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Popular video-sharing site Vimeo has added a tip jar, which allows Vimeo users to accept payments from anyone who enjoys their movies.
To use the new Tip Jar you'll need to be a Vimeo Plus or Vimeo Pro member, but provided you're already set up with a paid account, enabling it is as simple as adding a PayPal account and checking a box on the video's advanced settings page. Once that's done a "Tip This Video" button will appear underneath the video player on Vimeo.com, allowing viewers to leave tips in appreciation for your cinéma vérité efforts.
The fine print taketh away a 15 percent service fee and you'll need to have a verified PayPal account in order to claim your money. Also note that you cannot accept tips on commercial or political videos, nor can you use Tip Jar as a way to raise money for a political cause.
Obviously Tip Jar probably isn't going to make you a millionaire in most cases, but if your video goes viral to a particularly generous audience – who knows?
For a more reliable way of making money on Vimeo, the company also plans to roll out a pay-per-view service later this year. The pay-per-view offering appears to be limited to Vimeo Pro members. The Vimeo blog offers little in the way of details, saying only that pay-per-view will add "tools to charge for access to your videos, with no coding required."
