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Some context from a post on reddit: I just got a message from Tarsius because I'm sponsoring him. This is what it says: "Recently GitHub announced that GitHub

Some context from a post on reddit: I just got a message from Tarsius because I'm sponsoring him. This is what it says: "Recently GitHub announced that GitHub Sponsors is going to abruptly stop accepting PayPal payments on February 23, 2023. "In the three days since, I have already lost a dozen sponsors. If this continues at this rate, I am going to loose over half my sponsors on this platform. "This is a huge issue for me. These donations are not just a nice extra but how I make a living. I already have to get by with an income that is way below minimal wage, so losing sponsors in great numbers really hurts. I receive about 80% of all donations through Github Sponsors, losing between 50% and 75% of that, would mean I cannot pay my bills anymore. "If you are currently using PayPal, then please take some time to switch to another payment method, either here on GitHub, or by using one of the many other options donation options." My personal opinion as a professional developer and one among many donators is that I couldn't survive my work without the help of Magit. It allows me to be really effective and to find new Git tricks. If you are using Paypal as a payment method in Github, please switch to another way of donating. And if you're not donating, this would be a great time to start. https://magit.vc/donate https://magit.vc/donate - Donate to Magit! https://www.reddit.com/r/emacs/comments/11cezoq/magit_maintainer_tarsius_is_losing_donators_at/ https://www.reddit.com/r/emacs/comments/11cezoq/magit_mainta...

photochemsyn 4y ago
Bizarre rationalization from Github Comms: > "Hi folks - Emma from GitHub here. I completely understand PayPal is the payment provider of choice for some people (in fact that’s how many of us made our own sponsorship payments until very recently), but we’re making this change now so that we can ensure that as much investment as possible goes directly to the maintainers of the open source projects you want to support as well as help us scale GitHub Sponsors so it can support the growing number of maintainers that are now depending on it. As pointed out, we are actively reaching out to the people who currently use PayPal to invest in open source with instructions on how to switch if they want to. We hope you do as the Sponsors community really relies on your investments." I'd guess Microsoft will soon be rolling out their own version of Paypal which will be acceptable, or something like that? Ask the FTC to intervene on anti-competitive practices, maybe.
- captn3m0 4y ago
  GitHub eats the payment processor fees, and passes 100% on to developers. Presumably, they were losing too much money here on PayPal.
  - djbusby 4y ago
    PayPal takes ~3% - doesn't Stripe cost roughly the same?
    - ensignavenger 4y ago
      Github probably has negotiated better rates. Possibly much better with Stripe than PayPal. However, I think passing on PayPal fees would be a better option, then developers could wncourage sponsors to switch over time so they get more.
      - saurik 4y ago
        I mean, I would hope GitHub isn't using Stripe at their scale, but I could also easily see this happening (them negotiating great rates from Stripe, I mean) at their scale and, particularly, their level of prestige and since it will be used by developers. For anyone else, though: please note that PayPal is cheaper than Stripe, with bulk rates that kick in sooner and support for a special micropayments tier on smaller tickets (though this option isn't quite as good as it used to be; I'm grandfathered in ;P). Stripe frankly gets away with a lot on price simply due to being the "darling" of developers, who don't necessarily check and often refuse to negotiate no matter the cost to their bottom line (see how expensive people assume Akamai is ;P). I was shocked how much Stripe wanted to charge for AliPay, as an example, as if you work with AliPay Global directly (instead of going through Stripe) the cost is 3% with no flat fee, while Stripe decided to keep their $0.30 "I don't know what I am doing I just want it to work" fee.
  - justinclift 4y ago
    PayPal has a pretty shitty reputation too. Perhaps GitHub have been on the receiving end of PayPal doing dodgy shit once too often, and are now going to do something about it.
blooalien 4y ago
And if you cannot donate money, donate time. Bug reports, documentation, helping other users, pull requests (if you're a coder), even just spreading the word… If you love any given open source project, you should try to find some way to contribute to helping it improve if you're at all able.

photochemsyn 4y ago

Bizarre rationalization from Github Comms: > "Hi folks - Emma from GitHub here. I completely understand PayPal is the payment provider of choice for some people (in fact that’s how many of us made our own sponsorship payments until very recently), but we’re making this change now so that we can ensure that as much investment as possible goes directly to the maintainers of the open source projects you want to support as well as help us scale GitHub Sponsors so it can support the growing number of maintainers that are now depending on it. As pointed out, we are actively reaching out to the people who currently use PayPal to invest in open source with instructions on how to switch if they want to. We hope you do as the Sponsors community really relies on your investments." I'd guess Microsoft will soon be rolling out their own version of Paypal which will be acceptable, or something like that? Ask the FTC to intervene on anti-competitive practices, maybe.

captn3m0 4y ago
GitHub eats the payment processor fees, and passes 100% on to developers. Presumably, they were losing too much money here on PayPal.
- djbusby 4y ago
  PayPal takes ~3% - doesn't Stripe cost roughly the same?
  - ensignavenger 4y ago
    Github probably has negotiated better rates. Possibly much better with Stripe than PayPal. However, I think passing on PayPal fees would be a better option, then developers could wncourage sponsors to switch over time so they get more.
    - saurik 4y ago
      I mean, I would hope GitHub isn't using Stripe at their scale, but I could also easily see this happening (them negotiating great rates from Stripe, I mean) at their scale and, particularly, their level of prestige and since it will be used by developers. For anyone else, though: please note that PayPal is cheaper than Stripe, with bulk rates that kick in sooner and support for a special micropayments tier on smaller tickets (though this option isn't quite as good as it used to be; I'm grandfathered in ;P). Stripe frankly gets away with a lot on price simply due to being the "darling" of developers, who don't necessarily check and often refuse to negotiate no matter the cost to their bottom line (see how expensive people assume Akamai is ;P). I was shocked how much Stripe wanted to charge for AliPay, as an example, as if you work with AliPay Global directly (instead of going through Stripe) the cost is 3% with no flat fee, while Stripe decided to keep their $0.30 "I don't know what I am doing I just want it to work" fee.
- justinclift 4y ago
  PayPal has a pretty shitty reputation too. Perhaps GitHub have been on the receiving end of PayPal doing dodgy shit once too often, and are now going to do something about it.

blooalien 4y ago

And if you cannot donate money, donate time. Bug reports, documentation, helping other users, pull requests (if you're a coder), even just spreading the word… If you love any given open source project, you should try to find some way to contribute to helping it improve if you're at all able.