Show HN: Buy Me A Coffee – A free, fast and friendly way to receive donations • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: Buy Me A Coffee – A free, fast and friendly way to receive donations

#61

Post by ravitation » Wed, Feb 28, 2018, 6:26 PM UTC

patja wrote: post #33

I feel this is unintentionally going to the lowest end of this space with the whole "buy me a coffee" message and brand. I run a site which is 100% monetized through voluntary donations and I would never use language like buy me a beer/buy me a coffee for it. It feels like you are marginalizing your work to the hobby/side-project realm with low expectations. We strive for $40 a year as a target donation from those wh…

Um, okay... But a lot of people do things without the expectation of ever being paid for it. Dropping something like this at the bottom of a page, or a newsletter, or a blog is really just a bonus.

Just because you look for a relatively noticeable financial contribution from your users doesn't mean everyone does. Not everyone has to fit into the target audience for every product...

Re: Show HN: Buy Me A Coffee – A free, fast and friendly way to receive donations

#62

Post by josephsunny » Wed, Feb 28, 2018, 6:30 PM UTC

DoreenMichele wrote: post #49

I have a Patreon account where I get paid via Stripe, but I don't believe I ever properly set up a separate Stripe account. I filled out the Stripe connect form and now I am worried that Stripe will have a problem with paying me if there are any inconsistencies between Patreon info and what I just gave Stripe to fill this out, such as different email addresses with the same bank account. I don't know that there is an…

Welcome to BMC, Doreen!

It should be fine as long as the Stripe connection is successful. Please try logging in to your Stripe account and see if everything is fine - we just bought you a coffee :)

We're a tweet away if there's anything – https://twitter.com/TheBuyMeACoffee

Re: Show HN: Buy Me A Coffee – A free, fast and friendly way to receive donations

#63

Post by fabianlindfors » Wed, Feb 28, 2018, 6:31 PM UTC

This looks really cool. Really enjoying the branding.

If anyone is looking for an even simpler way to accept donations I've created a donation platform where you only need a Stripe account to get started. Check it out if you're interested: https://stripity.com

Re: Show HN: Buy Me A Coffee – A free, fast and friendly way to receive donations

#64

Post by delgaudm » Wed, Feb 28, 2018, 6:32 PM UTC

I signed up, and it looks good. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/BoothJunkie

My feedback:

I've been using paypal.me, and the ability to change the donation at the URL has been incredibly helpful towards getting patrons to choose an amount that suits them. I suggest $X but they are free to change, and it's super easy. Often patrons up the number and I get more donations. I'm not convinced the multiplier buttons do the same thing.

Further that URL bit allows me to suggest different donation amounts to different patrons. If I offer someone tech support I might sent a link with /10 or /20 at the end, others who I just answer a quick question might get a /2 at the end. It allows me to suggest amounts on the fly based on our relationship.

But on BMC, I see that I have to pre-guess a donation amount and run the risk of alienating donor with an amount that's too high (they don't donate), or leaving money on the table by choosing too low. I've definitely had donors give more than 5X my suggestion.

Giving the donor agency in selecting an amount may help in gaining more overall donation.

Re: Show HN: Buy Me A Coffee – A free, fast and friendly way to receive donations

#65

Post by jonathonf » Wed, Feb 28, 2018, 6:32 PM UTC

josephsunny wrote: post #2

BuyMeACoffee.com co-founder here. BMC is a friendly way for creators (bloggers, artists, developers) to receive donations from their audience. We have seen the platform used in ways we never imagined. William LeGate, an activist (boycottNRA) used BuyMeACoffee just yesterday to raise $2500 in less than an hour: https://twitter.com/williamlegate/status/968630079285686273 Check out some 'Buy Me A Coffee' pages: https://…

Anything that lowers the friction for people who want to donate can only be a good thing.

And sure, why not: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/jonathon

Re: Show HN: Buy Me A Coffee – A free, fast and friendly way to receive donations

#66

Post by lambic » Wed, Feb 28, 2018, 6:33 PM UTC

Is there an API for this, or do you plan to develop one?

Re: Show HN: Buy Me A Coffee – A free, fast and friendly way to receive donations

#67

Post by josephsunny » Wed, Feb 28, 2018, 6:35 PM UTC

xn wrote: post #50

josephsunny wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First off, thank you for the kind words. That FAQ section was recently updated to make more clarity on the subject (the irony!). I'll definitely bring this up in the next brainstorming session and improve it. To clarify, platform fee is the small cut platforms take for providing the service (such as Patreon's 5% cut). BuyMeACoffee is 100% free for all its early users, and forever will be.

Is the donor charged a different amount based on whether they pay through Stripe or Paypal? If I go to donate $5 at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/xn , it looks like I'll be $5 if I pay through Stripe with a credit card, and $5.45 if I pay using PayPal: https://gist.github.com/cwarden/4df8d8a5df0ff010e39d810f58ec...

Both Stripe and Paypal charge a small processing fee (2.9% + 30 cents).

Re: Show HN: Buy Me A Coffee – A free, fast and friendly way to receive donations

#68

Post by albinowax_ » Wed, Feb 28, 2018, 6:35 PM UTC

josephsunny wrote: post #2

BuyMeACoffee.com co-founder here. BMC is a friendly way for creators (bloggers, artists, developers) to receive donations from their audience. We have seen the platform used in ways we never imagined. William LeGate, an activist (boycottNRA) used BuyMeACoffee just yesterday to raise $2500 in less than an hour: https://twitter.com/williamlegate/status/968630079285686273 Check out some 'Buy Me A Coffee' pages: https://…

Looks cool, I've made one here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/albinowax - I'll add the button to http://hackxor.net/ shortly.

PS looking forward to cryptocurrency support!

Re: Show HN: Buy Me A Coffee – A free, fast and friendly way to receive donations

#69

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Feb 28, 2018, 6:36 PM UTC

patja wrote: post #33

I feel this is unintentionally going to the lowest end of this space with the whole "buy me a coffee" message and brand. I run a site which is 100% monetized through voluntary donations and I would never use language like buy me a beer/buy me a coffee for it. It feels like you are marginalizing your work to the hobby/side-project realm with low expectations. We strive for $40 a year as a target donation from those wh…

[deleted]

Re: Show HN: Buy Me A Coffee – A free, fast and friendly way to receive donations

#70

Post by sidyapa » Wed, Feb 28, 2018, 6:41 PM UTC

I had been looking for such a product since a long time and had thought of building it once as well. A week or two back I came across BMAC on PH and it looked really promising so I signed up and got an anon donation of $3 (possibly from the founder or team). Will definitely use it in my side project.

https://buymeacoffee.com/sidyapa