An Open Letter To Substack About Payment Systems #2

Implement PayPal Immediately

It's a short post, simple and to the point, and not about Israel.

Many DMs have asked me why I am no longer posting 3-4 times a week. I have decided once more to explain the real reason.

I have written about this before in:

This is simple.

If you are not among the 46 counties Stripe supports and want to get paid for your Newsletter, or if you want to help writers worldwide, read on.

Substack has consistently and constantly ignored the suggestion of adding PayPal as a payment processor, usually with the comment, “We are working on it.” I am in tech. I understand large systems and payment gateways. “Working on it” would take a professional team maybe one week to produce and debug. Give it two weeks to negotiate with PayPal for payments and percentages. So let us be gracious and call it one month.

There is another reason Substack refuses to implement PayPal. It will probably have to pay PayPal greater commissions and not allow certain very explicit newsletters into the PayPal gateway. But the situation is becoming ludicrous. Stripe is not expanding. It is not getting into other countries to which PayPal has access. It is simply unable to meet the financial requirements these countries are demanding. Be it from political or financial reasons, it is not my business, nor do I care.

I do not use most of my newsletters to earn substantial income for Substack. However, I get paid to write serious journal articles on AI and VR. I earn a decent amount from Digital Art and have become a renowned Generative Digital Artist. I also earn from writing elsewhere.

I am not implying that I will get even one paid subscription in this Newsletter, but I will get them in others. It is not about the subscribers but about the inability to offer it. Substack will not be my money tree, but it can eliminate a serious problem for thousands of writers by offering them the possibility of making money from their writing and brands.

So, I am no longer willing to write for free every two days, trying to compete with hundreds of other writers who do not write for free. I am no longer willing to invest the time into a system that is deaf and blind to its author base. I will release pieces now and then. I will continue to offer my views on important subject matters. However, investing hours upon hours in a system where there is no possibility of building a serious readership and brand is ludicrous.

You may not agree, but without the potential to earn paid subscribers due to the lack of PayPal integration, Substack is signaling it does not care in the least about writers who cannot use Stripe.

I have watched Substack roll out expansion after expansion, trying to take on Patreon, YouTube, and all the rest. I wish them the best of luck. But I have long left the days of youth when writing for the sake of writing made no sense, especially when I did get paid for my writing and journal articles.

I know hundreds, if not thousands, of writers here agree with me. I am not in the business of spreading Substack backlinks when it cannot solve this problem.

So there it is; the reason I stopped writing every two days and went on a monthly cycle.

Again, I am calling on Substack to implement PayPal payments into subscriptions immediately. I have no doubt this will fall on deaf ears. But I am trying one final time to convince Substack that they are, at best, being elitist and, at worst, can be accused of a biased slant towards writers.

Sincerely and Humbly,

Ted W. Gross