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

• alxwu 9y ago
  This is cool. Exactly what I was looking for. Thank you. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/hella https://www.buymeacoffee.com/hella
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Thanks, @alxwu. Welcome to BMC! Please choose a payout method to make your page public. Waiting to buy your first coffee :)
• dsr_ 9y ago
  Sigh. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/untrustworthy https://www.buymeacoffee.com/untrustworthy Is the limited range of donation sizes an attempt to avoid KYC anti-laundering regulations?
  • dulse 9y ago
    I doubt it, as they will be enforced by Stripe / PayPal on the payout end. The laws regulate once you hit certain thresholds, like $100-$500 but it's aggregate not individual contributions (and this service is geared toward more mass market crowd funding).
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    It is to avoid using BuyMeACoffee for money transfer. We lift this limit for 'verified' users. Nice username BTW ;)
• josephsunny 9y ago
  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 https://twitter.com/williamlegate/status/968630079285686273 Check out some 'Buy Me A Coffee' pages: https://buymeacoff.ee/kriswolf https://buymeacoff.ee/kriswolf https://www.buymeacoffee.com/joqatana https://www.buymeacoffee.com/joqatana FEATURES: - Exclusive content: Publish supporter-only content on your BuyMeACoffee page to encourage more donations. – Multiple payment/payout options: Paypal and Stripe (direct bank transfer). – One-click payment for supporters. – Showcase your goals and comments left by other supporters. – Beautiful (and customizable) 'Buy me a coffee' button to embed on websites + Wordpress plugin with widgets and stats (https://wordpress.org/plugins/buymeacoffee/ https://wordpress.org/plugins/buymeacoffee/). – Domain name. They say the domain speaks for itself ;) – In the pipeline: Cryptocurrency Wix and Weebly plugin, more payment options (Bitcoin, Apple Pay, Android Pay), referral program and much more. We are waiving the 5% platform fee for HN users for LIFETIME! We'd also love to be your first supporter. Tweet (https://twitter.com/TheBuyMeACoffee https://twitter.com/TheBuyMeACoffee) or reply here with your beautiful ‘Buy Me A Coffee’ link (takes less than a minute to set up) to claim it. Let us know what you think :) Cheers!
  • craftyguy 9y ago
    Too bad we can't view your terms/conditions without enabling JavaScript. When I try, I get this broken link: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/'https://www.buymeacoffee.com/terms?PageSpeed=noscript%27 https://www.buymeacoffee.com/'https://www.buymeacoffee.com/t... Edit: actually it looks like the link on your homepage to terms is broken.
    • josephsunny 9y ago
      Weird. Terms page is working fine from our side, and is linked correctly from the homepage: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/terms https://www.buymeacoffee.com/terms Can you try again please?
      • craftyguy 9y ago
        Clicking that like redirects me to this busted url: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/'https://www.buymeacoffee.com/terms?PageSpeed=noscript%27 https://www.buymeacoffee.com/'https://www.buymeacoffee.com/t...
      • canvasduck 9y ago
        Works fine for me.
  • AFNobody 9y ago
    https://buymeacoff.ee/afnobody https://buymeacoff.ee/afnobody :p
    • josephsunny 9y ago
      Welcome to BuyMeACoffee! Your platform fee is waived for lifetime; and glad to buy your first coffee :)
  • canvasduck 9y ago
    https://www.buymeacoffee.com/stephenhan https://www.buymeacoffee.com/stephenhan
• Xeoncross 9y ago
  If anyone is interested, I just made a simple, free donation platform for Stellar Lumens (XLM) cryptocurrency. No registration required and anonymous since it reads directly from the blockchain for the data. http://xlm.party/ http://xlm.party/
  • StavrosK 9y ago
    I love the style. Can you put a demo "donate to me" (the actual you, the creator of the service) button so we can see the flow and/or donate?
    • Xeoncross 9y ago
      Thank you! At the bottom of the page is a non-obvious demo to my actual account (http://xlm.party/payments/GAATDRK3ZM2HJOYBADJTT3S6QZP7QLXK75SQUWVW4CZGX2NILISYKUPK/200 http://xlm.party/payments/GAATDRK3ZM2HJOYBADJTT3S6QZP7QLXK75...) and you can generate fake demo donations by appending `?generate_donations=true` to the URL. The great theme is by https://html5up.net/ https://html5up.net/ which is a nice resource for free themes.
      • StavrosK 9y ago
        Oh nice, thanks for that! html5up.net is great indeed, I've used them in the past, though I didn't realize this theme was by them. Good job integrating it well!
  • deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    That's great. We're betting big on crypto ourselves and is soon supporting all major coins (via CoinBase commerce). Good luck with the product :)
  • blocked_again 9y ago
    Is there any reason why you choose XLM over other cryptocurrencies or why is it restricted to only XLM? As far as I can see the site just makes it easier for a person to share their public key.
• matthewwiese 9y ago
  Like the design and approach, but what differentiates this from other methods? A Patreon account, PayPal donate button, and public Bitcoin address accomplishes all of the same thing. Is it the community? The ease of setup? Don't get me wrong, the site is polished and the idea cute, but... for what purpose?
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    BuyMeACoffee is a place to ask for quick one-time donations - supporters can donate and leave a comment in less than a few clicks. Patreon is for monthly pledging and does not usually work for small creators. We have seen creators use BuyMeACoffee alongside Patreon links, and we think it is a great idea to attract both loyal and casual supporters. Compared to Paypal, BuyMeACoffee is a much friendly and efficient way to accept donations. Multiple payment options, exclusive rewards for supporters, ability to leave a comment with donations.. the list goes on. I hope this clarifies :)
    • matthewwiese 9y ago
      Thank you for the reply! What happens when Patreon implements this on their platform though? If its as simple a premise as you make out, what's stopping your competition from encroaching on your share of the market?
      • josephsunny 9y ago
        Patreon has placed itself as a 'membership business' as we can see from their copy. The reason why Patreon did not implement this already, is that it'll affect their recurring model. If supporters find out that there's an easy and straightforward way to support, they are less likely to sign up and opt for monthly recurring donations (except for exclusive content). Also, nothing is stopping us from enabling recurring payments :) We believe it's best to focus on solving an important problem than be the jack of all trades. Hope that makes sense!
• canvasduck 9y ago
  This is really awesome! I've been hoping for something like this for a while.
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Thanks @canvasduck! Leave your BuyMeACoffee link if you made one. Would love to buy your first coffee :)
• dulse 9y ago
  Looks good. Few notes: 1. During sign up, I'm super confused why you have to set up anything related to payout before setting up your coffee page -- this is inverted to the way it should be. Get them the page as soon as possible and let them share and accept donations, then IF (big if, I bet the median amount raised is $0) they have a literal financial incentive to set up their friction-filled payout form process. If you're too worried about things going viral, then set a limit (e.g., if after $600 raised they don't have payout set up, e-mail them saying the page will stop being public until they set up payout). 2. You should curate your "creators we love" page. I hit explore and found a softcore instagram BDSM model as the first hit, and a page with a lot of comments about foot fetishes. Probably not the content you want to call out as one of the companies favorites. I would actually look at all the ones you rotate on that page and make sure they are on brand. There are some tactical things (eg, the dropdown for country should have USA at the top, assuming thats where most of your users are) but those micro optimizations won't matter if you just re-arrange the info gathering to after the delivery of value. #1 is will going to totally change your funnel in an important way -- I'd try it out! Good luck!
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    First off, thanks for such a comprehensive feedback! 1. You can skip that page in one-click; but I get your point. We decided to do this to avoid any confusion for new creators; especially when the whole point of the platform is to receive payments. Creators usually spend no more than a minute to sign up, so we never thought it'd be an issue. Thanks for pointing this out :) 2. Good point. Featured section is currently rotated on a daily basis based on activity and other factors (such as page views). Hope manual curation will solve this. Thanks a lot!
    • dulse 9y ago
      No problem, happy to help. Feel free to email me directly (email in HN profile) if you want more thoughts at a later date, I enjoy giving feedback on new projects. I missed the "skip" button, but I think you get the underlying point. You'll want to accelerate the "magic moment" as much as possible, which is the moment your users grok the value your service provides (and you'll see this in your data as you look at user retention rates for the cohort that hit this moment in your funnel vs. those that did not). You should try to figure out what this is, then obsessively try to remove as much friction as possible to getting to that point. My guess is that for you it's either a) seeing your coffee page; or b) getting your first coffee donation (probably the second). Either way, remove as much setup as possible to create the coffee page, sharing it to their network, and get money coming in the door. Cheers!
• phnofive 9y ago
  Seems very similar to https://ko-fi.com https://ko-fi.com - any contrast we should recognize?
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Yes, we are similar in branding :) Ko-fi is a good old product! Here's what we do differently: Multiple payout option (Paypal and Stripe), Exclusive content (gift your supporters with exclusive rewards to encourage more donations), official Wordpress plugin, customizable coffee amount ($3, $4 or $5) and much more.
• werber 9y ago
  At my screen size (13in macbook air), you don't see the amount you're donating until after the scroll, wish that duplicated higher up.
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Sorry about that; we're still trying to find the right balance between having a beautiful page and higher conversions :) We'll look into this.
• Sir_Cmpwn 9y ago
  If anyone would like a similar self-hosted/FOSS option, I wrote this: https://github.com/SirCmpwn/fosspay https://github.com/SirCmpwn/fosspay I use it here: https://drewdevault.com/donate https://drewdevault.com/donate Another instance in the wild: https://donate.mastodon.club/ https://donate.mastodon.club/
  • abetusk 9y ago
    I'm sorry but this is so clearly a much better step in the right direction. As slick as the 'buy me a coffee' site is and as nice as Patreon is, I can't help shake the feeling that it's only a matter of time before the company goes under, or they sell my data, or they engage in other shady shenanigans. I would trust a 'buy me a coffee' site so much more if it were managed by somone like Sir_Cmpwn with a FOSS backed system. I wish we would start moving more towards FOSS infrastructure. Why FOSS isn't the norm, especially for systems dealing with money, is beyond me.
• patja 9y ago
  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 who use our site, which is a lot more than a coffee.
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    I'm sorry you feel that way, but I disagree. Creators, charities and public figures of all sizes and type use BuyMeACoffee to receive support. William LeGate, an activist (#boycottNRA) used BuyMeACoffee just yesterday to raise $2500 in less than an hour: https://twitter.com/williamlegate/status/968630079285686273 https://twitter.com/williamlegate/status/968630079285686273 It exceeded all his expectations, and I think the branding and it's friendly tone went a long way in achieving it.
    • jonny_eh 9y ago
      Right, not every product needs to satisfy the needs of everyone. This kind of messaging works well to get get small amounts out of a lot of people.
    • jxub 9y ago
      Now that's what I call caffeine overdose!
      • josephsunny 9y ago
        Haha, he sure got his audience worried: https://twitter.com/williamlegate/status/968635631596269569 https://twitter.com/williamlegate/status/968635631596269569
    • masukomi 9y ago
      there's a difference between getting people to say _right now i need you all to "buy me a coffee"_ and getting the same people to buy you a coffee on a repeated basis. I need help now != support my ongoing work on x my point being, that it's irrelevant that William got $2500 fast. the question is how many people on the platform have been able to earn anything more than just a random occasional tip on it? Is anyone getting even "poverty level" worth of donations (~12k in the US because our gov't has no concept of how much things cost).
• i_live_there 9y ago
  Please, fix the text contrast on your Terms of Use page. It's barely readable.
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Will do! Thanks for the tip.
    • BugsJustFindMe 9y ago
      Not just on the terms page. Text contrast is way too low all over the place. I understand wanting to use lower contrast to control where the eye goes first, but please don't make your text so hard to read.
      • josephsunny 9y ago
        Noted. I'll sit with the designer to see what we can do. Thanks for the suggestion, @BugsJustFindMe!
  • deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
• adventured 9y ago
  I like the site, I appreciate that it's straight-forward and simple, as it should be. A lot of Show HN's come out of the gate getting that wrong. I found this section in the FAQ confusing, about what BMC charges: "BuyMeACoffee is 100% free and do not charge a monthly fee or a percentage of the donation. We plan to charge a 5% platform fee in the future to support future development and expansion. So when a creator receives $100 from supporters, BMC will earn a $5 platform fee. However, rest assured that all our existing users (like you) won’t be charged, ever." 100% free. We plan to charge a 5% platform fee (what the hell is a platform fee). All our existing users won't be charged, ever. What? That's an extremely poorly structured explanation on something that absolutely must be crystal clear (given it's core to what you're doing).
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    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.
    • xn 9y ago
      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 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/4df8d8a5df0ff010e39d810f58ec7092 https://gist.github.com/cwarden/4df8d8a5df0ff010e39d810f58ec...
      • josephsunny 9y ago
        Both Stripe and Paypal charge a small processing fee (2.9% + 30 cents).
        • 9y ago
• xn 9y ago
  If you want a free, fast, and not so beautiful way to accept a fixed amount with a Stripe account, here's a simple application with a Deploy to Heroku button: https://github.com/cwarden/pay https://github.com/cwarden/pay
• pknerd 9y ago
  Any plan for crypto?
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Yep! https://twitter.com/TheBuyMeACoffee/status/949210637724471296 https://twitter.com/TheBuyMeACoffee/status/94921063772447129... We're integrating Coinbase Commerce to start supporting all the major coins (BTC, ETH, BCH, LTC). Expect this to go live in a week or two :)
• DoreenMichele 9y ago
  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 anything you can do about it. It is just an FYI. Here is my page: https://buymeacoff.ee/DoreenMichele https://buymeacoff.ee/DoreenMichele
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    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 https://twitter.com/TheBuyMeACoffee
• fabianlindfors 9y ago
  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 https://stripity.com
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Thank you for the kind words, @fabianlindfors. Stripity looks like a great product. Good luck!
• delgaudm 9y ago
  I signed up, and it looks good. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/BoothJunkie 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.
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    First off, welcome to BuyMeACoffee! Had a quick look at your Youtube and it looks great. Youtubers make up a good part of BuyMeACoffee, and it's good to have you on board - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qPlHUpuWIQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qPlHUpuWIQ Thanks for the feedback. It is a neat idea. I'll bring this up in our next brainstorming session. BTW the multiplier buttons are working quite well for BMC; a vast majority of the donations are three coffees or more. Also, there's an option to choose the 'per coffee amount' between $3, $4 or $5. Although I don't think that's what you're looking for here. Thanks again for bringing this to our attention. Cheers!
    • romwell 9y ago
      As someone who on occasion buys stuff on Bandcamp, having a custom amount option is a must, and multiplier is useless.
  • jjjensen90 9y ago
    Are you the Mike DelGaudio who contributes to the NoSleep Podcast?! If so, I've listened to your voice acting for hundreds of hours... HN never ceases to amaze me for bringing dialogue from people you would never expect to run in to. But on topic, I agree with your feedback. I run a volunteer video game project with about 8000 users who are pretty active and also come from a huge variety of economic situations. Right now I don't ask for donations but I've been considering the best way to do it without it in any way appearing to be a fee or charge for the project. I've considered using paypal.me and really like the URL based system for donation amounts. I love the idea of BMC because it targets exactly what I want to express--give something back but you aren't buying a product or special treatment.
• lambic 9y ago
  Is there an API for this, or do you plan to develop one?
  • deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    No, and yes. We recently launched a WP plugin (https://wordpress.org/plugins/buymeacoffee/ https://wordpress.org/plugins/buymeacoffee/), and a feature-rich widget for websites is on its way.
• sidyapa 9y ago
  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 https://buymeacoffee.com/sidyapa
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Yes, that was from us :) Glad you like BMC, @sidyapa! Drop us a line when it's up on your side projects, would love to give it a shout out – https://twitter.com/TheBuyMeACoffee https://twitter.com/TheBuyMeACoffee
• epa 9y ago
  How is this different from 21 or Gofundme
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    BuyMeACoffee is geared towards creators, much like Patreon. Buttons for websites, quick one-click payment, supporter comments, multiple payment options, etc. are some of the differentiators.
• kqr 9y ago
  The way I understand your profit model is that you are, essentially, trying to undercut the competition by operating at a loss until the amount of clients you have surpasses some undisclosed number (or your initial capital runs low?), at which point new customers will have to pay the market rate for your service, and your initial customers still don't pay anything? If you make it far enough to start charging for your services, what incentive do you have to give the initial customers the same level of service as the paying ones? I hope you understand I'm just expressing a healthy level of skepticism, not trying to degrade what looks like an awesome service.
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Very good question, @kqr. Unlike our competitors, BuyMeACoffee is catering to small and big creators alike. Even if we waive the platform fee for the first 100k creators, there is still room for us to make money as there are millions of creators online. By making the entry barrier low, we are hoping to attract the maximum number of creators and initiate a network effect. 90% of our existing users are referred by other creators, directly or from their promotions :)
    • kqr 9y ago
      I probably don't understand quite what you are getting at. If you bear with me, I have an easier time with concrete examples: if I sign up now, and in two years' time, Steve signed up as part of the post-critical mass. So I bring in $0 to you while using your infrastructure, and Steve is also a smallish creator using the infrastructure just as much as me, but bringing in, say, $8 per month, on average. If Steve and I both have trouble, it would make business to prioritise helping Steve, in order to be able to afford helping me, but I'd still be a second-tier user. Why should I believe this will not be the case?
      • josephsunny 9y ago
        Thanks for taking time to explain your point. I understand what you mean. As a consumer product marketed towards masses, it is highly improbable that there will ever occur an event when we have to prioritize one type of users over another. Also, it is wrong to think that creators who we don't charge a platform fee are not valuable to us. Like I mentioned in my previous comment, BuyMeACoffee has an innate virality where each creator who shares his BMC link attract more creators to join the platform, making all our users more or less equally valuable. Does that make sense? I hope this answers your question.
• songzme 9y ago
  Signed up for my non-profit, the onboarding flow was simple and fast: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/LlcnOfXiu https://www.buymeacoffee.com/LlcnOfXiu However, I have a few pointers. During the onboarding flow, I had to fill out the title, description, image / videos. It would be nice to see a layout of how the page would look like so I can determine how these information would be presented to the public and then fill it out according (how much to write, what to write, etc.) In the description, adding url links felt a little clunky. It seems that only single words could be linked, whereas the expected experience is to be able to link multiple words at once. Looking at my created page, I could publish updates. This was a pleasant surprise because I came in expecting a static page. Do you see non-profits as a target audience? Good Job, I like the product. It feels simple.
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Welcome to BuyMeACoffee, @songsze. Good to see that you already started receiving coffees :) - Thanks for the suggestion. Our intention is to make the onboarding process as straightforward as possible and we will look into this. That hyperlink issue could be a glitch. I've added to our Trello. Thanks for noticing. - Glad you liked the updates features. Tip: You can publish exclusive content for your supporters, that's only visible to them after buying you a coffee. - Yes, very much. Several non-profits are already using BuyMeACoffee to raise money. One such is called LittleHandsBigHearts, a small group of people passionate about helping those less fortunate than ourselves on the Island of Bali: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/v4J21UB https://www.buymeacoffee.com/v4J21UB
    • softawre 9y ago
      Just want to say that giving many examples of users of your site with links as replies is a genius way to show off your existing customers. It doesn't feel like spam, more like examples with proof. Good luck!
      • josephsunny 9y ago
        Thank you :)
• BugsJustFindMe 9y ago
  I'm trying to set up an account, but it's stuck on "Creating".
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Can you try again, please? The site was briefly taken down for a server upgrade. It could be that. Let us know if the issue persists.
• jpmoyn 9y ago
  I'm getting a 522 timeout when trying to go to the site. Might be an issue on your end
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Yes, the site was briefly down while we upgraded our servers. Sorry for the trouble!
• WingH 9y ago
  Starbucks used to have something call "Tweet a Coffee" where you could tweet a coffee to someone, and Starbucks would tweet them a link to a gift card where they could redeem it. I used it a lot to replace cold emailing and it did lead to a lot of serendipitous online conversations with decision makers. Starbucks have since removed this feature, so I now just email random people Amazon gift cards instead, hoping they'll respond (which they do, with a very good response rate!) However, for my use case, I would never use this because A) this isn't that serendipitous/random B) There's really no way for me to send a custom message with my email address so I can start a conversation with them, is there?
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Nope, I'm afraid BMC won't work for such a use-case. Neat idea with the Starbucks feature, BTW :)
• bojackstorkman 9y ago
  Too bad caffeine makes me anxious! Jokes aside, I think this is kinda neat. Platforms like this are becoming more and more necessary for a segment of the population. I have been considering taking up a blog or other writing endeavor, but beyond building an audience, paying to keep a domain or hosting can also be an issue. Anyway, I am sure you've heard that before. I will likely be a user, and will provide more feedback once I have used it for its intended purpose (it might be awhile). I do have a question about your policy on "any creator" though. I know a few people that had a bad experience with Patreon/other similar sites because they produced adult content. I do not work in this space, but my understanding has been that this is a pain point for many self-employed content creators. Anecdotally, I have heard from more than one person that systems like this help protect people (disproportionately women) from exploitation in this industry, by giving one autonomy over their finances without having to contract with a studio or whatnot. So, is this an issue that has been adressed in designing this platform? (I know this looks like the ultimate "JUST ASKING FOR A FRIEND!!" post, but I am not in that business, not that anyone should feel ashamed to be.)
• jiojfekjl 9y ago
  I'm a musician who gives their work away for free. I'm intrigued by this. I don't make a living off my music, but I have a small following that supports me in small ways (5 bucks here, 10 bucks there). Can you tell me what the difference is between using this and say, using a paypal donation button? If I use your product, aren't I being charged twice, since you take a cut, and so does paypal / stripe?
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Hi there! 1. Some reasons to switch from PayPal a) Supporter rewards (gift them exclusive content), b) Much friendly way to ask for support than sharing a Paypal.me link or donate button (which also means higher conversion). c) Multiple payment options (Stripe, Paypal and very soon - cryptocurrencies) d) Showcase your goals and the comments left by other supporters. 2. BuyMeACoffee is 100% free for all early users. Of course, the standard credit-card processing fee will be charged, but no other cut is involved. Please drop your BMC link and I'd love to buy your first coffee :)
• bahador 9y ago
  Which Stripe Connect account type are you using (Standard or Express)? And what type of charges are you using (Direct or Custom)?
• purans 9y ago
  Good one!
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Thanks!
• ISL 9y ago
  Does BMC give subscribers an annual 1099 to simplify tax reporting?
  • zaroth 9y ago
    Why would you report income on my tax free gift? Unless someone is giving you more than $7k per year, there’s no quid pro quo here, no contract, no barter, no exchange of goods. Can’t see how this isn’t a tax free gift, but IANAL.
    • ISL 9y ago
      Where is the line between payment and gift, especially if it is in partial exchange for a good/service?
• edent 9y ago
  I'm so glad that you support the UK! But it would be lovely to set the default currency as £ (or €) rather than $.
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    This is a popular request. It was deliberate not to offer multiple currency support. We believe having a unified payment flow will go a long way in improving conversions. Higher conversions = happy creators :) However, we're currently looking into paying creators in their currencies, which will solve half the problem (+ a lot more payment options like Apple Pay, Android Pay, Bitcoin, etc.)
    • edent 9y ago
      So why not offer £ as the default currency for all users? Because you realise that currency conversion is a hassle for your (primarily USA-based) users. Well, guess what! It's a hassle for the majority of the world who don't use the greenback. I don't intuitively know what today's exchange rate is. I suspect you don't either. Ideally, you'd geo-detect the user and offer them a currency suitable to their location. If that's not possible, let creators choose their own currency. If you think I'm making a fuss over nothing, listen to some UK based podcasts. They all end with the hosts asking for a Patreon contribution - and then apologising that it's only available in dollars.
• edanm 9y ago
  A question that immediately popped up in my mind was "how is this different from Patreon?". Searching here, I'm clearly not the only person to ask this, and the answer you gave seems to be "this is for one-time payments rather than recurring payments". It might be worth writing this or conveying this in some way explicitly, since this seems to be your big selling point.
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Good question, @edanm. The differentiator b/w Patreon is more than the one-time donation factor. For one, BuyMeACoffee is geared towards creators of all sizes while Patreon works best for large creators. For one, creators require a Stripe account to use Patreon, which already limits it to the only 25 stripe-supported countries. Secondly, small creators with a passive audience find it hard to get monthly pledges from their supporters. BuyMeACoffee converts best in this case as it's quick, straightforward and requires no sign-up to support a creator. We like to think of BMC as complementary to Patreon than an alternative. We often see creators using BuyMeACoffee alongside Patreon to fulfill the quick one-time donation needs. Hope this clarifies :)
    • buildbuildbuild 9y ago
      Congratulations on your launch, this familiar tipping model warms my heart as a musician who occasionally busks in NYC subways. I'd love to see a "Music" category as well as support for recurring donations. You advertise that it's free, but do Stripe and Paypal's fees get added on on the buyer's side or the receiver's side? Seems unclear. (During checkout is a $5 donation billed as $5 + whatever percent to the donor?)
• ineptech 9y ago
  Looks great! One more piece of feedback, I got an obscure error trying to update page settings (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/page-settings https://www.buymeacoffee.com/page-settings) after having left it open while I went to lunch - presumably something timed out. Reloading and saving worked fine. Error in the console was home/update_page_settings Failed to load resource: the server responded with a status of 403 () Other than that, looks great, thanks! https://www.buymeacoffee.com/ineptech https://www.buymeacoffee.com/ineptech
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Welcome to BMC, @ineptech! We briefly went down to upgrade our server (happy problems!) which should've caused that error. Thanks for noticing! BTW please choose a payout method to make your BMC page public. Waiting to buy your first coffee :)
• viperscape 9y ago
  How does this differ or compete with platforms such as patreon? Also I signed up and it defaulted to Artist, I feel like major category type should be chosen during onboarding. Also, sign in with Google should be a thing I think.
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Thanks for the suggestions, @viperscape. Here's how we differ from Patreon: 1. For one-time payment needs. Only your most loyal followers are likely to go through a sign-up process to pledge a monthly payment. Buy Me A Coffee accepts payments in less a minute, without no commitments or friction. 2. Showcase your goals, and comments left by other supporters. 3. Shareable link, and a much friendly solicitation for support. 4. Multiple payment options. We currently support Paypal, Stripe (Patreon use this) and very soon - Cryptocurrencies too. Hope this clarifies. Cheers!
• ggoss 9y ago
  Quick and simple setup, thanks! https://www.buymeacoffee.com/garrettgoss https://www.buymeacoffee.com/garrettgoss
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Awesome! Welcome to BMC, Garrett. Glad to be your first supporter on the platform.
• bonsai80 9y ago
  @josephsunny I'm curious how the money works out after Paypal/stripe get their cut. From what I've seen transactions run around 3% + $0.30. Operating in small amounts seems like the fees would sink any such effort. Have you found something that works to handle small payments without getting killed on fees for each transaction?
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    You're right, credit card processing fee can add up to a considerable amount while processing micropayments, and this was one of our biggest concerns when we started working on this. However, contrary to what we thought, more than half the payments processed are for more than one coffee. BTW we're currently passing on the card processing fee to supporters.
• oaf357 9y ago
  Having had Buy Me A Coffee promeniently featured on two websites and a newsletter I never had anyone actually contribute a penny. YMMV of course but with a quarter of a million page views you'd think people would have contributed at least once.
  • zaroth 9y ago
    I tried to buy you a coffee, went through Stripe checkout process, got a green check, saw a $1.00 Buymeacoffee charge show up on my iPhone via push notification, and then hit an error message; “We were unable to process your payment right now ! If you encounter this message more than once, please contact support for further assistance Or you can try again“ Went through the whole process again with the same card, didn’t work. Same error. Went through the whole process again with a different card. Still didn’t work. Same non-descript error. So your account in particular may be blacklisted or broken for some reason :-( Sorry, no coffee for you!
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Sorry to hear that. If it's an issue with your account/Stripe, we'd like to investigate it further. Can you please share your BMC page with us: hello [at] buymeacoffee.com / @TheBuyMeACoffee on twitter. As a quick fix, you can choose 'Paypal' as your payout method and start receiving donations.
• adaven_xt 9y ago
  Hahaha. Just last week I was telling my wife I should make a "buy me a coffee" site to learn how to integrate with Stripe and other payment platforms, pad my resume, have a few lulz, and maybe even get a coffee. And... There's already a SaaS for that. Well done.
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Haha, just in time, sir. Thank you, and be sure to share your BMC link when you make one :) Cheers!
• michaelbazos 9y ago
  Love the clear and intuitive interface. Congratulations! Would be nice to have a way to input a free amount, imho. Here is mine: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/michaelbazos https://www.buymeacoffee.com/michaelbazos Cool 404, by the way.
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Thank you, Michael! Just shared your comment (about 404) with our designer :) Welcome to BuyMeACoffee; glad to be your first supporter.
• klistwan 9y ago
  Very easy to get set up! I'm impressed by the design and UX, best of luck! https://buymeacoff.ee/klistwan https://buymeacoff.ee/klistwan
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Thank you so much, Konrad. Glad to welcome you with a coffee! P.S Your platform fee is waived.
• swavaldez 9y ago
  Wonder if you take a loot at Nano Currency? It will take less than a minute for every transaction with zero transaction fee. https://nano.org/en https://nano.org/en
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    We did! We'd like to support multiple cryptocurrencies in a simple, secure and straightforward way. We're looking at CoinBase Commerce and alternatives for this. Thanks for the suggestion!
• ekiara 9y ago
  Nice! very easy on-boarding/signup flow. The only hiccup I had was on the first screen for signup, the Facebook panel is so prominent (while the email signup is far less so) that I thought the only sign-up option was to use a Facebook account... almost closed the tab and moved on. https://buymeacoff.ee/emk https://buymeacoff.ee/emk
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Good suggestion! We have Twitter log-in planned, so we'll have to rework the design anyway. Welcome to BuyMeACoffee!
• asicsp 9y ago
  Stripe doesn't support India yet :( and individuals cannot get donations in our country.. but paying tax is minor issue, need to be able to get money first :-/
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Good news: https://stripe.com/blog/india-private-beta https://stripe.com/blog/india-private-beta We have a lot of users from India, and they use Paypal to receive payments :) Please shoot us an email if you need help with anything - hello [at] buymeacoffee.com Cheers!
    • asicsp 9y ago
      waiting for Stripe to open for all :) regarding paypal, I've only heard of all sorts of complaints using it in India.. guess I'll have to try it myself..
• icarito 9y ago
  Thanks for the offer to waive fees. Please include me https://www.buymeacoffee.com/icarito https://www.buymeacoffee.com/icarito Looking forward to using it. Regards.
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Done! Thanks for trying us out, Sebastian. We're a tweet away if there's anything - https://twitter.com/TheBuyMeACoffee https://twitter.com/TheBuyMeACoffee
• dawnerd 9y ago
  Surprised I was able to get this url: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/troy https://www.buymeacoffee.com/troy Love how slick everything is. Although couple things: - Register page just hung with the spinning icon. Got the activation email but not sure what happened on registration. Guessing it errored. I have adblock so maybe theres something there? - Would be nice to change the amount down to just a buck (hey I'm a cheap date). - Would also be nice to change coffee to something else, as in my case I love tacos ;) - When donating, how are you tracking if I've already donated to someone to show updates? If I don't have an account Im just guessing its cookie based and I'd have to give again if it goes away? Really love just how fast and low friction everything is though.
  • moqster 9y ago
    > Register page just hung with the spinning icon Got that one too. Endless-spinners are one the most annoying stuff in the web. Please check for responses. I got a 403 (checked the network debug tag), probably session/csrf-token timeout...
    • moqster 9y ago
      > www.buymeacoffee.com is currently unable to handle this request. HTTP ERROR 500 Got this on validating my email. Also i can validate my request unlimited times to get unlimited emails. ;-)
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Thank you for the kind words, @dawnerd. Nice URL! - Weird. Shared with the team. We'll look into this right away. - It's the second time we're hearing this today, and we'll definitely consider this. Thanks for the tip! - You're right. You can do it with the buttons though (custom text, font, color, etc.). It's pretty cool :) - Yes, it's cookie-based if the supporter is not logged in. However, we do our best to message properly and redirect them to the exclusive content to avoid any confusion. Thanks for the suggestions!
    • dawnerd 9y ago
• acutesoftware 9y ago
  Looks good, and thanks for waiving the fees - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/acute https://www.buymeacoffee.com/acute My only concern is when I linked my Stripe account it says "buy me a coffee will have access to your data" - no, I assume it doesn't have full access to ALL the stripe data, so that could be clarified. Or at least make it clear that you cant empty my Stripe account :)
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Haha, rest assured we don't have enough access to empty your Stripe account :) It is the permission required to make Stripe Connect work, and we don't store any more data than what's needed. Welcome to BuyMeACoffee, and enjoy your first coffee on the house!
    • acutesoftware 9y ago
      Thanks for clearing that up, and cheers for the coffee! One more suggestion - in 'Create your button' you have HTML or Image options, but it would nice to have a simple github integration for Markdown or RTF (like the other badges). Any plans for this?
• Andrex 9y ago
  Love this idea and the execution is great. Two things you've probably been told already: - No emoji support?? I mean, HN doesn't like them either but still... - The link dialog is all messed up, trying to apply URL rules to the actual text being linked.
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    We love emojis! Supporters always leave comments with emojis. We'll check if we missed to support it somewhere. Link dialog issue - I've passed it on to our developers and we're looking into it. Thank you, Andrex!
• raiichul 9y ago
  I love the name, Buy Me a Coffee. Really simple and catchy. :) A question, is there a way to follow artists? I would love to follow everyone here! https://www.buymeacoffee.com/sen https://www.buymeacoffee.com/sen
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Thank you for the kind words, Sen! You cannot follow artists at the moment, but this something on our roadmap (along with many other community features) and we'll be sure to give it a high priority. BTW please choose a payout method so that I can buy your first coffee :)
• vm 9y ago
  UX edge case for you: I use f.lux which turns makes my laptop screen appear red at night. It makes the $ amount barely visible on the buy buttons. It took me a lot of clicking around to realize that it was even there. I was trying to figure out what the $ amount was for a cup of coffee and surprised that it (seemingly) wasn't listed anywhere! Checkout what it looks like on iOS night shift which has a larger user base.
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    You're right. Many have raised this concern, and we'll be sure to improve its design. Thanks for taking time to share the feedback!
• voltagex_ 9y ago
  Forgot / missed entering the code on signup https://www.buymeacoffee.com/adambaxter https://www.buymeacoffee.com/adambaxter - looks good, although I'd appreciate a dark stylesheet (although it may just be the monitor I'm using at the moment
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Welcome to BuyMeACoffee! Your platform fee is waived. Regarding a darker stylesheet - it's a popular opinion, and we'll look into it. Thank you!
• deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
• vivan 9y ago
  I love this, I'm actually working on something very similar (accepting donations via Stripe/PayPal, but for a completely different niche), and someone (@czue) pointed me to buymeacoffee for inspiration. There are a few weird little niggles with the UI, but otherwise it's very slick. What is the backend? Sadly WhatRuns can't identify it.
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Thanks, Vivan! Our backend is LAMP. WhatRuns is picking up pretty much everything we run. BTW good luck with what you're working on :)
• leejo 9y ago
  Nice, clean, and simple. Created myself a profile: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/leejo https://www.buymeacoffee.com/leejo Feedback - links in bio/descriptions are not clear/intuitive enough perhaps?
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Thank you, Lee! Good to see that you started receiving coffees. Enjoy one on me too! We'll look into the link 'link in bio' suggestion. Thanks!
• zuzuleinen 9y ago
  I love the simplicity of the product! Good luck!
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Thanks, @zuzuleinen. We've tried to keep it minimal from day 1. "Design is how it works" – Jobs.
• Ndymium 9y ago
  Looks nice and simple, I like the graphical style. Unfortunately I cannot try it out as putting the link on my site would be illegal in my country (Finland). Here's hoping we get more sensible laws in the future. :/
  • chopin 9y ago
    I'm curious: Why would this be illegal in Finland?
    • Ndymium 9y ago
      It's against the money collection laws. Basically you have to have a permit to collect donations. That permit costs money itself and has some bureaucracy to it. It's also limited in time so you have to get a new permit after it expires. The only way to get a donation without the permit is if someone proactively asks you how they can give money to you and then you can tell them your bank account number or PayPal or whatever. EDIT: Forgot to mention, the permits are only given to associations and such, not private persons. And even then the processing time for the permit request is 5 to 6 months.
• ivanche 9y ago
  My feedback: 1. "Create your button" seems to have a problem. When I click "Copy HTML Code" or "Copy Image Code" text changes to Copied! but actually doesn't copy anything to clipboard. Windows 10, Firefox 55, uBlock Origin. I also tried without uBlock and it's the same. I think it would be better that the code is actually shown on the form (because I can copy paste it manually then). 2. Edit page, picture choosing - I've chosen a picture which looked OK but after clicking "Save changes" the picture's width/height ratio is changed (it was streched horizontally). So I had to manually resize it in Paint.NET and then upload again. It'd be helpful if some info is added that the picture should have equal height and width. 3. During signup, after presenting the choice of Stripe and PayPal I was confused. My thought process: why I need to choose between Stripe and PayPal? Would you just generate Buy Now button? Will I have to open Stripe account? If somebody wants to donate will he have to have PayPal/Stripe also? At the end I've chosen PayPal. It seems to me this step can be skipped completely and be done after the first donation is received. All in all, excellent job! Good luck!
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Thanks for taking time to write such comprehensive feedback! 1. We were unable to replicate this, but there's the possibility for a compatibility issue. Thanks for noticing. 2. You're right; it can be improved. Noted. 3. I think improving the copy on that page will go a long way in solving the confusion. Currently, it is required for creators to choose a payout method to make the page public. We are using Stripe Connect to facilitate instant payments for creators who select Stripe. So let's say a user did not choose a payout method and started receiving coffees. After receiving a coffee or two, he wanted to use Stripe connect. In this case, we will have to manually pay out his donations thus far before connecting his account to Stripe (and what if it's less than the Paypal minimum threshold of $10?). For a platform that's trying to keep things simple and straightforward, that'd be a whole lot of complications and manual work :) However, I understand that this is not reason enough to ignore a critical UX concern. We'll try our best to come up with something that's efficient and straightforward. Cheers!
• nixballs 9y ago
  Super cool and great UI/UX. Signed up :) https://www.buymeacoffee.com/nixballs https://www.buymeacoffee.com/nixballs
• chkte 9y ago
  How does this compare with PayPal.me?
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Glad you asked! 1) Multiple payment options: Stripe, Paypal and very soon - Cryptocurrencies. 2) Rewards for supporters 3) Showcase goals and comments left by other supporters 4) Friendly solicitation, and beautiful page and buttons.
• stevehawk 9y ago
  doesn't seem to work at all with NoScript. I get some sort of error / what looks like a failed redirect.
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Sorry to hear that. I've passed it on to our developers and we're looking into it. Cheers!
• newscracker 9y ago
  > We plan to charge a 5% platform fee in the future to support future development and expansion. So when a creator receives $100 from supporters, BMC will earn a $5 platform fee. I read a great argument on a HN comment about how a percentage fee looks inappropriate and very expensive when implemented without a cap or ceiling. [1] I'd recommend that this factor be considered and there be a cap or ceiling set on the platform fee. [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16327495 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16327495
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Good point. I'll be sure to bring this up in our next brainstorming session. Thank you!
• tpxl 9y ago
  Hey, the page redirects me to https://www.buymeacoffee.com/'https://www.buymeacoffee.com/?PageSpeed=noscript%27 https://www.buymeacoffee.com/'https://www.buymeacoffee.com/?... when I try to access it which then shows an error of "The URI you submitted has disallowed characters." Changing the URL to https://www.buymeacoffee.com/?PageSpeed=noscript%27 https://www.buymeacoffee.com/?PageSpeed=noscript%27 works. Edit: It redirects to a similar URL when clicking any links on the webpage, so it's broken with noScript enabled.
• ekanes 9y ago
  Slight nitpick but feels relevant: for sites like this, having an about page that doesn't tell you anything about who is behind the site is a miss. Instead of who brought you this, it says, "Join the BuyMeACoffee community". Anonymity is wrong here. Doesn't feel very ... community-esque.
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Excellent point. We never thought of it this way TBH. Thanks for the suggestion! If you like to know more about us, check out our ProductHunt page; it is more personal and transparent - https://www.producthunt.com/posts/buy-me-a-coffee https://www.producthunt.com/posts/buy-me-a-coffee. We also have a LinkedIn page.
• Rhodesia192 9y ago
  As a creator, I'd like to understand the differences between this and Patreon. Why would I use this instead of Patreon?
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Absolutely. 1. For one-time payment needs. Only your most loyal followers are likely to go through a sign-up process to pledge a monthly payment. Buy Me A Coffee accepts payments in less a minute, without no commitments or friction. 2. Showcase your goals, and comments left by other supporters. 3. Shareable link, and a much friendly solicitation for support. 4. Multiple payment options. We currently support Paypal, Stripe (Patreon use this) and very soon - Cryptocurrencies too. Hope this clarifies. Cheers!
• deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
• DpdC 9y ago
  Good job, really!!! I leave my link. I have a small and new blog about web development in Spanish in medium (https://medium.com/mundo-framework https://medium.com/mundo-framework) https://www.buymeacoffee.com/pac https://www.buymeacoffee.com/pac Regards. Good luck, with the project!!!
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Thank you. Love the updates, @DpdC. Welcome to Buy Me A Coffee! Glad to buy your first coffee. Also, your platform fee is waived.
• makecheck 9y ago
  This is very well implemented, and simple to use. I would strongly recommend investing effort in the Search function though. It’s extremely unresponsive: I literally can’t type a full word without it “losing” characters due to background processing. Probably it should wait at least a second before attempting to retrieve any results (assuming I even want instant results, which frankly I do not; a “Start Searching” button would be just fine). Also, it isn’t really clear how search categories work, since there are no drop-down menus in a profile to select a category. In the text field beneath your name that describes what you “do”, are you expected to type the name of a category verbatim to match that category? And if your description doesn’t match any of the categories, does that mean you can’t be “found”? Finally, I find the site very “large” on the desktop; I can see almost nothing without scrolling around. I know a lot of sites have this issue these days but it’d be really nice if you could just fit the minimal content on one screen.
• lamby 9y ago
  Just got my first coffee!
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Awesome! Congrats on your first coffee, @lamby.
• couchridr 9y ago
  Test
• acct1771 9y ago
  I wasn't expecting the copy to be as good as it was this early. The branding, and site, are beautiful. You're onto something. Thanks for the generosity, and best of luck. Stay kind when you get big! https://buymeacoff.ee/DK3 https://buymeacoff.ee/DK3
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Made our day with that comment, @acct1771! Thanks for trying us out, and we promise to remain good and kind as we grow :) Happy to be your first supporter on BMC!
  • acct1771 9y ago
    FYI - "Email verification failed." after clicking the link in the email.
    • josephsunny 9y ago
      We did have an issue with our email service provider (SendInBlue) during the HN launch day. Please try again; and let us know if the issue persists: hello@buymeacoffee.com, @TheBuyMeACoffee. Cheers!
• grzm 9y ago
  Did someone say coffee? I am insufficiently caffeinated. First time trying something like this. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/grzm https://www.buymeacoffee.com/grzm
  • josephsunny 9y ago
    Haha, we did. Welcome to BuyMeACoffee, @grzm. Your platform fee is waived, and I'm glad to buy your first coffee!