Brewing Success: Pouring Over The Pros and Cons of Ko-fi for Artists
I believe those who have heard of Ko-fi think of it as a tipping jar mostly for Twitch Streamers, but did you know you can run your small business on Ko-fi? Ko-fi.com is a platform that allows creators and small businesses to receive support and donations from fans, customers, followers, your mom you name it and they can tip or donate a coffee, but Ko-fi is so much more than that.
Note: Before I begin let me start by saying I am not sponsored by Ko-fi.com…I wish!
Pros of Ko-fi
Easy to use
Ko-fi is very straightforward. It only took me a couple of minutes to set up an account and start my page/profile. And if you still need help they have guides to walk you through all of your questions.
No Membership Fees…If You Want
If you read my previous blog post you know I hate fees. It was my number one reason for leaving Etsy. Ko-fi offers a free plan and a gold upgrade paid plan. More about the upgrade plan later.
Direct Support
If you’re like me and need constant gratification and assurance that you’re doing something good I direct you to the Ko-fi tip jar. Ko-fi allows customers and fans of your content to show their love and support for you by donating or tipping a coffee or whatever you would like to change it to! I have mine set for sugary treats because I’m sorry I would much rather have a cookie or a cupcake or a slice of cake or a dozen donuts. *Insert shameless sentence about my tip jar here*
Selling Digital Content
The one thing I miss about Etsy was that I was able to sell digital content. When I decided to leave Etsy I didn’t think it would be difficult to find a website to sell my digital content from. It was. So many websites either want you to sell physical items or digital or they want to charge you extra to sell both! Well not Ko-fi! They let you sell physical and digital items with no extra charge or monthly fee or sacrifice to the gods.
Upgrade Cost
Etsy has an upgrade that costs $10. Bigcartel costs $10 just to put your products up and Shopify…we won’t talk about Shopify. Ko-fi has a gold upgrade that includes 0% fees on commission sales, 0% fees on memberships and 0% fees for shop sales! And that’s just fees we won’t go into detail about all the other fancy schmancy features Ko-fi gold offers! Now is where we crunch numbers. I’m sure you’re already dreading the price I’m about to tell you considering all the zeros you’re seeing. I’ll give you a hint, it’s not $10! It’s actually only $8 a month. $8 for zero fees?! Sign me up! *Inserts shameless sentence about CuteNomz Shop here*
So I’ve told you all about the pros of Ko-fi and you’re ready to put your roots down and set up shop! WAIT! I now present to you the cons of Ko-fi.
Cons of Ko-fi
Limited Payment Options
It seems that Ko-fi primarily relies on Paypal as a payment processor and as a small business Paypal is not my favorite. Mainly because of the fees. Are we surprised? I really hate fees. I am not the greatest mathematician in the world, so when I see things that say they take 5% or %12 or even 25% my brain has no clue what these mean. So I try to put it in terms that I, a D+ numbers make me sweat, can understand. Let’s say you have a customer who bought an item for $2.00 through paypal you will receive $1.31 and that’s not taking into consideration the 5% that Ko-fi will take if you don’t upgrade (which you really should). All this goes to say that this is really Paypals fault.Paypal do better!
Limited Marketing Tools
When you have your own website you can do email marketing, text messages, pop-ups, and encourage people to leave reviews. With Ko-fi unfortunately you are limited to what Ko-fi has to offer. You also have to drive your own traffic which can be harder some days than others.
So Who Do You Recommend Ko-fi For?
I recommend Ko-fi for anyone who wants to break away from Etsy. I think it can be a good starter platform considering you’ll be driving your own traffic.I think it’s good for business owners who are just starting or for business owners who are sick of moving from website to website trying to find the right place. *Insert picture of me*
I hope these pros and cons help you make the right decision. If you find these tips useful please consider tipping, sharing this post or checking out my shop!
Tip Jar/CuteNomz Shop: https://ko-fi.com/cutenomz
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