In response to: >>> "And for some reason this use of the word "technology" to refer to an >>> online payment system strikes me as absurd. The "technology" I'm using >>> to bring you this email is called Neurodigital Activation. That will be >>> three shillings, please." Chris <nimbo@ukonline.co.uk> writes: > Well I don't understand the on-line payment system. It's a standard credit card charging system. It collects the customer's credit card details, then unless things have changed from how Philip Greenspun describes in his wonderful book, which you should buy for the *photographs* (you can read the text online!), somehow this is all interfaced to a dedicated modem connection, cause the credit card companies are still in the 1970s; and when it's taken your money, it sends some authorization code to your web site. I suppose?? You don't make it very clear what the customer is getting - instant ability to click on the link? Anyway, frankly I think you would get much more by having a PayPal or Amazon 'Donate' button. The overheads are _much_ lower. (PayPal costs about (US$0.30 + 3%), so even $0.50 is plausible. But how much is "a look" at an image "worth"? How much does a quality photography magazine cost? How many pictures in it? How many people typically read a copy? Only guessing, so I'll use the American pound sign for a fictional currency: #5 * 40 pictures * 2 readers = 500/80 centiunits per eyeball = perhaps 0.05? So your $3 looks like at least 50 times too much, even if the quality is the same - which we don't know. Greenspun's book is very good: see http://imaginatorium.org/stuff/pagwp.htm (pagwp = Philip & Alex[his dog]'s Guide to Web Publishing) Brian Chandler ---------------- geo://Sano.Japan.Planet_3 Jigsaw puzzles from Japan at:
