Buy me a coffee Referral Code

This is not a sign-up bonus. It is a standing percentage of what the person you referred goes on to earn, which makes it a different kind of arrangement entirely.

Read the structure before the number, because this is not a referral bonus in the ordinary sense. There is no bonus for signing up, and for every person you refer who creates an account and receives their first payment, you earn a 5% commission on their lifetime earnings.

So you are not paid for an introduction. You are paid a standing percentage of someone else's income, for as long as they keep earning. That is a materially different thing from the $20-for-a-signup schemes elsewhere in this category, and deserves to be understood on its own terms rather than compared on size.

First, the good news, and it is genuinely good. Buy Me a Coffee's own platform fee is a flat 5% per transaction — the same number as the referral commission. That strongly suggests the commission is paid out of the platform's existing fee rather than added on top of it, meaning the creator you refer does not pay more because you referred them.

If that is right, it removes the objection that would otherwise be fatal here — that you would be profiting by making a friend's platform more expensive. It is an inference drawn from two figures matching rather than a statement from the company, so confirm it before relying on it. But it is the single most important question to ask, and asking it is the point: does my commission come out of their money, or out of the platform's?

Now the part that still requires care, because it does not go away. Even if it costs them nothing, you have an ongoing financial interest in a friend's career earnings — and they do not know unless you tell them. Three consequences worth thinking through:

1. Disclose it. "If you sign up through my link, I get a small ongoing cut — the platform pays it, not you" is one sentence. Someone who discovers a permanent commission arrangement later, having never been told, will reasonably feel differently about it than someone who was asked.
2. Notice what it does to your advice. You now have a financial reason to recommend this platform over alternatives, and a reason to encourage a friend to monetise rather than not to. Neither is necessarily wrong — but say it, and then give the advice you would have given anyway.
3. Think about scale. On a creator earning a few pounds a month, 5% is pennies and the arrangement is trivial. On someone who becomes genuinely successful, it becomes a meaningful sum drawn from their work indefinitely — and that is the case where an undisclosed arrangement would be hardest to explain.

The arithmetic, so you can size it honestly. 5% of lifetime earnings sounds enormous and usually is not. Most people who set up a creator page earn very little: a handful of one-off payments, then quiet. Five per cent of £200 a year is £10 a year. The distribution here is extremely skewed — a small number of creators earn most of the money — so the expected value of one referral is close to nothing, and the occasional referral is worth a great deal. Do not plan around the tail.

And the honest word on the platform itself, which matters more to your friend than your commission. A flat 5% is a straightforward and comparatively low platform fee, and simple pricing is worth something. Two things to check before recommending any creator-funding platform:

- Payment processing is usually separate and on top. The platform fee is not the total cost — ask what reaches the creator from a £5 payment after both are taken.
- Can they export their supporter list? This is the question that matters most and is almost never asked. An audience that exists only inside a platform is not portable, and a creator who cannot take their supporters elsewhere has no leverage if fees rise or the terms change. Ask it before they build on it.