Paul Roberts, who used the contactless donation point at Bootham Bar, said he thought it was a good idea at first glance, with others positive about the scheme.
“I hope that people will donate if they are in a position to,” said Samantha Nash, from St Albans.
“The council have a certain responsibility to do what they can to maintain these things rather than leave it to the public to do.”
Councillor Pete Kilbane, the council’s executive member for economy and culture, hoped the scheme would be expanded to further sections of the wall.
“Somebody might walk past this donation point, walk round the walls and think, ‘this is fantastic, I should have given a fiver to that’.
“If there is another point that they can do that then we think it will work out better.”
York was first fortified with walls in Roman times, though very little of the remaining stonework survives from that period.
Most of the walls standing today date from the 13th and 14th Century.
They are the longest surviving town walls in England, running for more than two miles (3.4km).
