live.tips blog Notes on getting tipped: QR codes on stage, card payments without a middleman, and what we learn building live.tips in the open. https://live.tips/blog/ 2026-07-15T00:00:00Z live.tips Tips are not donations — and Stripe treats them as two different businesses https://live.tips/blog/tips-are-not-donations/ 2026-07-11T00:00:00Z 2026-07-11T00:00:00Z 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. How buskers take card payments now that nobody carries cash https://live.tips/blog/how-buskers-take-card-payments/ 2026-07-11T00:00:00Z 2026-07-13T00:00:00Z 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. Contactless tipping for street performers, honestly https://live.tips/blog/contactless-tipping-for-street-performers/ 2026-07-11T00:00:00Z 2026-07-11T00:00:00Z 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. Build a tip jar on your own Stripe account https://live.tips/blog/build-a-tip-jar-on-your-own-stripe/ 2026-07-11T00:00:00Z 2026-07-11T00:00:00Z 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. Online tip jars for buskers: Ko-fi, Buy Me a Coffee and TipTopJar compared https://live.tips/blog/tip-jars-compared-for-live-performers/ 2026-07-10T00:00:00Z 2026-07-13T00:00:00Z 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. One QR code, every payment method https://live.tips/blog/one-qr-code-every-payment-method/ 2026-07-09T00:00:00Z 2026-07-09T00:00:00Z 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. How live.tips handles money (it doesn't) https://live.tips/blog/how-live-tips-handles-money/ 2026-07-02T00:00:00Z 2026-07-15T00:00:00Z 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.