The $7 Micropayment Shopping Spree

from the why-bother? dept

I'm still skeptical of almost all micropayment plans, as they seem to add a lot more friction to transactions, and they tend to be for items that shouldn't be priced on a per item basis. The Boston Globe went out to test out a few different micropayment systems by spending a grand total of $7 on a variety of items, and the results do little to change my mind. Most of what they bought could probably already be found for free online - or, if not, didn't sound like it was worth the few pennies they paid for it. In most cases, it was content from people who were not well known. As such, they're probably better off giving away their content to try to attract a larger audience. If they have a big enough audience, then they can turn that fact into some sort of paying deal. Otherwise, they're limiting themselves against plenty of competition that has no problem promoting themselves online for free.

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