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.
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).
Meet Jo Qatana. A small-time embroidery artist who's making ends meet with BuyMeACoffee. She's one such creator who's receiving donations from her audience on a regular basis.
"Thanks to the Generosity of Strangers, and Friends, I've made a car insurance payment and can finally buy the supplies I need for my @PPact fundraising item. I am So Very Grateful." - https://twitter.com/joqatana/status/951943659301187584
'Buy Me A Coffee' is just a friendly way to ask for support, and do not suggest the size or consistency of support one could receive. Contributions very well depend on one's audience and creativity.
I'm a bit late to the party, I just wanted to say how much more appealing this type of donation request is vs wikipedia's extreme guilt trip of "if 1% of people who viewed this page in the next 5 minutes donated a dollar, [..]"
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...
100% agreed.
I'd never use this type of donation service because it doesn't seem serious enough. The artist that side has to ask people to "buy me a coffee" is not the kind of artist that takes it seriously, and, say, uses art station and has a complete portfolio. "Buy me a coffee" just sounds unproffesional.
When I first saw this in tumblr, I thought: "I wouldn't want to be the artist that needs charity to survive". It's like Patreon without responsabilities or commitment...It just feels childish.
I get your point, but BuyMeACoffee is more than just a tipping platform. Creators can reward their supporters, showcase supporter comments (which is often more rewarding than the money itself) and much more.
MrDots is a game developer who gives away game codes to supporters. He raised $1300 within a day after sharing it with his audience: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Zc2ryTOpw.
This is just one of many use-cases where BMC can be used effectively :)
> I get your point, but BuyMeACoffee is more than just a tipping platform. Creators can reward their supporters, showcase supporter comments (which is often more rewarding than the money itself) and much more.
maybe you're right, but the home page certainly doesn't convey that. It's "A free, fast and friendly way to accept donations" ... doesn't mention anything about rewarding supporters, showcasing comments, or anything like that.
I don't really understand the point - in most interpretations of artist I've come to find, the creation of the art is detached from the financial reward, thus it neither contributes to or detracts from the artist's worth how/how much they take as contributions?
There's a huge difference between using something for free, and paying for it, however small an amount it was.
To myself, I often justify paying for something I can otherwise have for free (or not have at all, especially if it's supporting a campaign) by thinking "I would not think twice if I were to get a cup of coffee for this amount. So instead of buying a coffee for myself, I'll send $5 towards ____".
Another aspect of this branding it that it reminds people that there are are actual, real people behind the things they enjoy, be it art, software, or political activism. That their money, no matter how small, will go towards an actual person and can have an actual, tangible benefit to that person.
"Give me money so I can support myself" is a scary message - I certainly don't to take on that burden, and I'd automatically think: how much difference $4 would make on the scale of paying rent?
"Buy me a coffee", on the other hand, makes the contributor feel that that their contribution is both personal and tangible. Sending $4 will, in fact, allow the recipient to buy a cup of coffee.
Additionally, this makes the contribution focus on the positive impact, rather than the negative impact due to lack of contributions.
It's the same reason why some homeless people in SF have signs saying "I won't lie, it's for beer" -- because for a lot of people, it's much more pleasant to throw a buck for a beer and know that it's their guilt-free choice to do so than to be guilted into doing it.
In short, why so serious - literally? And kudos to the people who make parting with money a happier, easier experience.
Going after the low end can be a good strategy, since the established competition usually ignores that market segment. Speaking as someone who might be in that low end demographic (a musician looking for tips), I like the branding, since it makes donation seem more intimate, more casual than "patron."
One thing to keep in mind, though, is that Patreon has tons of existing users. I'd imagine there's a lot less friction to adding a pledge to a new person if you're already on the platform and they have your payment info, than if you need to ask them to sign up for a new platform which they might not have heard of before.
Just because somebody is paying the amount of a coffee, that doesn't mean they're marginalizing your efforts. It just means we've reached a point in our technology where now paying barely anything is possible across a large number of people.
Also "buy me a coffee" is much more palatable than "help pay for my house". If you say "help pay my rent" people might feel cheap for giving you $4/mo and choose to give zero
"Remember the milk" managed to overcome this, but cockroachdb might not. Either way, it's a good point.
That said, (a) one $4 latte once per month is $48/year, and (b) maybe the intent is to emphasize a casual, small-dollar vibe, making it less intimidating than something that conjures "accounting" and "finance"?
Interested on implementing it myself for a project. I would really appreciate if you could share some numbers. How many donating (% from visitors), avg amount etc. Any stats would help. Thank you.
What approach do you take? I'd be interested in knowing b/c I often have ideas that might benefit from that funding model and I usually wind up thinking "nah, that could never work".
Not everything is made to receive $40 annually. With $40 annually you must be rolling in the cash and I should start taking serious financial advice from you. What's your secret? "for the price of one starbucks a month?"
Some people use buy me a coffee, literally to show that they are s-o-c-i-a-l and want to meet for a c-o-f-f-e-e, whether over the wire or over the table.
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.