Recently, Buy Me a Coffee announced it would no longer support PayPal for donations or membership fees. This has made me wonder whether I need to move my audience to a new platform. In my world, PayPal supersedes Stripe in a few distinct ways.

Now, I’m not necessarily saying that one is better than the other. People are going to have their own preferred methods for digital transactions.

However, this move does make things a bit more difficult for me and what I’m trying to build.

Why I’d Rather Use PayPal Over Stripe

In reality, I’ve had my PayPal account since 2003. And over nearly two decades, I’ve never had a problem. In fact, when someone stole my debit card info and tapped my account, they refunded all of the money within a day.

So, it’s safe to say that my experiences with PayPal have been top-notch. Of course, I do know of a few who had a less than ideal experience with PayPal.

Remember, this is all based on my personal experience. Everyone will have a difference of opinion.

Instant Access to the Money

When someone buys me a coffee or otherwise tips me, I have instant access to the money in PayPal. This is convenient should I have something come up or if I need to buy something before I forget.

Now, not everyone has instant access to funds like I do. After all, I have a PayPal debit card linked to my account, which I’ll go over in a moment.

I also pay professionals from my PayPal account with ease. For example, I can send money instantly to my writers once any amount hits my account.

Stripe Takes a Week to Move Money?!?

One thing that I like about Stripe is being able to automatically move money to my bank. However, does it really take a week to do so?

With PayPal, it says 3 to 5 business days, but I rarely see it take longer than 2. Not to mention I can easily “Instant Transfer” funds at a bit of a cost.

Still, you’d think being in the digital age, companies would have a more efficient system to move cash from one location to another.

PayPal is More Widely Accepted than Stripe

PayPal is simply more widely accepted than Stripe, both online and off. Nearly every store I go to in my area accepts PayPal.

Again, I am able to buy what I need almost immediately.

I know there are quite a few online places that accept Stripe. Aside from PayPal, it’s one of the more popular online transaction platforms.

But not everything in my life is online.

I Have a PayPal Business Debit Card

The PayPal Business Mastercard is perhaps the most used in my wallet. It’s accepted anywhere that has the Mastercard emblem, which is everywhere I shop.

In fact, the vast majority of my bills come out of my PayPal account through that debit card. The only time I really move money to the bank is to pay Home Depot or put it into savings.

In some cases, you can use the Stripe Issuing platform. Yet, it costs more than getting the debit card from PayPal.

Is Stripe Better than PayPal?

As I said, this is more than likely going to be a case of personal preference. Both platforms offer quite a bit in terms of handling online transactions.

Still, I’d prefer PayPal over Stripe. Although one of Buy Me a Coffee’s arguments centered around being cheaper to use Stripe, I have yet to see it make a difference.

In fact, comparing the last transactions demonstrated it is $0.15 more expensive for me to use Stripe per $3 “coffee.” Now, that may not sound like a lot. But when your goal is to grow, it adds up pretty damn fast.

Since I opted to pay the fees myself instead of my Buy Me a Coffee supporters, the only one affected is me. Shouldn’t I have the choice where my money goes?

Will I Move from Buy Me a Coffee?

I’ve been on the fence now for quite some time between Buy Me a Coffee and Ko-Fi. I decided to stick with BMC as that’s where my audience is centered at the moment.

Yet, Ko-Fi has a lot going for it, especially in terms of design and development. Removing PayPal from BMC just might be the catalyst to move everything over.

So, I am still debating the pros and cons of both and whether I should stay at BMC. Not being able to use PayPal and being forced to use Stripe is a big drawback for me.

The hardest part is the logistics of moving monthly members from one platform to another. It’s not impossible, but it will require a great deal of work.

For now, I’ll have to spend some time weighing the options.

What Digital Platform Do You Use for Accepting Payments?

As a creator, you have a long list of platforms you can use to make money. For example, a lot of YouTubers will use Patreon while others might use something like OnlyFans.

Regardless, you do have a lot of possibilities. The hardest part is picking and sticking with one that is conducive to what you’re trying to build.