]

@Edent
Liberapay

[duncanlock@cosocial.ca]

@Edent
The technical side of microtransactions is simple - anyone can add a button wherever. Getting a payment processor to perform the actual financial transaction has so far been more or less impossible.

The only payment processor that any fraction of people actually use are Visa/MasterCard - and they will change you ~30¢ + %5 per transaction, so you will lose money (be charged more than the tip is worth) on every tip you are sent that's under ~$1.

[edent@mastodon.social]

@duncanlock I don't know where you are in the world, but in the UK and Europe it is free to transfer a single penny to any account.

I use tap-to-pay on low value transactions all the time. I even bought a single apple from a greengrocer once!

[janikvonrotz@fosstodon.org]

@Edent Really depends on the payment provider. If only we already had #gnutaler aka the global payment system that we were denied.

[edent@mastodon.social]

@janikvonrotz I'm sure it'll be ready just as soon as GNU Hurd is

[janikvonrotz@fosstodon.org]

@Edent Good things take time
But seriously, I hate paying online no matter the provider. They all suck.

I hope for a european, instant, inter-banking payment system / standard / protocol.

[itsfriday@toot.community]

@janikvonrotz @Edent GNU Taler is here - I already did some donations with it.

[janikvonrotz@fosstodon.org]

@itsFriday @Edent More details! How did you add talers with your bank?

[adaraastin@supervolcano.angryshark.eu]

@Edent My concern is how involving payment processors would entail new levels of regulation and oversight, and in turn how that might decrease privacy and contribute to censorship and deplatforming.

These are nebulous gut concerns. The devil would lie in the details.

[itsfriday@toot.community]

@janikvonrotz @Edent It is possible with https://taler-ops.ch and a swiss bank account. It has some rough edges but works fine.

Here is a good article (in German) for an easy start: https://gnulinux.ch/gnu-taler-mit-echtgeld-ausprobiert-teil-1

[edent@mastodon.social]

@itsFriday thanks! The website says it is "immune to chargeback fraud". Does that mean if I pay with Taler and the merchant doesn't deliver, I cannot do a chargeback?

[floppy@mastodon.me.uk]

@Edent I think we a standard for this across the whole Fediverse. I need it for Manyfold, and Bandcamp, Castopod and many more would want it too.

[itsfriday@toot.community]

@Edent As I understand it, yes. It is like with cash.

[gabboman@gabboman.xyz]

Payment processor fees would eat it

When someone sends me 1€ for wafrn, I recive like 68 cents approx.

30 cents + 2% approx.

2€? 1.68

3€? 2.67

Like that.

Unless its more than 3€ you are paying money to paypal or mastercard

#Its-one-more-or-less-cent #but-this-post-is-serious-ish #so-no-joke-numbers-sorry

[simon_brooke@mastodon.scot]

@Edent I would be very strongly against that. Incentivising people to make particularly notable posts will encourage all sorts of bad actors to post inflammatory and untrue rubbish.

[gina@fosstodon.org]

@Edent I would like this as a feature, but I wouldnt like to see it as prominently as that. Maybe by clicking on someone's profile.

[edent@mastodon.social]

@itsFriday ah, that's a shame.
It also looks like the merchant gets no info about the customer - which might also be problematic if an individual/company is sanctioned.sanctioned
I'm sure it is a technically clever system, but doesn't seem to meet user needs.