One of the reasons why you might get into the world of Twitch streaming is to make money.
There are people who make their entire living from their Twitch stream, whether they are gaming, performing crazy stunts or simply reviewing.
Streamers earn money through donations from their viewers. If you have already started your own channel and have started to grow your audience, then you might be wondering how much of your money goes to Twitch.
Well, in short, there is no way that Twitch makes a profit from your donations. There are things called ‘bits’, which are basically cheering points that you purchase to support your favorite channels.
Twitch takes 30% of these bits. But how does this system work? Read on to find out.
Twitch And Donations – The Full Story
You’ll be glad to know that Twitch takes nothing from donations and makes it explicit that this is what it does when you sign up to Twitch and set up a donation box.
Twitch just acts as a platform that will allow streamers to create a channel and have people subscribe to it, donating cash and bits as they see fit.
Most of these donations are made through PayPal, which is the fastest and safest system that they can use for processing donations such as bits, gift cards and financial transactions.
This is what makes it so appealing to Twitch steamers, the fact that you can reap the most profits from your online platform and build up a following. But will there be any fees that you have to pay to receive this money?
PayPal Fees For Receiving Donations
While Twitch might not make a cut from the money that is being transferred to you, PayPal receives a fee for making such transactions. But what are these fees?
Currently, PayPal charges a flat rate of $0.49 to make transactions and will charge you around 2.89% per transaction that you make. This will affect the amount of money that will be donated to you.
For example, if you take a donation of around $2 from your Twitch stream, you will receive $1.94 from PayPal. If somebody donates $200 to your Twitch stream, you will receive $194.22. This is still a significant profit.
However, if the idea of you having to pay these fees does not appeal to you, then you can always go through other mediums that do not charge you that much cash. Here are a few other payments methods that Twitch streamers use.
Paying Through Cash App And Venmo
A lot of people want to circumvent some of the fees that PayPal charge, which is why they post their Cash App or Venmo link to their Twitch bio.
Cash App charges a much lower amount for transactions. This can range anywhere between 0.5% and 0.75% of the amount of the transaction.
However, you can select an option where you pay no fee whatsoever, although you will have to wait for 3 days for the transaction to be completed.
Venmo does not require any charges to send you money, provided you are transferring it from another Venmo account, your debit card, or a bank account.
The only charge that is incurred through Venmo is if you are transferring from a credit card, at which point you will be charged 3% of the transaction amount.
How Can I Set Up Donations On My Twitch?
Here is a simple step-by-step process for setting up your Twitch donations:
- Start by linking your Twitch account to Steamlabs.
- Go to the left-hand corner of your Twitch channel and click on the ‘Account’ button in the bottom left-hand corner.
- In the account tab, click on ‘settings’ and then ‘donation settings’.
- Click on the service that you want to use to accept donations e.g. PayPal.
- Now connect the payment system that you plan on using with your Streamlabs. Once you have acquired this link then post it on your Twitch account page.
That’s all that you need to do. Now this link is in your Twitch panel, anyone looking to make any money from this will only have to click this link on the front page to donate.
You’ll want to make it as simple as possible for your followers to donate to you.
Once you get into the donations page, your followers should see a few different options. The default option is the ability to be able to make a one-off donation. However, you can stick to making a monthly donation.
You can add gifs to your donation alerts, which is great if you want to personalize them. This is your follower’s way of indicating that they have donated to you.
Twitch Affiliates – Do I Have To Be One To Make A Donation?
No, if you want to receive donations, you just must be a Twitch user, you don’t have to set up another account or become an Affiliate. Your Twitch payments will be sent straight to your Steamlabs account.
The best method of donating to your favorite Twitch streamers is through bits and subs. This is kept in-house at Twitch and does not require you to set up a payment method that might incur additional fees.
Alternative Donation Platforms for Twitch Streamers
While Twitch offers a built-in donation system through its platform, many streamers prefer to offer their viewers additional options to support them. Here are some alternative ways Twitch streamers can receive donations outside of the Twitch platform:
PayPal
PayPal is a popular payment platform that allows users to send and receive money online. Twitch streamers can set up a PayPal account and share their PayPal.me link with their viewers, allowing them to donate directly to their account.
Patreon
Patreon is a membership platform that allows creators to receive recurring payments from their fans or supporters, known as “patrons.” Twitch streamers can set up a Patreon page and offer exclusive perks or benefits to their patrons in exchange for their support.
Ko-fi
Ko-fi is a platform that allows creators to receive one-time donations, or “coffees,” from their supporters. Twitch streamers can set up a Ko-fi page and share their link with their viewers, who can then donate as much or as little as they’d like.
Streamlabs
Streamlabs is a donation platform specifically designed for Twitch streamers. It allows streamers to receive donations via PayPal, credit cards, and other payment methods. Streamlabs also offers tools such as donation alerts and overlays to help streamers engage with their viewers.
Donorbox
Donorbox is a donation platform that supports various payment methods such as credit card, PayPal, and Google Pay. Twitch streamers can set up a Donorbox page and share the link with their viewers, who can then donate to support their channel.
How Can You Keep Track Of Your Donors?
There are extensions that you can download that will rank your top donors and help you keep track of any messages that they’ve sent you.
You can also gift subs to some of your contributors, which is a great way of exchanging appreciation and incentivizing them to donate in the future.
You should always be considering what methods you can use to increase your subscribers and build your own community.
Conclusion
As we have mentioned above, Twitch will not take a fee from the donations that you make, which is great for giving you the lion’s share.
However, you might have to shop around when it comes to cash transactions, as companies like PayPal, Venmo and Cash App have different fees.