Title: Buy Me a Coffee is stealing from creators! They refunded $293.68 of my hard earned money to donors AFTER I paid for the servers.
I am a web administrator for several manga platforms. I used Buy Me a Coffee to collect support to cover my server costs (Contabo) and CDN fees (Cloudflare).
The Issue:
After accumulating $293.68, I requested a payout. They reviewed my account, admitted I have hosting expenses, but decided to DEACTIVATE my account and REFUND all the money back to donors under the guise of 'Copyright Violation'.
Why this is a scam:
They allowed me to collect money for months and took their fees.
They only cared about 'copyright' when it was time for me to withdraw.
I have already paid out-of-pocket for the infrastructure to provide the content. By refunding the money, they are making me pay for the audience's 'free' access.
They admitted in an email: We recognize that you may have already incurred hosting or infrastructure expenses However, we are unable to override the refund process.
Basically, they decided I should work and pay for servers for free. Avoid Buy Me a Coffee if you are a creator They will wait until you have a balance and then refund it to look like heroes at your expense.