TendOrama: Thank anyone online and in daily life

Questions And Answers

Everyone's input is valuable.
If you like TendOrama and it works for you, use it.
Tell what you would like better and we'll consider making a change.

Quick Facts

What is TendOrama?

TendOrama is a way to reward anyone with money and a message, online or in daily life.
You don't have to know the person you want to Tend.
A Tend has two parts: An amount, and a wish or suggestion. So I might Tend you five dollars (the amount) for a coffee (the suggestion). Of course, you're not forced to buy a coffee. The five dollars is yours to spend on whatever you want.

For example:

  ▪ Someone really helps you at a store or the coffee place or anywhere else tipping is awkward
  ▪ Someone makes a creative comment or post on social media like Reddit or Facebook
  ▪ Someone lets you in in traffic (please get your passenger to send the Tend!)
  ▪ Live theatre: An actor blew you away! (Use 'AtWork' for this)
  ▪ Your child's coach really went above and beyond today
  ▪ A TV News reporter clearly put extra work into a thoughtful story (use 'AtWork' for this)
  ▪ Someone posts a cool pic on Instagram
  ▪ Someone writes a well-reasoned editorial in your local news site

Live Examples!

Usually you don't have to look for your Tendee inside TendOrama. An exception is 'At Work.' In any event, a couple of clicks starting from "Send a Tend" is all you need to do.

You are as anonymous as you want to be. TendOrama doesn't show your name if you don't want us to.

How do I know if someone I want to Tend is on TendOrama?

Just assume they are. If they aren't on TendOrama yet, we send them a notification if it's possible to do so. So Tendees on platforms like Email and Text will receive a message letting them know they have a Tend waiting. On many platforms like Reddit or Facebook, TendOrama can reach Tendees and let them know they have a Tend waiting. For other platforms where TendOrama cannot reliably reach the Tendee (License Plate, for example), if your Tendee doesn't pick up the Tend you sent them quickly enough for you, you can cancel that Tend.

If I know the person's email or text, can't I just use Venmo?

You absolutely can if you have it set up. Or Interac, in Canada. There are times Venmo can be a little awkward, though, and of course you need to know the other person's Venmo.

How do I know the person collected my Tend?

When your Tendee picks up your Tend, you receive an email. Plus, all your Received Tends and Sent Tends (collected and not collected) are in your "Earlier Tends and Messages."

What if there was a Tend for me long before I signed up?

It'll wait for you. The only time it won't wait is if the sender cancels it. Tends can be cancelled by the sender any time up until they are collected.

What if there was a Tend for me long before I added a particular platform to my PiggyBank?

It'll wait for you. The only time it won't wait is if the sender cancels it. Tends can be cancelled by the sender any time up until they are collected. Maybe just add all the platforms through which someone might possibly Tend you now, while you're thinking of it.

The process for Adding a Place sometimes seems to take more steps than I expect, like Twitter and Reddit for example. How come?

It would be a slightly smoother experience if TendOrama connected directly to those sites/apps through their APIs. As background, an API (Application Programming Interface) is a gateway that sites and apps can make available to other apps/sites to get access to their database. APIs are handy but have risks.
One concern is that relying on other sites'/apps' APIs puts a lot of power in the hands of those other sites/apps.
If they see TendOrama as a threat to their revenue, they could block TendOrama anytime and then you would have a very crummy experience.

While we're friendly and not very profit-driven, and we want to make sure everyone including other sites and apps benefits from TendOrama, we don't love the idea of being at other people's mercy. Maybe everyone isn't as friendly as us... who knows?
Anyway we don't want to risk having TendOrama's functions blocked if we can help it.
So some of the processes are a bit herky-jerky for now.
As site/app owners reach out to us, processes get smoothed out.

Can I suggest a new platform to send and receive Tends through?

Definitely. The more people who ask for a particular platform, the higher up on our priority list that platform rises. You can use the TendOrama Facebook page to make suggestions.

Taxes?

Short answer: Sales taxes, GST/HST, and other value-added taxes are included.

Longer answer: Sales taxes and other value-added taxes (like the GST/HST in Canada) are not applied to your Tend itself. Your Tend is a gift for your Tendee and TendOrama receives none of it as revenue. Therefore, there is nothing to tax from your Tend itself. If you do voluntarily add an amount for TendOrama (thanks!), that portion is subject to sales tax or value-added tax because that's a form of payment for the service TendOrama provides.
So if your Tend is $10.00 and you choose to add 10 cents for TendOrama, the 10 cents may be taxable; the $10.00 is not. If you choose to add zero for TendOrama, then there is no tax payable.

TendOrama's head office is in Alberta, Canada, so revenue-generating transactions (the 10 cents in our example) are subject to the Canadian Goods and Services Tax (GST) of 5%. If you, as a Tender, are not in Canada and not using Canadian dollars, then no portion of any amount you choose to add for TendOrama is taxable. So for you there is no tax at all. (The technical reason is exported services provided by Canadian companies for which payment is received in a non-Canadian currency, like USD, are "zero-rated" and therefore subject to 0% GST.) When TendOrama knows a Tender is in Canada (or outside Canada and using CAD) and adds something for TendOrama, that portion (the 10 cents in our example) does include 5% for GST.

The difference allowed by including taxes in payment amounts instead of adding them after is subtle but important: people outside Canada and not using Canadian dollars don't pay Canadian GST or any other tax, and people using Canadian dollars do. Since there's no need to bother and confuse people with this, we don't.

A side benefit: As shoppers ourselves we like it better when taxes are included in a price because when walking around a store we don't have to do mental arithmetic all the time. So why wouldn't we do that with our own business?

More info:
  ▪ Alberta has no provincial (state) sales tax.
  ▪ In Canada, GST must be displayed for each item or it must be made clear that GST is included, as TendOrama does.
  ▪ In general, Canadian corporations can recover the portion of GST they pay as input costs to their business (that's why GST Numbers are printed on Canadian receipts, or posted as TendOrama does). The same principle is followed in many places around the world, including many American states.
  ▪ Finally, if a Tender both 1) is a Canadian corporation and 2) added a voluntary payment for TendOrama's service in addition to their Tend, they save and process the receipt emailed to them. TendOrama's GST Number is 719994691 RT0001. The GST Number appears in the footer of many TendOrama.com screens/pages.

Which credit card processor does TendOrama use?

Stripe and PayPal.
You know about PayPal but maybe not Stripe.
Stripe handles billions of dollars of transactions in more than 25 countries. They are well-respected and reliable. We especially like them because they make it easy and safe to handle multiple currencies.
Here is Stripe

On the down-side, both PayPal and Stripe charge about the same as all payment processors: about 3% of every transaction.
Yes, TendOrama has to make up 3% of every one of your deposits.
To be clear: When you deposit, say, $10.00, the entire $10.00 gets credited to your PiggyBank. TendOrama pays Stripe or PayPal their 3% fee. You don't :-)

One more thing, to be complete:
Both Stripe and PayPal also charge $0.30 for each transaction, in addition to the 3%. So if someone deposits $1.00, TendOrama has to pay $0.33 of that to the credit card processor.
That's silly of course. Once or twice is fine. Thousands of times from thousands of people? Nope, not sustainable. TendOrama would go crazy trying to turn 67 cents we receive from your $1 deposit back into $1 for you to withdraw.

So that's why there is a transaction fee when depositing $1, $3, or $5.
For deposits of $10.00 or more, TendOrama can pay the whole credit card processors' fee and still survive.

Of course, very soon there will be better alternatives available in the financial technology marketplace. We're looking forward to integrating one that suits everyone and doesn't charge so much, as soon as possible.

Why is TendOrama so ugly?

We realize all the prettiness in the world won't make much difference.
TendOrama doesn't make a lot of money and we don't want to put too many resources into making the site pretty, with no added real benefit to you.
People use tools that are useful to them, even if they are ugly (the tools, not the people).
And people won't use something that isn't useful or beneficial, even if it looks good.
So in the end, prettiness is largely over-rated.

Can I decline a Tend?

Yes. There are lots of circumstances where someone might prefer to decline a Tend, so you have that choice.

Can I cancel a Tend?

Yes, Tends can be cancelled until they are accepted by the Tendee (obviously not after that!). There are lots of circumstances where someone might want to cancel a Tend, so you have that choice.

Can I Tend someone, and only that person and I can ever see it?

Yes, Tends can be made private while creating the Tend. Making a Tend private means no one will see the Tend except the sender and receiver. So it won't show up in the list of all Tends that everyone can see. It will still show up in your "Sent Tends" and the receiver's "Received Tends" and in both those circumstances will be clearly marked as private. (Private Tends can be declined by the Tendee and cancelled by the Tender like any other Tend.)

Do you really take money from a person's account if they act in a mean or unkind way? How can you justify that?

Yes.

We won't put up with unkind behavior on our platform. Simple as that. We believe there is wide support for choosing not to tolerate unkind, hateful, or mean actions.
So if someone acts in an unkind way, we might take 1% of the money in their PiggyBank (or $1.00, whichever is less) and suspend them for a week.

Important: People can still receive Tends during their suspension. They can also withdraw, deposit, and otherwise amend their account. So really, the suspension is only from Tending other people. The amount forfeited is too small to make a real difference to most people, but having any amount confiscated, even a dime, feels like a harsh penalty and that is the goal.

Going a little deeper:
People have been disturbed about boorish behavior online ever since the beginning of the internet -- and 'public space' for thousands of years before that. Website and app owners have tried to gently discourage bad behavior and unkind acts, but haven't always succeeded.
Part of the reason is many companies want to avoid upsetting anyone, even people who act badly, so they can grasp every bit of profit (including from bad actors) even when doing so hurts the majority of their customers.
At TendOrama, we aren't very profit-motivated, so we don't need to tiptoe around. We don't want people here who act badly and we're happy to pass up the profit such people might bring.

Meanwhile, we know people are basically good and we believe a bad act is no reason to conclude the person is bad.

So we respond firmly to bad acts, while still allowing the people who do those acts the chance to do better in future.

Why is there no appeal of a decision that someone was unkind before a suspension from sending Tends is imposed and money is forfeited?

That's so people will make sure to avoid seeming mean.
Also, TendOrama doesn't have resources to entertain appeals, and we don't want to get involved in quasi-legalistic mumbo-jumbo. We have little patience for attempts to game the system, to skirt close to the edge of unkind behavior, or attempts to BE mean and then try to slink out of it using rhetoric and argument.
We just won't participate in that kind of contention.
In TendOrama, if it looks like a mean duck and quacks like a mean duck, it's a mean duck.
So, if you're creating a Tend or replying to a Tend, and you wonder, "Will this be seen as mean? Will it come across as unkind?" it might be a good idea to change something.
(Oh and as you know, sarcasm is often not recognized by the reader, so maybe try to avoid it.)

When will the app be ready?

We're resisting making an app.

The website you're looking at now can be added to your mobile device's HomeScreen very easily. It'll look just like one of your other apps. If you don't already know how to add a website to your homescreen, just google, "Add to HomeScreen [your device]."

There are three main reasons we don't want to build an app:
People are getting sick of having so many apps in their devices. "Why do I need a whole app for this? Another app uses up more of my device's memory and slows it down."
Second, it's difficult and expensive to keep up with the programming of an app for every device and platform out there. Android, iOS, and others each need their own app programming, as you know. And now the number of versions of each of those operating systems is getting out of control; it has become almost impossible to keep up. Even huge corporations like Amazon are having trouble. So people's experience is less great than it should be.
Third, apps are known generally to sniff the data in your device, including when you sleep and who you talk to, and then sell your data to advertisers and pretty much anyone else. We don't want any part of that and we don't want people to wonder if we might be participating in that kind of corporate/immoral behavior. So, the webapp you're using right now does almost everything for you that an app could do, without the downsides. We hope you agree, but let us know if you don't.

How did you get a list of everyone's license plate?

We didn't ;-)
Everyone adds their own license plate if they want. If the person you Tend hasn't done so, you can cancel your Tend anytime and the money returns to your PiggyBank.

Some people get weirded out by license plates but there is no need.
Remember, everyone who has a car drives around with their license plate showing all day and no one worries about that (except criminals maybe?). It's also true that lots of people who know your name also know your license plate - your neighbors, maybe your work colleagues, etc. Other than the police, can anyone do anything with that information? Anyway, TendOrama doesn't publicly connect anyone's license plate with any other information, and a license plate with no other information isn't meaningful.

Why is the Terms of Service so short? Aren't you worried it doesn't cover everything?

We have faith in people, the societies people live in, and the expectations people abide by, both formal (as written into laws) and informal. Laws are already written and everyone is responsible for abiding by them, so we don't need to write them out again. Some companies include in their Terms of Service a list of selected laws they think are important, even though those laws already apply. We realized that's unnecessary. Also, many Terms of Service seem long because they include lengthy descriptions of what the company can do and what you cannot do (often, though, there's not much about what you can do or about your rights).
A company's Terms of Service tells a lot about that company and what it thinks of you, don't you think?

TendOrama doesn't need to hide behind a long list of laws that already exist, we aren't greedy, and we don't want to try to make you give up all your rights when you sign up with us.
So it doesn't take long to say, "We do what it looks like we do and everyone will act according to the positive expectations of the society they live in."

The person who receives a Tend is sometimes called, "Recipient," and sometimes, "Tendee." How come?

Just because we couldn't decide which is better, so if you have an opinion, please let us know.

Add more questions via

Quick Facts

There are no bots or fake accounts on TendOrama.

This is important to us so we are diligent about preventing fake accounts and bots, and relentless in erasing them from our database if we do find any. We strongly believe fake accounts and bots on social media platforms are harming our civilization world-wide. We will not be part of that.