Buskpay: a working microdonation system now

Micropayments, Macropayments, Subscriptions, etc.

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Post by Guest »

Here's the <a href="http://buskpay.com/intro.html">intro page,</a> which explains it better than I can here. It's a meta-payment system, meaning that it doesn't rely on any one payment service, but can work with any. I claim it is a working microdonation system because, using 2 pieces (<a href="http://buskpay.com/buskpledge">BuskPledge</a> and <a href="http://buskpay.com/meft">MEFT</a>) of Windows or Unix software, an internet connection, and a funded E-Gold account, right now you can make any number of pledges in about 2 seconds each, and pay the whole batch of pledges with an automatic process that only requires you to fill out your password once per batch.

I hope, though, that it will become much more convenient. Due to it's open nature, anyone can set up a business to deliver those donations, and it's really a very simple sort of business, since the lack of time pressure with donations as compared to purchase payments means that there's time to have money in hand before paying out.

You might be more interested in the <a href="http://buskpay.com/busking">guide to accepting pledges</a> which has a web form for building the files you need.

The system is completely free and open, all the software and documents on it are in the public domain.

--<a href="mailto:feedback@buskpay.com">Darrell Johnson</a>
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Post by Guest »

Thanks for your interest.

As for the mandatory payment issue, I developed this system because it is my belief that real-time verified micropayments are basically unworkable, while moderately-delayed microdonations are almost trivially easy.

I decided to make it a meta-payment system (a system for accessing other payment systems), rather than start my own service, to enable a completely free market for the service of delivering the donations, which complicates it somewhat, and is slowing the launch, but I believe will eventually result in better, cheaper service, wider adoption, and longer survival of the system.

One huge problem with micropayment systems is their tendency to form a monopoly, with all the disadvantages that implies for the users. Both ends must register with the same company, or they can't deal, resulting in strong pressure for everyone to use the same system. Buskpay does not have this problem, being at its heart a data format, not a service, universal use would not offer monopoly power to any organization.

Name and URL: Buskpay http://buskpay.com/
Status: In Active Use
Smallest Payment Amount: Theoretically None (Approx. $0.01 practical now)
Parts of the micropay picture this does address: Convenient donations of small amounts (given sufficient frequency of donation). Prevention of fraud and marketing support through public tracking.
Parts of the micropay picture this does not address: Mandatory payments.
Things this does in addition to micropays: Nothing.
Types of partners required to complete the picture: Currently functional, but full efficiency dependent on the development of a free market of payment delivery services (not partners in any legal sense).
Threshold cost to partner/use: No cost to use; requires no special server-side software. Payment delivery services need only the capability to provide their service (managing payment data).
Multiple currency support: Currency-neutral. Chosen currency implicit in the choice of payment service; conversion capability included with client software.
Anonymity: Dependent on transfer service used. Currently, anonymity is not available.
User platforms: Required client software available for Windows (well-tested under Windows 98 only) and Unix-compatibles (well-tested under Linux only).
Ownership and partners: Fully public domain, privately developed and promoted.
Initial content type orientation: Primarily web-served content.

--<a href="mailto:darrell@buskpay.com">Darrell Johnson</a>
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