Can I get a quick overview of how it works?
- The whys
- Why is Tipjoy better than the other methods earning money online?
- Why would I want to leave someone a tip or give them money?
- Getting started
- How much does clicking the Tipjoy button cost me?
- How do I add the Tipjoy button to my site?
- How can I check to see if someone's left me money?
- What sorts of emails will Tipjoy send me?
- The way things work
- How does the person I left money for get what I left them?
- What happens to unclaimed funds?
- Can I cancel money once I've given it?
- Money, money, money
- How do I pay for things I give money to with Tipjoy?
- How does the money move?
- Why would I want to put extra money into my account?
- How does Tipjoy make money?
- How is my total available amount for donation/gift cards calculated?
- How is my balance calculated?
- Why can't I withdraw cash from my Tipjoy account?
- Why is Tipjoy better than the other methods earning money online?
- Because Tipjoy makes it easy for people to leave you money. Here's how:
- Each click of the 'tip this' button is a fixed price, so your fans don't have to think about how much they want to give - they just get used to giving wherever they see the button, without thinking twice.
- There's no checkout process, so the users aren't taken away from your site to complete the transaction, and they don't have to go through multiple steps to actually pay you. All those steps and new pages that many other donation sites have scare off many fans who would like to give you something as a sign of their appreciation, but don't want to bother with a complicated and annoying checkout.
- Your readers are more likely to thank you by giving you money directly than they are to click on an advertisement. Having Tipjoy on your site will be yet another way for you to earn money - it will make it easy for your fans to connect with you and thank you.
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- Why would I want to leave someone a tip or give them money?
- Because Tipjoy makes it easy and fun for you to support the stuff you love online. Here's how:
- There's no checkout process. Just click the tip button and that's it - you're done!
- Each click of the Tipjoy button is a small fixed price (10 cents is the default), so you don't have to think too much about whether or not to give money.
- Think about it - you're probably a big fan of one or two sites out there who really have made your life better, more fun, or taught you something. Now think about the guy on the other end, toiling away to make the stuff you love. Why not thank him by giving him some money - let them know you care!
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- How much does clicking the Tipjoy button cost me?
- The default value is 10 cents. You can change it to be 5 cents, 25 cents or 50 cents by going to your settings page.
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- How do I add the Tipjoy button to my site?
- The instructions are in our tutorial.
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- How can I check to see if someone's left me money?
- Go to our site search page and enter your website's URL or your email address. If anyone's left you money, follow the instructions to claim it.
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- What sorts of emails will Tipjoy send me?
When deciding whether to email you or not, we are going to err on the side of contacting you less often, rather than more.
Currently, emails are sent if:
- you create an account and need to activate it or confirm your email address
- you modify your email address, we'll send you an email asking you to confirm the new address
- you request us to email you a reset password link
- someone has left money for you at your email address
- someone wants to share some content on Tipjoy with you
- have racked up a tip bill of $5.00 or more. This email will be sent once a month until the bill is paid or the account is closed.
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- How does the person I left money for get what I left them?
- If they are a Tipjoy user, the money is automatically transferred into their account as soon as you pay your bill. If they are not a Tipjoy user, we keep track of all the money they've earned (by associating it with the URL/email address submitted), and once it reaches a certain amount, we will contact them and help them get signed up with Tipjoy so that they can claim their earnings.
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- What happens to unclaimed funds?
- We will contact the earners on a periodic basis (not so often as to become annoying, but every so often as a reminder) to let them know there's money waiting for them, and help them get signed up with Tipjoy. However, we cannot guarantee that a person you give money to will sign up for Tipjoy and claim the money that's been left to them. Since money given is not refundable, as long as the money remains 'unclaimed' it will remain with us indefinitely. We encourage you to try and convince the people you've tipped to sign up with Tipjoy to claim their money.
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- Can I cancel money once I've given it?
If you have not yet paid your bill, you can change your mind about stuff you've given to. Go to your transaction history and then click the 'cancel unpaid items' link. Once you've paid, the money is non-refundable.
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- How do I pay for things I give money to with Tipjoy?
- We currently accept PayPal. We designed Tipjoy so that it could be payment processor agnostic, and in the future we will accept other forms of payment.
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- How does the money move?
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- Why would I want to put extra money into my account?
- There are a few benefits to having extra money in your Tipjoy account:
- No email reminders to pay your bill.
- Money you've given will automatically count towards the content's rank on our 'popular' page.
- The more you put in, the smaller the overhead you're passing along to the people your're giving money to. For more info on how the money moves, see the diagram above.
- The people you leave money for will love you.
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- How does Tipjoy make money?
- Tipjoy charges a 3% transaction fee when users spend their earnings.
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- How is my total available amount for donation/gift cards calculated?
- We want it to be simple to pay, earn and give money. Therefore no matter how much you buy, your account will reflect that full amount. And when you earn money, we'll show you the total amount you've earned. However, there is overhead to putting money into a Tipjoy account - credit card processing fees, mailing fees, 3rd party payment processing fees, etc. So, although you see the full amount in your account, each transaction is actually worth a very slight bit less. When you go to spend your earnings, the amount available to use reflects these overhead fees, plus the 3% Tipjoy transaction fee. All in all, you'll be able to actually use about 94% of the total amount you see in your balance.
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- How is my balance calculated?
Your balance is how much money is in your Tipjoy account. Whenever someone pays the money they've left you, this money is added into your Tipjoy account. Each time you give money, your default amount (which can be changed in settings) is withdrawn from your Tipjoy account. Anyone can go into the negative -- users are allowed to pledge to give first and pay later. If someone with a negative balance leaves you money, we'll still track that that earning in the 'You're earning money' sections of the site - however, that money will not appear in your Tipjoy account until the giver puts cash into their Tipjoy account.
So, it is possible that although you are seeing money come into your account, you still may have a negative balance. There are two possible explanations for this: either people who have left you money you have not paid yet, or you've given more money than you've earned.
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- Why can't I withdraw cash from my Tipjoy account?
There are legal implications to allowing this transaction which we are currently working through. We expect that you will be able to withdraw cash very soon.
In the meantime, if you have a minimum of $5 in your account after removal of applicable fees, then you can do the following with your earnings:
- Donate to any official charity you'd like
- Purchase an Amazon gift card
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As we expand functionality, it may be appropriate for us to send you additional emails. We will only send you emails if we believe you will really want them.