Your curiosity might not kill you, but it will cost you 99 cents to see who else paid 99 cents to find the answer to the same question. ‘Who Paid 99 Cents?’ is the website which charges a standard fee of 99 cents and allows the visitor to see who else has paid the same amount of money. Dozens of people have already paid the standard free to look at the list of the people who were doing the same thing. Interestingly, if you have closed the computer accidentally, you will be required to pay again. Imagine sharing your credit or debit card details on an unknown wacky website about which you know absolutely nothing.
The website is straightforward and doesn’t reveal much information. The main page shows the header of 99 Cents only, field for name, email and credit card number. There is also a who paid 99 cents button on the page. The bottom of the page reads, “Your name will be public. Obviously. That’s the point. Just use a fake one if you want. Your receipt will be emailed to you.” Under this statement, there is another print written in a much smaller font, saying, “All sales are final. Please don’t sue us.”
Sean Wolfe from Business Insider recently paid 99 cents to know that 43 people before him have paid the same amount to see the list. However, most names on the list were fake, and people put their SoundCloud profiles or left statements like “9/11 was an inside job” in place of the name. The website is a brainchild of Thinko which is a computer entertainment studio based in Brooklyn, Newyork. Thinko’s Pasquale D’Silva said that they like building funny things and creating websites which can make people laugh. D’Silva said, “People are paying because it gives them something funny they can talk about. I think people like the feeling of making other people laugh too. It’s just good energy. Especially given that it’s at their expense.”
D’Silva said that the money they will raise from the website would be used to build more wacky stuff. He said, “We have an endless queue of things. Ideally, we fill the internet up with them, and everyone can laugh a little more.” If you are bored and have spare 99 cents, you can go to the website and see who else has paid there.