Do name-your-price models yield revenue?

I would argue a large part of the problem with essentially a "donate" button is that the flow is all wrong for a service provider, especially one that basically only has a one-time-setup cost for implementation. Consider a likely sequence for someone who goes through the whole process:<p><pre><code> * X visits your site, is mildly intrigued. * X notices the donate button, passes it up because you have provided no real motivation for them to do so * X gets an API key and pokes at it lightly * X integrates * ... time passes ... * X is appreciative of the time saved, and might give you money... IF they saw the button right then. ELSE more time passes without paying. </code></pre> I haven't seen filepicker.io's implementation (which has since been taken down, apparently), but did they include a 'donate' button in the API documentation? Did they email people after X time had passed, or Y API calls? The vast majority I've seen never take these steps, they just slap a 'donate' button on the site and wonder why it doesn't make them rich.<p>If they didn't repeatedly try to poke people, it's out of sight and out of mind. The hallmark of any good service, really. It's unfortunate, but not surprising, and I wish I knew a more reliable way to get money out of people who are appreciative.

<p><pre><code> "By the way, there are two exceptions to the name-your-price models that seem to be working in the marketplace currently; Kickstarter and auctions. I suspect that social proof that there are others backing a project motivates Kickstarter users to name a price (starting at $1 minimum bid)." </code></pre> Kickstarter is name-your-price in the same way that McDonald's is: small fries costs $X, medium fries $Y, and large fries $Z. Choose X, Y, or Z, and get the corresponding sized item. On Kickstarter, you can't choose to contribute $1 yet still receive the same item as the person who contributes $100.

There is a large difference between asking someone to name a price and asking someone to donate. In the first case you are forcing them to pay for a product (even if they pay $0). In the second case you are hoping they feel charitable.<p>The Humble Indie bundles come to mind as a nice way for people to name a price, given their popularity I'd guess they are doing something right.

I'd be curious to see if "name your price as long as it's not $0" options are any more successful—maybe entering payment details is too annoying for users, so given the $0 option, they'll take the least time consuming path.

Did they consider changing the wording to say "support our product, donate $10"? In other words set the anchoring point to something other than $0. It'd be interesting to see if that helps.

Yes, go look at the Humble bundels.