8

I'd like to donate an amount less than $1. Is that possible?

4
  • 1
    @Alvar I think there's totally a point in donating any amount of money.
    – hytromo
    Jul 17, 2014 at 23:45
  • Still a valid question and I am interested in seeing the answers.
    – Seth
    Jul 18, 2014 at 1:15
  • @Alvar I just ask the question: Can I donate an amount less than 1 USD? Yes or no?
    – Ivi Fetita
    Jul 18, 2014 at 14:37
  • Can you explain why you want to do a donations of -1USD?
    – don.joey
    Nov 25, 2014 at 20:38

3 Answers 3

8
+50

Yes You can do it.

  1. Go to Help shape the future of Ubuntu...

  2. Set all input value to 0

  3. But in last input do this steps:

At first, Right click on the last input and select inspect element And then set the value to 0.5 (exp.)

enter image description here

then click on Pay with PayPal

And you will see this:

enter image description here

4
  • I am quite sure this is exploiting a bug. Not sure they are going to like this. Not sure also whether their form should not use server side validation before sending it on to paypal.
    – don.joey
    Nov 26, 2014 at 13:44
  • 2
    @KasiyA How is that a security risk? You're using a custom value... Also, it is clientside. You send a POST request with the values. The Canonical server then redirects you to the PayPal site with the appropriate values already in place.
    – Kaz Wolfe
    Nov 27, 2014 at 7:44
  • @Whaaaaaat If you are saying that paypal is thus still doing the validation, then this answer is incorrect unless we have confirmation that the paypal validation accepts this.
    – don.joey
    Nov 27, 2014 at 21:28
  • 1
    @don.joey Paypal does not do any validation. The PayPal items have "custom values" enabled. This is a feature that allows any user-set value to be used for the "cost". The price you enter here is just sent to the PayPal server as the "custom value". It will accept whatever I tell it. 0.01 should also be accepted.
    – Kaz Wolfe
    Nov 27, 2014 at 21:52
3

Regular donation?

You cannot give less than 1$ to ubuntu via the standard contribution page.

There is probably a practical reason for this: receiving payments also costs money. If payments are small (here < 1$) it will cost more money to accept the payment/contribution than the money that Ubuntu will make with the contribution. This could be exploited and hence the form on the contribution page does not allow it.

Alternatives?

If there is a particular reason why you want to donate this amount, you could contact canonical. If not, you could try to do something good for the community (ask questions here, for instance) instead of paying something for ubuntu.

As you know Ubuntu is opensource. Here is what you could do if you really want to give your amount.

  1. Choose a core dev (maybe someone who maintains a package you like). Check https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-core-dev for instance
  2. Check whether s/he has a https://gratipay.com/ account.
  3. If so, you can donate very small amounts (-1$) to that person or to a number of people. This might be on a weekly basis, but I guess you could drop out quite soon.
1

No, not through a donation: The website where the donation page is shown when you download Ubuntu accepts decimals in the input but it does not accept it after you confirm and will change it to a whole dollar minimum. Simple reason: it probably will cost more to accept the amount than the amount itself.

But there is a way. Sort of. The closest you get to 0.50 is through the Ubuntu shop: Kubuntu Ballpoint Pen White/Blue at the moment costs 0.63 USD (normal price is 1.11 USD). So if you consider the 0.50 USD a donation, the pen would cost you 0.13 USD. Shipping excluded...

3
  • Lol "shipping excluded." That will not be a -1$ contribution. :)
    – don.joey
    Nov 25, 2014 at 20:28
  • @don.joey yeah well. it probably will be a 0.63 usd pen with 1 or 2 usd shipping :P (I did not finish a purchase so not sure ;) ). Oh and have an upvote ;)
    – Rinzwind
    Nov 25, 2014 at 20:34
  • I learned about the existence of the Ubuntu shop through your post. Nice. Have one as well.
    – don.joey
    Nov 25, 2014 at 20:39

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .