Stop Tipping! Your Money May be Getting Wasted!

joannekwan 2018-10-23 19:50:07 UTC #2

Shouldn't tipping be encouraged more then to get creators past that $25 minimum?

And the $25 minimum's been around since ad revenue was introduced years ago. It's nothing new.

EDIT: Also tipping has the bonus that readers can earn coins for free, so they can still support creators even in the case where they don't have 'real' money to spend.

ReroOnyx 2018-10-23 20:03:20 UTC #3

What should be done should be easy. Just take off the 15% whenever someone goes about to collecting their money. If someone has $10, that's $1.50 going to you, o r in this case, Tapas. A certain limit of say a dollar might be necessary but it should not be $25.

But let's say it is, let's say this number is necessary. That in that case, why not just establish a system in which while you can build up coins, you can't send them unless it hits that quota. Or perhaps a window that pops up whenever you do send coins, giving an indication of where the creator is.

Example. I want to send 5,000 coins to someone I support. A window pops up, saying that said creator needs at least 25,000 coins before they can take out. At this point I could decide, sure I'm willing to tip them, believing it'l be easy for them to get the money later on. Maybe I'm expecting to tip them more later down the road. Or maybe I think, I don't think this will ever get to 25,000 coins (or whatever $25 worth of coins is) and hold back, deciding there's too much risk of sending in money that might not be used.

Menbung 2018-10-23 20:07:54 UTC #4

Pardon my ignorance, but what is this $25 limit?.

Is it that one person can tip a creator up to $25, then if they keep tipping over that limit that extra money won't go to the creator?.

Is it that on tips one can only make $25?

Is it that you need to make $25 in order to withdraw your money (which I think, by what I read, this is the case)?

Or all the above is wrong xD

joannekwan 2018-10-23 20:09:03 UTC #5

Creators need to have accumulated at least $25 through ads and tipping before they can transfer that balance to their own paypal account.

ReroOnyx 2018-10-23 20:14:34 UTC #6

Much like the "Ad Revenue" a creator can't take out their tips unless those tips have hit a limit of $25. Something really easy to miss because it's not like this is directly stated on the coins or anything. You got to stop around some part of the site, flip through some topic until you see it. I myself did not realize this and would not have realized this had I not just happen to check out one of the creator's posts that I support.

And to me, it's a dirty, underhanded thing to do. This is like if Patreon said, sure you can send as much money as you want but if doesn't hit a quota, we'll keep the money and the creator won't get it. And it was never told to you directly, it was hidden away in some other part of the site easy to miss.

I'm sorry but I couldn't stand this. I thought, are you saying I could spend $20 worth of coins, expecting those coins to be used to support the creators I enjoy and then find out said creators might never be able to use the money I send them? That's a complete joke.

thekinginthesun 2018-10-23 20:15:36 UTC #7

I don't know if I understood you, but the point is

reader #1 gives 50 coins
reader #2 gives 300 coins
reader #3 gives 100 coins

And so on. It builds up actually pretty easily.

joannekwan 2018-10-23 20:16:52 UTC #8

See that would be the problem with the pop up window you suggested. If potential tippers think that the goal for the creator cannot be met and withhold their tips, then the creator will not reach that goal.

turtleme 2018-10-23 20:18:19 UTC #9

The $25 threshold was established because there are transaction fees every time creators decide to "withdraw" the money that they accumulated from Tapas.

This is comparable to some family restaurants requiring a "minimum charge of $10 to use a credit card" because every time a customer pays with a card, a part of the money they pay for the food goes to Visa, Mastercard, etc...

While I understand where you're coming from with this, the fact of the matter is that you'll hardly (I mean like less than 1%) see readers tipping coins in the thousands at once. For them, coins aren't just for tipping but for unlocking premium novels/comics that they either bought with their money or spent time earning through watching ads. I feel it'd be a bit selfish as a creator to have my readers be shown a pop up saying that "your contribution is appreciated but I need this much more for me to actually use it"

I much more agree with joannekwan's idea of encouraging more tipping. Some creators have done this by creating incentives (tip "x" amount in order to get a shoutout or be featured in my comic, etc). Those that really put in the effort to monetize through tipping have easily reached the $25 threshold.

thekinginthesun 2018-10-23 20:20:19 UTC #10

I think hardly anyone buys coins nowadays. I mean, you can get those for free with a little bit of patience. People are more inclined towards patreon and ko-fi when they wanna give you their real money.

Also, remember it's $25 min for your TOTAL revenue (ad rev. + tips)

Menbung 2018-10-23 20:21:10 UTC #11

Thanks joanne! and op !

I thought that was the case, that's why I was curious.

For everyone, this is a common practice done in many many sites that involves paying people. You can't withdraw/transfer money to your paypal/bank account, etc. unless you make a certain ammount. That ammount usually is over $20.

Freelance sites do this, webcam sites do this...

This is a normal practice, not jut on tapas. This is done if I'm not wrong as a security method and all the transaction fees.

Is not that they won't be able to use it, is just that they need to make a minimum ir order to do so, as I said this is a common practice, nothing shady or to get your money.

thekinginthesun 2018-10-23 20:21:18 UTC #12

Oh it was not supposed to be a direct reply to @joannekwan , sorry! :0

spicy_sweets 2018-10-23 20:21:33 UTC #13

Err, I tip so that they can get closer to the minimum or more. Idc if they don't use the money immediately. It's not like there's a deadline for it to get accepted, like paypal.

thekinginthesun 2018-10-23 20:26:29 UTC #14

I don't actually complain about the $25 min when webtoon's new ad revenue system expects you to accumulate $100 before you can even dream about your money :C

joannekwan 2018-10-23 20:27:24 UTC #15

Haha I was going to mention that $100 minimum on webtoons!
When I first heard about it I was like 'JESUS'

aaladadonis 2018-10-23 20:29:08 UTC #16

Speaking as maybe a younger person here, many young readers don’t have the means to support creators through say Patreon or Kofi, or other such alternatives. Tipping can be done with coins earned from watching ads, for free. The option being there is better than no option.

With how little creators earn from ad rev, tipping is a nice alternative. Instead of telling people to stop tipping, I think it’d probably help the creators more if people start tipping more. Every little bit adds up.

Menbung 2018-10-23 20:32:12 UTC #17

Hahaha, I said JESUS too!.

In all seriousness, this is normal, and as it was mentioned above, in other sites the minimums are much larger.

What I do think is that, this is something that should be in a place where you can read it easily, like in the withdraw page there should be a clear notice of "you can't transfer money unless you have $25 in your balance", for example.

If it's somewhere hidden as the OP hinted, that should be fixed.

joannekwan 2018-10-23 20:34:26 UTC #18

It's not that hidden, not like it's fine print or behind a link

TapasJosh 2018-10-23 20:37:22 UTC #19

Hi ReroOnyx,

Thanks for the topic. Getting money into the hands of creators is obviously something you're passionate about and that's great cuz we are too!

Also, a quick shout out to turtleme for hitting the nail on the head. We don't have that limit just for fun, there are transaction fees every single time we send a payment. Additionally, and this is not really talked about much, but sometimes even when someone cashes out at $25, depending on where they live in the world, it can cost us more than $25 to send the $25 payment!! But of course we do it anyway.

I can tell you first hand we're not trying to do anything shady or keep money from creators. And that even with the $25 threshold we still spend a great deal of time (and money) processing those payouts.

I do think one thing we can all agree on is the more tips the better. And the more we can help everyone reach their threshold, well that's good too. SO! in that spirit I'm going to let something slip I probably shouldn't: everyone should probably start saving any coins they were planning on tipping soon. MAYBE something MIGHT be happening around Thanksgiving-ish time that maybe might help everyone hit that $25 threshold...maybe.

And that's all I can say.

Dobby out!

Jenny-Toons 2018-10-23 21:03:36 UTC #20

It feels like opposite day. Shouldn't it be because there's a limit, you would persuade people to tip more?

What if people can't go on PayPal or other places because they're underage or have circumstances that only allow support via these coins?

Moreover..there are free coins. They may not be worth as much as paid coins, but as a creator, I'm not picky. I'll take what I can get.

Also, not everyone lives in America or in places where they go by the dollar. It depends on where you live. So some people can afford to pay for coins, if they choose to.

Dunno -- I get the concern, but it would've been better to ask for more information before making a bold statement along the lines of shady business.

SleepingPoppy 2018-10-23 21:10:21 UTC #21

The free coins are worth more! If I remember correctly there's a transaction fee tapas has to pay for the bought coins, so the ad coins are a smidgen more valuable. Which is awesome in my opinion. =D

(though take with a grain of salt in case I've remembered incorrectly? XD )