Micropayments Revisited Again For The Last Time (12 comments)

Micropayments Revisited Again For The Last Time

Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - 01:09 PM

This is going to be the last time I post on the subject of Micropayments, because I think all rational parties are pretty much agreed on the subject by this point. There has been no demonstration of a webcomics creator making any significant amount of money in this fashion. Maybe someone will discover a magical way to make it work in the future, but frankly I have better things to do.

As Comixpedia mentions in their Year-end News Roundup, "many" people had issues with our experiment that we performed last June. While I acknowledged in our writeup that this was not a proper scientific experiment, I felt that the downward trend in sales of our micropayment offerings was evidence enough that it would not be making us a whole lot of money in the future.

The most common complaint was that our experiment only lasted a week, and was not enough time to make a proper analysis. So, we quietly kept the micropayment offerings available on our minicomics page, offering the electronic versions side-by-side with the pricier paper versions.

Tomorrow will mark six months since the official end of the experiment. In that time, we have sold 43 $0.25 electronic copies of our minicomics, for a total of $10.75 (before BitPass deducts its fees).

If six months is not enough time for you naysayers, let us know. Or find some other thing to nitpick about our experiment. Go buck wild. All I know is that we've literally sold hundreds of dollars worth of merchandise in the last hour or so, and eleven dollars worth of electronic minis in the last six months. If that doesn't convince you of the power of the combination of merchandising and free content, I don't know what will.

So feel free to keep discussing this if you'd like. Me? I have some comics to draw.

gormster
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Re: Micropayments Revisited Again For The Last Tim (Score: 1, Normal)
posted Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - 03:18 PM (#30881)
It would be 44 if goddam BitPass would accept an eCheque.
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daubergoat
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Re: Micropayments Revisited Again For The Last Tim (Score: 3, Funny)
posted Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - 05:53 PM (#30882)
In Response to gormster (#30881):

See, Jon? There it is: the distant-future means of making micropayments work - eCheques! You could have made an extra quarter in the last six months if BitPass were a bit more adaptable. I bet you're really kicking yourself now, what with your micropayment naysaying. Goddam, how foolish we all look.
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Llamarama
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Re: Micropayments Revisited Again For The Last Tim (Score: 2, Intriguing)
posted Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - 07:39 PM (#30883)
But what did Comixpedia have to say about the far more pressing issue of micropimentos [goats.com]?
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Lonely Goatherd
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Re: Micropayments Revisited Again For The Last Tim (Score: 0)
posted Wednesday, December 14, 2005 - 12:04 PM (#30890)
i bought one...at least it was funny. i'd recommend picking the comics up in some form.
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mkinyon
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Re: Micropayments Revisited Again For The Last Tim (Score: 2)
posted Wednesday, December 14, 2005 - 12:23 PM (#30891)
I'm wondering who this "Last Tim" is that's showing up in the discussion titles. Tim the Enchanter?

Or could it be a place: the Last Tim Horton's to accept micropayments? Maybe all other Tim Horton's offer a combination of merchandising and free donuts.
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Llamarama
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Re: Micropayments Revisited Again For The Last Tim (Score: 1)
posted Wednesday, December 14, 2005 - 02:09 PM (#30892)
In Response to mkinyon (#30891):

Fair liege, know you not the legend of the Last Tim? The good lad was the 17th in a line of Tim's stretching back to the days of Rollo the Good and Albert the Generally-Above-Average. The fourth in his line (if you don't count the bastards, of course), was indeed Tim the Enchanter, who could summon up fire without flint or tinder and who told the noble King Arthur of the cave of Caerbannog [mwscomp.com].

But as the years passed and the generations continued on, The lost of the Liune of Tim grew less glorious. Tim the 12th was known to howl at the full moon while wearing a penguin suit, long before exploration of the Anatarctic had revealed the existence of penguins to the simple townsfolk. Tim the 14th spent several years seeking to convince people that he was a cucumber, urging others to use him in a salad.

When Tim the 16th, a local merchant, had a son, he knew that it was time to bring an end to the shameful line. And so he brought the child out under the first full moon, and he declared, "This babe I hold in my arms shall be the last Tim! He shall carry on after me as a merchant, but he shall make so little money that he will not continue the family line himself. Remember the Tims, and pay homage to the Last Tim!"

And the people of the town followed these insturctions. The poor people of the town patronized Tim's business as best they could. Because they were poor, they paid in small amounts, whenever they could.

It it was thus that micropayments were born. And the Last Tim, recipeint of these micropayments, was still broke.
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daubergoat
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Re: Micropayments Revisited Again For The Lost Tim (Score: 2)
posted Wednesday, December 14, 2005 - 06:40 PM (#30898)
In Response to Llamarama (#30892):

Well, I found it amusing...slightly. But I also think you've gone right 'round the bend, Probably somewhere in the vacinity of The lost of the Liune of Tim.
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Llamarama
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Re: Micropayments Revisited Again For The Lost Tim (Score: 1)
posted Wednesday, December 14, 2005 - 07:06 PM (#30901)
In Response to daubergoat (#30898):

Yeah, that should have been "the lot of the line of Tim." I found several of the other typos before I posted it.

And working on grad school applications, as I'm doing today, can certainly drive one around the bend and back again. Though many of my friends would say I went around it long ago.
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zamphir
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Re: Micropayments Revisited Again For The Lost Tim (Score: 2)
posted Wednesday, December 14, 2005 - 09:55 PM (#30905)
In Response to daubergoat (#30898):

But I also think you've gone right 'round the bend
Like a record player, right round [goats.com], baby right round?

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sarac
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Re: Micropayments Revisited Again For The Last Tim (Score: 1)
posted Thursday, December 15, 2005 - 07:11 PM (#30924)
So, I wandered by the web site a week or so ago and bought some t-shirts, looked to see if there was a new book out, etc, which is what I usually do when I come back to a web comic I like after a long time away. And I went to the minicomics page and bought a paper copy of each. But not an electronic copy. Why? The page says:

"Purchase this electronically via BitPass and save $1 on the paper version"

and below that paper copies are listed as $4 each. I read that sentence as meaning I'd save $1 *versus* the paper copy. Meaning that for $3 I could have an electronic copy, or for $4 I could have a paper copy. I paid the extra $1 because I like paper copies. It didn't occur to me that for $3.25 (plus extra registration fuss) I could have *both*.

Anyway, micropayments may be doomed anyway, but different wording would have helped you sell another few copies in my case.
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porcupine8
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Re: Micropayments Revisited Again For The Last Tim (Score: 2)
posted Sunday, December 18, 2005 - 11:05 PM (#30945)
Out of curiosity, how many copies of the paper version did you sell?
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shovel_mage
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Re: Micropayments Revisited Again For The Last Tim (Score: 1)
posted Monday, December 19, 2005 - 05:03 AM (#30946)
In Response to porcupine8 (#30945):

Ahoy! Therein lies the question.
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