A guy I know has started a new micropayments web site called “Kachingle”. It’s a pretty cool idea – you sign up and install a browser plug-in, and they use that plug-in to allow you to say you want to “kachingle” web sites that you think need some money, and once you’ve signed up to kachingle a site, they track how often you visit that site. At the end of the month, they take $5 out of your paypal account, and distribute it to the owners of the sites you’re kachingling, divided proportionally to the number of times you visit them. I have firmly believed for some time now that the web needs a micropayment scheme that works, and if this hits critical mass it would be an awesome way to do it.
However, right now it’s in the growing stages, and there aren’t very many people using it. Which means that sites like this blog don’t exactly make enough money to retire on it. Here’s my latest statement.
I have to love the juxtaposition of the amount ($0.08) and Paypal’s glowing description of what I can do with that 8 cents. “Spend the money online at thousands of stores that accept PayPal”? I bet not many of them sell things that are 8 cents including shipping and handling.