I’ve just signed up for a new micro-payment system called Flattr. I’m still working on the configuration, and the entire system is still in beta testing, so there may still be some quirks. Hopefully if you view the front page of this blog you will see a button like the one above on the right sidebar, and if you read via RSS you will see one as well. I haven’t actually seen the one with RSS (this post is a test), but I guess it will be somewhere on the page.
It’s not the intention this should appear in an annoying or excessively obvious way, so please let me know if it does in whatever newsreader you use so I can fix it.
In a nutshell, if you decide to sign-up for Flattr, you can donate money to me. If you’re not interested, it’s okay!
Since starting this blog I’ve been reluctant to carry advertising. I’ve felt it distracts from the material presented, in reality most of the profit goes elsewhere besides my pocket, and so wasn’t an efficient way to raise what I thought would likely be a small amount of money anyway.
Nearly all other options also had their problems, either soliciting donations of amounts of money I felt were too large, or using payment systems like Paypal that themselves had excessive fees, as well as general management and customer service problems.
Flattr users sign-up and agree to pay a certain amount per month, as little as €2 or about US$3. When they click on other people’s Flattr buttons, this money gets donated to them. The more clicks per month, the less each recipient gets. This means donations are as little as a few cents. The fees Flattr charges are not high, and they have promised to try to lower them over time.
As much as anything, I support the ideas behind Flattr, and I think this is potentially a good way for people like artists and musicians to raise some money over the Internet. It’s potentially an enormous asset to everyone who works on materials that don’t have intellectual property rights associated with them. This includes people involved in seed saving and plant breeding!
My intention is to try to support the idea of micro-payments like these, as well as seeing if this is a way my readers would like to make small donations to my efforts.
At the moment not everyone can sign up for Flattr, it’s invitation only. I have exactly one invitation to give away! First priority is someone with another garden or similar blog, next is someone who has left at least one comment here before, otherwise it’s first come first served. If you would like an invitation code, please either leave a comment here with your email address filled in or send me an email.
If you have a Flattr button on your blog, please leave a comment here and let everyone know!
Do you have Tom Wagner in your mind, when deciding where to send your invitation for Flattr?
I don’t know if he would like it, but I guess a number of people (me included) would welcome this way to support his work.
Hi Søren,
I did indeed have Tom (and Tim, Rebsie and others) in mind when deciding to try this out on my blog.
It would be, for example, possible to approach seed companies who sell Tom’s seeds and ask them to put a flattr button on their website and encourage people to give Tom some money this way, as a sort of royality. As bloggers, we could put Tom’s button on our own blogs, and encourage our readers to support him or support him ourselves.
This isn’t for the one invitation I have now, because it’s too early. Flattr is still in beta, and no one knows yet if people really want to make donations over the Internet this way. Right now it’s just for experimenting.
In a few weeks and months a lot more invitations will become available. It will be possible to sign up Tom then if he’s interested.
I used to work on Internet micro-payment systems, and they are very tricky. It’s really too early to tell if this will work.
I might add to what I just said, if anyone is interested in putting one of my Flattr buttons on their website and trying to solicit donations for me, this is no problem! Just let me know and I’ll give you the code to include in your website.
If you’re a little interested in how Flattr works, but don’t want to sign up or don’t have an invitation, this might be a good way to try it. When you want to sign up for real, you can replace my button with your own.
I won’t give you any of the money I collect, but I will keep you up to date on how many clicks you get and how much money is generated.
As of writing this comment, not a single person has clicked on my flattr button for purposes of making a donation. When someone actually does, it’s reasonable to assume it will only be worth a few cents. So far it’s not looking like much of a cash cow.
I also still have the invitation to give away, so speak up if you’re interested!
Hello ! Nice to read about Flattr. I also like it very much and I hope it will be popular.
Regards, Urban
Hi! Fun to stumble across this, via a fresh RSS feed about Flattr.
Even if it’s one year ago! 🙂
Hope you’re still enjoying your stay 😉
Hi Marie: It’s nice to hear from you again!