Ask HN: How to create a service similar to Patreon? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: How to create a service similar to Patreon?

#91

Post by makeee » Wed, Mar 06, 2019, 5:59 PM UTC

Kiro wrote: post #47

makeee wrote: post #26

I built a patreon competitor using stripe connect. It wasn’t super successful, had a handful of creators making $20-$100/month, but it’s definitely doable without a ton of legal work. Stripe makes it pretty easy. You can set it up so payments go directly from supporter to creator’s stripe account, with a percent going to you. If you want to batch payments or have more control over funds then you actually need to coll…

How did you handle taxes for the creators?

Creators would have to handle taxes themself, no different than if it was their own site with custom stripe integration.

Re: Ask HN: How to create a service similar to Patreon?

#92

Post by GuillaumeBrdet » Wed, Mar 06, 2019, 6:49 PM UTC

I wish you the best with this if you do move forward!

Lots of room for competitors in this space for now. I think one of your focus should be on helping someone that was previously on Patreon make more on your platform.

Re: Ask HN: How to create a service similar to Patreon?

#93

Post by zasz » Wed, Mar 06, 2019, 6:58 PM UTC

savgeborn wrote: post #60

My friend does it, he operates a company (In NYC) which accepts the payments and he then wires the creators after holding back X% in reserve fee less the service fee He's been doing it for a while (4 years) now averaging 500K per month in payments. All his customers are people from third world or second world countries like Russia, India etc...where accepting international credit cards is bit difficult and probably h…

Would you be open to sharing the name of your friend's company?

Re: Ask HN: How to create a service similar to Patreon?

#94

Post by ValentineC » Wed, Mar 06, 2019, 9:22 PM UTC

dob_master wrote: post #27

From a short cut perspective, you could do the following: Require each of your customers (creators) to sign up for a Stripe account and have them input into your system their processing keys. Whenever somebody wants to pay them, use their keys to process the payment and it goes directly into their Stripe account. This would offload all legal liabilities (Stripe would determine whether their business is okay to operat…

> You wouldn’t be able to automatically take a percent of a creator’s billings but rather would have to calculate it and invoice them / charge their card

Stripe Connect allows you to collect an "application fee": https://stripe.com/docs/connect/direct-charges#collecting-fe...

Re: Ask HN: How to create a service similar to Patreon?

#95

Post by makeee » Wed, Mar 06, 2019, 9:31 PM UTC

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #53

Kiro wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How did you handle taxes for the creators?

I'm not a financial expert, but the creators have to do their own taxes (as earnings). However, what the 'paying' party in this case has to be able to do is give reports of payouts to the IRS (in various countries). Data retention is super important. Make sure to read up on that and your legal obligation on how long to retain that data - which may be decades.

If you set the creator's Stripe account as the destination account when issuing a charge you can take a % and not be considered the paying party (don't need to send reports of payouts): https://stripe.com/docs/connect/destination-charges

Re: Ask HN: How to create a service similar to Patreon?

#96

Post by venturin » Thu, Mar 07, 2019, 4:05 PM UTC

expopinions wrote: post #51

There are a lot of sites doing similar things, which aren’t as well known as Patreon. Patreon is popular, but it does have some drawbacks, such as only taking USD. Some alternatives include: Sther - A site all about inclusivity, aimed at the LGBTQ and POC communities. Steady - Designed more as a way for freelancers to fund their work. Podia - Recently launched membership crowdfunding, building on their short course a…

Let's not forget about Tipeee, which might be the only platform actually not in debt (they merely raised 150 000€ 3 years ago, and officially declared benefits last year).

Re: Ask HN: How to create a service similar to Patreon?

#97

Post by wheelerwj » Thu, Mar 07, 2019, 11:28 PM UTC

geofft wrote: post #79

Improvotter wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> this is a hard life for a solo entrepreneur and i do not recommend it wothout having raised a minimum of $2-5 million usd Let's not get everyone in the mindset that venture capitalism in the US is a good thing. Many startups and entrepreneurs in Europe and other continents have found success without raising any capital.

I read this comment as "You can't do this as a scrappy one-person startup," not "You must raise VC." Bootstrapping by using $2-5MM you / your cofounders have (from previous ventures, happening to be rich, etc.) would work fine. Many startups and entrepreneurs can work great with minimal capital, both in Europe and outside Europe. The claim of this comment was this is the wrong business to be in if that's your goal (a…

thanks for helping me get the point across, that's exactly what i meant.