# Feature request: Beeminder as a "friendly bet" service **URL:** \ **Category:** Bugabee\ **Created:** [June 10, 2016, 4:34pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/feature-request-beeminder-as-a-friendly-bet-service/2260 "2016-06-10T16:34:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![apolyton](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/apolyton/32/1965_2.png) [@apolyton](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/apolyton)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 4:34pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/feature-request-beeminder-as-a-friendly-bet-service/2260/1 "2016-06-10T16:34:45Z")
So a friend wants to an added motivation in his fitness goals and suggested a friendly bet. I told him that if you wanted a financial motive, he should (of course) check out Beeminder, but he wants the human element involved. I was wondering if there could be a setting that in addition to the regular pledge, there was an added amount (on top of a base amount towards Beeminder) that would be sent to a Paypal address in case of a derail? I guess it kind of sounds tricky in terms of the legalities, but I’m sure it could be figured out. cc @dreev, @bee ---
**Author:** ![larsivi](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/larsivi/32/153_2.png) [@larsivi](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/larsivi)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 5:30pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/feature-request-beeminder-as-a-friendly-bet-service/2260/2 "2016-06-10T17:30:18Z")
An easier way in terms of legality would be to take your money and credit your friend’s beeminder account. ---
**Author:** ![peppertoni](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/peppertoni/32/913_2.png) [@peppertoni](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/peppertoni)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 10:58pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/feature-request-beeminder-as-a-friendly-bet-service/2260/3 "2016-06-10T22:58:12Z")
I have occasionally wanted a feature like this. ---
**Author:** ![philip](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/philip/32/1505_2.png) [@philip](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/philip)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 7:00pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/feature-request-beeminder-as-a-friendly-bet-service/2260/4 "2016-06-12T19:00:13Z")
In the UK it’s common for your bank to let you schedule a payment for some future date, so a variation on @larsivi’s outside-of-Beeminder (😱) suggestion would be to make the private commitment, schedule a payment to your friend’s account, cancelling (or rescheduling) it after you’ve succeeded in maintaining the habit. ---
**Author:** ![dreev](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/dreev/32/4311_2.png) [@dreev](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/dreev)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 9:07pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/feature-request-beeminder-as-a-friendly-bet-service/2260/5 "2016-06-12T21:07:07Z")
I love the way y’all think and very much agree with @philip that when setting up things like this it’s critical that you put the payment on autopilot. It should take explicit action for the payment to _not_ happen. Otherwise the whole scheme will, in my experience, peter out. As for Beeminder supporting this, I think it’s too much a can of worms for now but if we see more people doing ad hoc versions then we’ll reconsider! What about using our [Supporters](http://blog.beeminder.com/supporters) feature to notify the friend when you derail and then have a handshake agreement for what side payments happen? ---
**Author:** ![apolyton](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/apolyton/32/1965_2.png) [@apolyton](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/apolyton)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 10:06pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/feature-request-beeminder-as-a-friendly-bet-service/2260/6 "2016-06-12T22:06:25Z")
[quote=“dreev, post:5, topic:2260”]have a handshake agreement for what side payments happen[/quote]Yes, this is what we went with in the end, in the form of sending each other the amount of the bet via Paypal. So there is a record of the bet in a way. The loser will refund the amount he has received. Still, there’s a lot of stuff one could do with the concept. For example someone could set up a goal with the derailing amount going to a charity.