Tumblr has officially shut down “tipping,” the opt-in feature that allowed creators to accept one-time payments from their followers.
Starting today, the tip icon has automatically disappeared from all posts and blogs that have the tipping feature enabled. Creators who use this feature should note that the last day to withdraw any money received in tips is June 15th.
The reason for turning off the feature was simple: it was unpopular: “Tipping has not been as popular as we hoped,” the company wrote in a post last month, and it was Tumblr's plan to put an end to a feature that hadn't worked well since the company's restructuring last year.
“While this affects a very small number of our users, we know that the users who send tips have a great deal of respect for their fellow Tumblr members, so we're disappointed to take away that right,” the company added.
In 2022, Tumblr introduced hints as a complement to Post+, a subscription service that allowed creators to offer their content for a fee. However, Post+ was discontinued last year due to user backlash. Users were apparently tired of their favorite platforms trying to make money off of them, so it's no wonder that the platforms' attempts to leverage hints fell flat.
As for other monetization features, Tumblr still has supporter badges, which cost $2.99 per month or $29.99 per year and can be displayed on blogs like any other badge, and the company explains on its website that supporter badges will “get more and more shiny” over time and “grow more lustrous” as users continue to support the platform.