So, I decided that Scratchback is quite a good option for raising a bit of cash - even if it's just enough to pay for hosting and domain name renewal etc. To that end, I decided that I would use osWorld to test a little script that I coded up for myself.

The script is a tiny bit complicated, but it means that I get to keep 100% of any payments made (sans Paypal fees of course). I don't much like the idea paying a middleman, though I do understand that middlemen have some benefits.

In my version, I use Paypal as the payment processor, so I had to log into Paypal and create a "buy now" button. I then made a script which takes URL and Anchor Text and displays it appropriately. I didn't want an extra page explaining the system, so I used some "magic" to make some text and payment form appear when the "buy a link" text is clicked. It seems to work pretty well, at least it does on my test environment!

The video shows the script on my development server - I hope to have the script installed on osWorld sometime tomorrow.

Of course, in real life - it might well not work. I've not been able to test out the Paypal functions fully, as you cannot pay yourself! I'll use a different Paypal account before I set it live, so that I know it works OK.

I'm happy with how it's turned out, and for what amounted to 20 minutes coding time, I'm glad to be saving quite a hefty middle-man fee.