About TipRiver

A direct line between two people.

TipRiver exists to make sure that appreciation a regular chooses to send to an individual worker reaches that individual worker. That's the whole job: connect one person who wants to give with one person who receives, and keep the ongoing support simple, private and fair for both.

A barista at her espresso machine, looking at a TipRiver balance on her phone — The moment we design for: a worker seeing support that is unmistakably theirs.

The story

Thanks that got lost on the way.

A tip is meant to be a direct statement from one person to another: you made my day better, and this is my thanks. In many workplaces the money doesn't travel that way. Tips left on a card terminal, in a shared jar or through a point-of-sale prompt enter a system the employer controls. They may be pooled across a shift, split by a formula the worker didn't design, held back, or paid out on a schedule the worker can't influence.

The regular sees a gesture of gratitude. The worker sees a line on a pay statement, if the tip is itemized at all. Neither can check what was intended, what was collected and what was passed on.

None of this needs a bad actor. It needs only a third party standing between the person who gives and the person who receives.

Many tip-sharing arrangements are fair, lawful and agreed by staff. We aren't here to argue with them. TipRiver is a separate channel outside the employer's systems, where the amount is set by the regular and the destination is a named person. It doesn't integrate with any point-of-sale system, payroll or tip pool. The employer doesn't receive the funds, doesn't see them, and has no technical role in the transaction.

The promise

100% of the net tip goes to the individual worker.

"Net" is a defined term: the gross amount the regular is charged, minus two disclosed deductions. The 5% TipRiver platform fee and payment processing ($0.30 + 2.9%) are both shown line by line and rounded half up to the cent. Nothing else is subtracted, and no third party can redirect, pool or reduce it.

$5.00

Sarah chooses, and Sarah is charged

$4.30

Credited to Alex, her barista

$0.45

To the payment processor

$0.25

To TipRiver. Total: $5.00, to the cent

Who it's for

Everyday workers, not influencers.

Workers

The barista who remembers the order. The bartender at the local. The server at the usual diner. People who deliver value in person across hundreds of small moments, with no content library or audience to monetize, just regulars.

Our reference worker, Alex, earns $15.00 an hour for 160 hours a month: $2,400.00 against $2,800.00 of fixed bills. Tips have to cover the $400.00 gap, and cash tips can't be budgeted. Recurring support gives that income a known rhythm. It's a supplement, and we say so.

Regulars

Thoughtful people, not philanthropists. Sarah notices who stays patient through the morning rush and who treats the job as a craft. She wants her thanks to land with one person, not depend on whatever cash is in her pocket or on a terminal's preset percentages.

Her tests are simple. Find the right person without friction. Know exactly what she'll be charged and what reaches them. Change her mind easily. Never be surprised by a charge.

Principles

Trust. Privacy. Fairness.

Trust

We don't handle card data. Payments run through Stripe Connect, a PCI DSS Level 1 service provider, and we store only opaque tokens. Every movement of money is a balanced entry in an append-only, double-entry ledger, reconciled daily. Two-factor sign-in is mandatory for everyone.

Privacy

Bank accounts and card numbers are never shared between the two sides. There's no directory, no search and no leaderboard: workers are found only by the code they hand out. Regulars choose to be named or to appear as "Anonymous Supporter." Anonymity changes who is shown, never the amount.

Fairness

One flat 5% platform fee, with processing passed through at cost, both itemized on every tip. We disclose that small tips lose a larger share to the fixed $0.30 (18.0% at $3.00), so nobody discovers it later. If a tip is refunded or disputed, TipRiver absorbs every fee, including the $15.00 chargeback fee.

How we earn

One line of revenue, in plain view.

TipRiver's revenue on a tip is the 5% platform fee: $0.25 on $5.00. It pays for subscriptions, worker accounts, payout infrastructure and support. Processing fees belong to the payment processor and are not a TipRiver profit line. We don't mark up payout fees: bank transfer is $0.00, and the $0.50 for PayPal or Venmo covers the rail's own cost.

We don't sell data, run ads, rank workers or show a regular's giving to anyone but that regular and the worker they chose.

Boundaries

What TipRiver is not.

Not a replacement for wages, and never presented as guaranteed income. Regulars can pause or cancel at any time.
Not a creator platform. There are no posts, perks or tiers, and nothing is owed in return.
Not crowdfunding. There are no goals and no campaigns, just appreciation for a person.
Not a fix for any workplace's pay practices. It's a parallel channel the employer can't touch.
Not a financial advisor. We describe how fees, credits and payouts work. We never tell anyone how to budget, save or file taxes.

Tip the person, not the system.

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