Blog
Notes on getting tipped: QR codes on stage, card payments without a middleman, and what we learn building live.tips in the open.
Tips are not donations — and Stripe treats them as two different businesses
A busker asking for a "donation button" is describing a business that Stripe prohibits in most of Europe. A tip pays for a service you already performed; a donation is charitable fundraising. The difference decides which category your account lands in — and one API parameter can pick the wrong one for you.
Read moreHow buskers take card payments now that nobody carries cash
Card readers, phone tap-to-pay, payment-app QR codes, tip-jar platforms. What each one really costs, what it does to a €2 tip, and how to pick — from people who build one of them and will still tell you to buy a SumUp if that is your answer.
Read moreContactless tipping for street performers, honestly
Tap-to-pay on a phone, a card reader, an NFC sticker, a QR code — four different things that get called "contactless". What each one actually costs in 2026, what an NFC tag really does (it is not what you think), and when a tap beats a scan.
Read moreBuild a tip jar on your own Stripe account
Three API calls give you a hosted, pay-what-you-want tip page with Apple Pay and Google Pay, and no server anywhere. Here is the whole build — the restricted key, the scopes, reading tips back without a webhook, and the fee maths nobody prints.
Read moreOnline tip jars for buskers: Ko-fi, Buy Me a Coffee and TipTopJar compared
Three decent products for creators on the internet. A busker is not a creator on the internet. Your audience is standing in front of you and you have eight seconds — why 0% is not the same as nothing, and why a €5 tip should arrive as €5.
Read moreOne QR code, every payment method
Most tip tools give you one code per payment provider. Tape three to a mic stand and watch people give up. Here is why live.tips keeps it to one.
Read moreHow live.tips handles money (it doesn't)
There is no live.tips balance, no payout schedule, and no cut. Here is the architecture that makes those three claims boring instead of brave.
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