Comments on: Like Chris Meadows’s work? Tip him directly via PayPal

By: idiotprogrammer

idiotprogrammer — Tue, 16 May 2017 19:59:25 +0000

Book marketing expert Derek Murphy has a good video about the downside of crowdfunding .

By: Chris Meadows

Chris Meadows — Tue, 02 May 2017 19:21:22 +0000

At the moment, my Paypal account is still personal; I’m honestly expecting to receive few enough tips that hopefully they won’t take any notice of it.

If that changes, I suppose I can always look into Patreon. I do have a Patreon account, but the process of setting up a Patreon page seems kind of intimidating—setting goals and such, and committing to meeting those goals in return for people subscribing. I barely even know what I’m going to be doing from one day to the next.

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By: David Rothman

David Rothman — Tue, 02 May 2017 17:50:38 +0000

@Robert: Big thanks for the information on fees. As for Chris, he’s an artist in his own way. We’ll use whatever tipping arrangement he prefers, if at all possible. David

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By: idiotprogrammer

idiotprogrammer — Tue, 02 May 2017 17:42:20 +0000

At the risk of being a gadfly here, I think it’s harder for people to decide to support journalists and commentators than people who are engaged in an explicitly artistic activity. (I can count only a handful who have actually succeeded, and they have been high profile bloggers — Andrew Sullivan and Dahr Jamail). Something is better than nothing though, so there’s no harm in trying at least. This is sad because writing encompasses a lot of different genres which are hard in their different ways.

That said, I love Chris’s writings, and I think the idea of showing your support for quality work is important. (I only wish more people made it easier to figure it out how to tip them). Given the perilous state of journalism these days, I think it’s important for people to set a yearly dollar amount to pledge to indie artists and writers.

With regard to Nate’s points about paypal fees, the transaction fees are more like 3.4% + $0.30 https://www.paypal.com/np/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_display-receiving-fees-outside . Larger tips are reasonable. If you tip 10$, the transaction fee is 6.4%. If you tip $20, it is slightly less than 5%.

I have only looked briefly into Patreon, but I like the fact that it gives you access to patron emails and allows you to provide special benefits. Transaction fees are 5%.

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By: David Rothman

David Rothman — Sun, 30 Apr 2017 22:41:10 +0000

In reply to Nate Hoffelder.

@Nate: I really appreciated hearing that your facts come from your own experiences. I wonder if the charges jibe with PayPal policy—you and/or Chris should still check to see if PayPal can skip the deductions. Thirty-three percent is outrageous; what determines the rate? Micro payments, especially as tips for otherwise voluntary work, should be much lower. Thirty-three percent is an outrageous gouge. Perhaps since we’re not accepting ads, TeleRead can more easily qualify for the no-fee personal transaction category.

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By: Nate Hoffelder

Nate Hoffelder — Sun, 30 Apr 2017 22:33:58 +0000

Clarification: I take donations through Paypal. They charge me between 5% and 33%.

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By: David Rothman

David Rothman — Sun, 30 Apr 2017 22:28:24 +0000

@Nate: Big thanks for the info. What’s the source? The percentage? That sucks. Is there any way Chris could just come up with a PayPal address without any deductions? Happy for him to switch to Patreon if he’ll do better there.

Wait. Here’s some information I quickly Googled up. It’s for nonprofits qualifying for tax deductions. In that sense TeleRead is not a nonprofit. Meanwhile here’s some unofficial info for individual bloggers without mention of deductions. I could still be missing something. Best thing would be for Chris to reach PayPal to nail this down for sure.

Thanks,
David

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By: Nate Hoffelder

Nate Hoffelder — Sun, 30 Apr 2017 22:10:16 +0000

Chris would be better off with a Patreon. Paypal takes a huge chunk of donations.

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