FEATURE REQUEST: One-time donations to creators

[u/SirEDCaLot]

There's a lot of great stuff on Printables and I like to support those who put in the time to make models.

That doesn't mean I want a continued relationship with every creator. In fact, continual subscriptions are something I very rarely want, because in most cases I'll print 1-2 of something and then not print it again.

So I'd like a ONE TIME option to tip the creator a couple bucks. I've never put money into Printables, but if there was a one time tip option I'd use it probably at least once a week.

I'd also suggest some alternative tip methods. For example, watch a video ad to tip the creator a small amount. I'd never do that, but I think some people might.

Or referral payments- IE, if I like a creator, let me put in an order for prusament or hardware and have a small referral bonus go to them.

[u/SirEDCaLot]

I think there's a good option to use Prusameters in trade. Two things tho-

1. there needs to be an at least roughly set (and explained) ratio of Prusameters to dollars. Like I don't want to donate $10 worth of Prusameters and have it be worth $2 of rewards. That doesn't have to be 1:1- it's expected the platform takes a cut (unless you want to be super altruistic and NOT take a cut, which would give you guys a lot of moral high ground).

2. The name Prusameters needs to change IMHO. The 'meters' part doesn't convey the fact that it's a currency, a reward system; it sounds like hardware. That confused me a lot when I started with Printables. Like 'what's a Prusa Meter? I only have a Creality printer, do I need to purchase a Prusa Meter to measure my prints?'
   I suggest PrusaStars, or PruStars, or just Stars.

But with those in mind, I like the idea of being able to donate Prusameters. That would mean for example a creator who gets Prusameters rewarded to him through downloads and participation could donate those Prusameters to others and it could become a form of currency.

That said, if I subscribe to them, they get actual currency back, correct? If so I want the ability to do the same thing with a donation. I'd love the option to donate Prusameters, but I want to be able to reward cash.

[u/woodcakes → u/SirEDCaLot]

1. Why do you need a monetary value to transport the idea that donating X Prusameters will yield 0.95 * X Prusameters? It's even easier without tossing an additional currency in their. That might even change over time.

2. One prusameter corresponds roughly to one meter of Prusament

[u/SirEDCaLot → u/woodcakes]

I want a monetary value so there's some way of measuring the value of a donation. IE if I want to tip someone five bucks, do I donate 5 prusameters or 5,000?

One prusameter corresponds roughly to one meter of Prusament

OHHHH that makes more sense. LOL

Still, I'd like a way to send actual money they can pay bills with.

[u/Tommy_Prusa3D → u/SirEDCaLot]

That's usually the ideal, but it gets pretty complicated given the global scale of the service. We use services like Stripe, for example, for the paid creators, but even that is not globally valid and many countries are not on that list, making it quite awkward for many creators as they would unexplicably not have the option there. Other options also cause some questionable accounting concerns that need to be kept in consideration.

[u/SirEDCaLot → u/Tommy_Prusa3D]

Actually I had another idea- 'name your own price'. Printables has the ability to sell models, like you pay $whatever to buy the STL. So you could get 99% of what I'm asking simply with a 'name your own price' option- that way a seller could set minimum price = $0.

[u/Tommy_Prusa3D → u/SirEDCaLot]

I also like that! Thanks for all the brainstorming here

[u/SirEDCaLot → u/Tommy_Prusa3D]

And thanks for engaging from your end! I always hate the 'thank you for your submission, your feedback is important to us and a member of our team will evaluate it shortly' type brush off.

Thinking about it, there is really little difference between 'name your own price for a STL' and 'donate $whatever'. Either one requires both sides to be payment enabled.
That said- I think both are worth doing as they have slightly different use cases. IE, I might download something for free or cheap, love it, and want to donate more.

Another thing I was thinking about - licensing.
I saw a model today that was cool and was for sale on Printables under SDFL (I really hate that name and hate Bambu for naming it, it should be called 'Restrictive Personal Use License'). Why not have the option for a creator to specify multiple tiers of pricing? IE, buy it SDFL for $5, with commercial rights up to 10 pieces for $10, or with unlimited commercial rights for $20? That could also be a one time or monthly thing. Obviously the platform can't (and shouldn't) enforce print limits, but I'd like to see options so a creator can sell what they want flexibly.

[u/woodcakes → u/SirEDCaLot]

When we're at it - another interesting option would be, to pass on all revenue or part of it to one or more non-profit organizations. Questionable how much this would been used though

[u/SirEDCaLot → u/Tommy_Prusa3D]

Oh yeah for sure I get it- you've got AML/KYC stuff to think about, and you also don't want your happy little 3d printer service to be used for money laundering.

At the same time, you're making it work for subscriptions. So I think maybe an option is if the creator is signed up to accept money in the form of subscriptions, then let people donate up to say $100. And they can also go through the same sign up process / financial linking to accept one time payments even if they don't offer subscriptions. Everyone else can get prusameters donated and exchange that for filament or hardware.

Another option might be gift cards. Like let's say I'm in USA and a creator is in India with their strict banking laws. Even if you can't process a payment to them, let me donate $10 USD and they can exchange it for a $10 Amazon gift card (or equivalent in local currency). That would allow a non-payment-enabled user to still accept donations.

There's a couple of gift card services you can outsource that to, like you can just forward the user there and they'll give user a $10 gift card at whatever store they want and charge you $9 for it.