The elephant in the room in the migration away from #Substack is the payments gateway IMHO
Substack uses #Stripe. Move to WordPress? The payments platform is Stripe. The European platform Kessel.media? Stripe. I haven't seen *any* alternative, have you? Please share!
Stripe takes more or less a 5% cut per transaction. It's available in many countries but not all. It requires you have some sort of company or legal entity to receive the money. Not criticising it but, are there other options?
@rafa_font Not sure if this would be a suitable alternative, but I know other content creators who use ko-fi. From what I understand, they don't charge fees.
@TheLastofHisName Thanks. I knew of ko-fi but didn't know in detail how they worked. I'm reading in their site that they don't charge fees for donations, but for regular subscriptions they charge up to 5% too, plus credit card fees (if applicable)
Another (potential) drawback: how to integrate with your writing platform. How do I write a post only for subscribers? I have to use ko-fi to write then
Anyway, good to keep in mind as it's a potential first step to start monetising content. Thanks!
Wise is very good in my experience.
@lionelb I see that Wise was started in Estonia, it's now based in UK, and it seems to charge fees starting at 0.43%. It sounds very interesting! https://wise.com/
Also converts currencies very simply at the best rate.
@rafa_font Got a card number for one. Colleague recommended for china visits. A backed card tends to clear better than ones requiring a check.
@rafa_font Plus, of course, Stripe has no issue handling payments and taking a cut from Nazi content either.
Which shouldn't be a surprise. It's investors include both Elon Musk and Peter Thiel individually, and Thiel again via his Founders Fund. The former is a notable white supremacist, the latter is a fascist.
We definitely need alternatives to Stripe.
we need a decentralized solution. an open banking protocol. anything being worked on @w3c?
@rafa_font
WordPress uses Woo Commerce.
Liberapay is another option.