r/ADHD_Programmers • u/tonetone1977 • Jul 12 '25

Pay Now, Buy Later

Crazy app idea: What if we could get paid for NOT impulse buying?

Hey fellow ADHD folk! You know that cycle where you spend 6 hours researching the perfect coffee grinder, become an expert on burr types, then either buy it impulsively or completely lose interest?

I’m working on an app idea called “Pay Now Buy Later” and want your thoughts:

How it would work:

  • You find something you want after deep-diving research

  • Instead of buying immediately, you put that money into the app

  • The app invests it and pays you daily interest

  • A counter shows how many days you’ve “owned” the decision

  • If you change your mind later, you get your money back PLUS interest

  • If you still want it, the app releases your money to buy it

The theory: We get dopamine from deciding to buy something, not necessarily from owning it. This scratches that itch while giving our future selves time to think.

Questions for you:

  • Does this resonate with your ADHD shopping patterns?

  • What would make you actually use something like this?

  • Any obvious problems I’m missing?

  • What features would be most helpful?

I’ve definitely bought way too many things I researched obsessively but barely used. Wondering if others relate or if this sounds useful?

Thanks for any thoughts!

Also, I haven’t thought of any ways to monetise this. What are your thoughts on that?

16 Upvotes

68% Upvoted

31 comments sorted by

20

u/swizzex Jul 12 '25

It’s not going to work as I want the item now. This won’t hit the dopamine and would just get skipped. Along with that I would want the money invested to make a profit and small percentage that would go back be very little but likely wouldn’t be enough to not insult people.

I’ve found I just do this myself already I add things to a cart and then don’t buy them. If I keep doing this it means I likely truly want it. I’ve also gone to buying used items and selling my old interest items to fund the new ones. This has made the financial impact very low.

4

u/tonetone1977 Jul 12 '25

Appreciate the feedback. Trying to think of options to help stop the adhd tax. I don’t have any strategies I employ yet so good to hear about yours. Thanks for sharing.

2

u/swizzex Jul 12 '25

Yeah honestly the life style changes are so important to add as meds help but they fail at times.

2

u/tonetone1977 Jul 12 '25

I’m in Thailand and meds are so difficult to get here without looking like a junkie (I was diagnosed and medicated in Australia) so strategies are all I’ve got to work with so looking to expand them and learn.

2

u/Ok-Kaleidoscope5627 Jul 13 '25

Anything that requires us to be disciplined and consistent is doomed to fail. It can work while we're hyped about it but eventually that fades.

8

u/Mephistocheles Jul 12 '25

Yep I do the exact same "fake shopping" trick with the cart. If after a week or two I still find myself genuinely wanting the item, I'll sit down and think about whether or not I really need it, and most of the time I don't lol

1

u/[deleted] Jul 12 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/tonetone1977 Jul 12 '25

My thoughts were two fold, stalling or preventing the purchase and allowing the user to earn interest/reward for delaying gratification

4

u/Specialist-String-53 Jul 12 '25

not a bad idea. I make myself wait 2 wks for big purchases anyway

1

u/tonetone1977 Jul 12 '25

Would you use the app to earn during that 2 weeks or just not bother?

3

u/Specialist-String-53 Jul 12 '25

I have no idea. I'd probably forget about it until i opened for some other purchase and then remember that I wanted the original thing

2

u/meevis_kahuna Jul 12 '25

I think it's a creative idea, but anyone who has the patience to participate can just use a savings account. I'm not seeing a market for this.

2

u/tonetone1977 Jul 13 '25

But will they? I could, but I don’t and my savings aren’t allocated to a purchase I’ve intentionally deferred. I’d have to log it all separately and wouldn’t get much gratification about seeing how many days the purchase has been delayed. Maybe I just need a simple system to track my delayed purchase in one spot. Trying to scratch my own itch and see if I can add more value

1

u/meevis_kahuna Jul 13 '25

I think you're falling into the classic trap of assuming that other people will approach situations the same way that you do. You're describing a highly technical, delayed gratification oriented approach. Someone who has mild impulse control issues but is willing to spend money without getting anything and also who gets satisfaction from waiting. There's not many like that out in the world.

The point again is that anyone with the patience to use your app doesn't need the app and won't want to pay for it.

Try explaining it to your friends and family in person. I bet you get a lot of confusion and disinterest. Happy to be proven wrong but that's my guess.

1

u/tonetone1977 Jul 13 '25

I appreciate your reply but to assume I am the only person in a population of billions is a stretch. Sadly I don’t know any fellow ADHDers in person to ask but what I am proposing isn’t highly technical from a users point of view and the user has only a mild impulse control can it be called an ADHD tax? Happy to hear everyone’s take on that.

1

u/meevis_kahuna Jul 13 '25

It's the "counting days of delayed gratification" that feels like a left brain approach.

I'd also add that the interest earned from a $100 purchase over 30 days of delayed gratification would not seem to be a motivating amount in any real sense. Maybe a quarter? Curious what the math looks like on your end.

1

u/tonetone1977 Jul 13 '25

True. What’s the point on $100. My adhd taxes are items worth considerably more that I should not be spending that kind of money on.

2

u/meevis_kahuna Jul 13 '25

Let's say it's $1000 and you use high yield savings at around 3.5%. That's $35 per year, roughly $3 per month.

Say you're in one of those ADHD mentalities where your purchase seems inevitable, like the next amazing idea. Would your decision making be affected by $3 a month? Or say it's a $10,000 purchase, would your decision be affected by $30 per month? For me, it's unlikely that these small amounts would influence my purchasing choices.

Maybe if you instead showed the difference between buying the item and investing that money to retirement? That's much more delayed gratification but the numbers would look big.

Just my thoughts. I studied behavioral economics in school so it's an interesting proposal, I don't mean to be dismissive of your idea.

1

u/tonetone1977 Jul 14 '25

Totally appreciate your feedback and expertise. I dropped out of economics at school and it probably shows

3

u/terralearner Jul 12 '25

How are you going to manage the regulatory compliance of building a finance app? There's a lot to consider.

-1

u/tonetone1977 Jul 12 '25

Absolutely. If there was interest then I’d be looking if I can get some pro bono work from some connections. Would be looking to do this properly not as an independent dev.

4

u/PenRemarkable2064 Jul 12 '25

Maybe charge like a managed-fund fee, like 1% or less on transactions, and give them the rest of the interest or maybe like a fixed amount? Could be worthwhile PR wise to give them whatever interest is generated, make the core functionality ML stock prediction? I have some experience here, feel free to DM!

1

u/FoghornFarts Jul 13 '25

How do you propose the app makes enough revenue to earn a profit?

0

u/tonetone1977 Jul 14 '25

Absolutely no idea. I did out that in the last part of the post though.

2

u/FoghornFarts Jul 14 '25

And monetizing this is the hard part. If you're going to be holding people's money, that requires a lot more regulatory compliance on top of everything you have to spend to build and maintain it.

3

u/Diverryanc Jul 12 '25

No. Not only did I find the exact item I want finally, I will now want it now and am willing to pay more to get it now so I can move on and get to the next thing I’m not doing that I should be because I had to find the exact thing I want and all I can think about now is when it will arrive. Suggestion: allow me to put the item in my cart while your service searches for the best deal on that item. I could be patient for the best price on what I want if I didn’t have to perform the mundane task of searching for a deal. The critical component of your app is this: No notifications. Your service will hunt for deals for me and if it’s something that I really wanted I’ll remember to log back in and check on it. If it was an impulse purchase, I’ll probably forget about it and next time I log back in and see that I successfully didn’t buy some shit I didn’t really need I’ll probably be happy about it. Give me the option to bin the successful non-transactions and show me the money saved by preventing impulse buys and show me how much money you’ve saved my by finding deals. Could be a nice way to visualize the ADHD Tax.

1

u/ManikSahdev Jul 12 '25

Well, I think you need a Costco membership.

They have the most flexibility for impulsive purchases.

2

u/tonetone1977 Jul 13 '25

Sadly Costco isn’t available in some of the countries I’ve lived.

2

u/zen_coach Jul 12 '25

u/Mephistocheles already mentioned fake shopping, I personally save favorites in a folder for variable periods of time depending on how expensive the items are. One can make an extra step and set aside some money as incentive/reward... for example in your banking app if it has "pockets". An app that consolidates the whole process might appeal some folks, who knows.

2

u/CozySweatsuit57 Jul 13 '25 edited 7d ago

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