SUBSTACK 101 KICKSTART — Monetization 2 -The fastest way to start monetizing outside the Substack subscription model is to build your own Stripe payment links. Why? If you have decided to offer paid subscriptions for your Substack, you must have signed up with Stripe and now own a Stripe account. Therefore, using this account for your monetizations, in addition to your subscription model, is easy. First, let’s look at the prices we must pay for Stripe here on Substack and elsewhere. It sounds great — 2.9% of the transaction plus $0.30 in the US. Let’s do the math: $1 payment: 2.9% → $0.03 + $0.30 → $0.33 → 33.0% fee - $2 payment: 2.9% → $0.06 + $0.30 → $0.36 → 18.0% fee - $3 payment: 2.9% → $0.09 + $0.30 → $0.39 → 13.0% fee - $4 payment: 2.9% → $0.12 + $0.30 → $0.42 → 10.5% fee - $5 payment: 2.9% → $0.15 + $0.30 → $0.45 → 9.0% fee - $10 payment: 2.9% → $0.29 + $0.30 → $0.59 → 5.9% fee - On top of this, you pay various surcharges: 1.5% for international cards, fraud prevention, and more charges. My experience with international charges is that you always end up above 5%, sometimes 6%. Plus 30 Cents. So for international charges - and that is much more than you believe — the math looks this way: $1 payment: 5.5% → $0.06 + $0.30 → $0.36 → 36.0% fee - $2 payment: 5.5% → $0.11 + $0.30 → $0.41 → 21.0% fee - $3 payment: 5.5% → $0.16 + $0.30 → $0.46 → 15.3% fee - $4 payment: 5.5% → $0.22 + $0.30 → $0.52 → 13.0% fee - $5 payment: 5.5% → $0.28 + $0.30 → $0.58 → 11.9% fee - $10 payment: 5.5% → $0.55 + $0.30 → $0.85 → 8.5% fee - For international payments, small transactions always cause costs beyond 10%. Is it advisable to pay such high fees? I don’t recommend this in general for monetization, but occasionally, there are scenarios where it can make sense. Some may even say I'm not concerned about the fees because they have higher price tags, which reduce the percentage of fees. I recommend setting up some payment links because they can always be a good backup solution when other solutions fail, which we will cover in the next episodes.
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Build your own Stripe Payment-Links
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SUBSTACK 101 KICKSTART — Monetization 2 -The fastest way to start monetizing outside the Substack subscription model is to build your own Stripe payment links. Why? If you have decided to offer paid subscriptions for your Substack, you must have signed up with Stripe and now own a Stripe account. Therefore, using this account for your monetizations, in addition to your subscription model, is easy. First, let’s look at the prices we must pay for Stripe here on Substack and elsewhere. It sounds great — 2.9% of the transaction plus $0.30 in the US. Let’s do the math: $1 payment: 2.9% → $0.03 + $0.30 → $0.33 → 33.0% fee - $2 payment: 2.9% → $0.06 + $0.30 → $0.36 → 18.0% fee - $3 payment: 2.9% → $0.09 + $0.30 → $0.39 → 13.0% fee - $4 payment: 2.9% → $0.12 + $0.30 → $0.42 → 10.5% fee - $5 payment: 2.9% → $0.15 + $0.30 → $0.45 → 9.0% fee - $10 payment: 2.9% → $0.29 + $0.30 → $0.59 → 5.9% fee - On top of this, you pay various surcharges: 1.5% for international cards, fraud prevention, and more charges. My experience with international charges is that you always end up above 5%, sometimes 6%. Plus 30 Cents. So for international charges - and that is much more than you believe — the math looks this way: $1 payment: 5.5% → $0.06 + $0.30 → $0.36 → 36.0% fee - $2 payment: 5.5% → $0.11 + $0.30 → $0.41 → 21.0% fee - $3 payment: 5.5% → $0.16 + $0.30 → $0.46 → 15.3% fee - $4 payment: 5.5% → $0.22 + $0.30 → $0.52 → 13.0% fee - $5 payment: 5.5% → $0.28 + $0.30 → $0.58 → 11.9% fee - $10 payment: 5.5% → $0.55 + $0.30 → $0.85 → 8.5% fee - For international payments, small transactions always cause costs beyond 10%. Is it advisable to pay such high fees? I don’t recommend this in general for monetization, but occasionally, there are scenarios where it can make sense. Some may even say I'm not concerned about the fees because they have higher price tags, which reduce the percentage of fees. I recommend setting up some payment links because they can always be a good backup solution when other solutions fail, which we will cover in the next episodes.