Community Guidelines

Last updated: 10/12/2026

We want Buy Me a Coffee to be a place where a huge range of creators can do their work and get paid for it. These guidelines explain what is and is not allowed, for creators and supporters alike. They are part of our Terms of Use, and they apply to your page, your posts, your products, your messages and your comments.

If you are unsure whether something is allowed, ask us at [email protected] before you post or publish it. We would much rather answer a question than remove your work later.

1. Respect other people

No harassment. Do not post content that harasses or bullies a person or a business, or encourages others to do so. This includes direct and indirect threats of physical harm against individuals or groups.

No hate speech. Everyone has the right to take part here regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, disability, age, veteran status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, caste or any other protected characteristic. Do not post content that promotes violence, hatred or dehumanisation against any person or group. This covers slurs, dehumanising language, coded language used to signal hate, and accounts set up to attack someone.

No exposing private information. Do not post private or confidential information, whether it belongs to you or someone else. That includes payment card details, financial account numbers, medical records, government-issued identification, and someone's home address or location. Publishing a person's private details to expose or intimidate them is never allowed.

2. Harm and dangerous content

No promoting harm. Do not post content that promotes or glorifies harm, whether physical, emotional or psychological. This includes violence against people, property or animals, excessive gore, glorification of war, and extremist ideologies or content produced for or on behalf of terrorist groups.

No dangerous activities. Do not post content that encourages activities likely to cause serious injury to the person doing it, to people nearby, or to animals.

Self-harm and suicide. Do not post content that encourages, instructs on or romanticises suicide, self-harm or disordered eating. Discussing your own experience, or offering recovery and support resources, is allowed.

Child safety: zero tolerance. Any content that sexualises a minor, or depicts the nudity of someone who appears to be a minor, is removed immediately and permanently, the account is terminated, and we report it to the relevant authorities. There are no exceptions and no appeal.

3. Adult content

Buy Me a Coffee is not a platform for sexually explicit material. Do not post or sell pornography, depictions of sexual acts, nude genitalia, fetish content intended to be sexually gratifying, AI-generated adult material, adult live chat, adult video stores or dating services. Content that glorifies or promotes bestiality is prohibited.

Artistic nudity is allowed where it is clearly presented as art, such as life drawing, painting or sculpture, and is not sexual in nature.

Content involving minors or non-consensual acts is covered by Section 2 and is treated as zero tolerance.

4. Be honest about who you are and what you offer

No impersonation. Do not pretend to be another person, including other creators, public figures or members of the Buy Me a Coffee team, and do not misrepresent a company, institution or brand in a way that causes confusion or harm. Do not use AI-generated voice, image or video to impersonate someone without their clear consent. Parody and fan content are fine as long as they are clearly labelled as such and do not deceive anyone.

No harmful misinformation. Do not post health or medical misinformation, such as fake cures or false claims about vaccines. Do not post manipulated or deceptive content about elections, civic processes or newsworthy events, or distorted accounts of historical events designed to deceive. Discussing contested topics, reporting on them, or analysing them is allowed. Presenting fabricated claims as fact is not.

No scams or deception. Do not post anything you know to be false or misleading, run fake giveaways, make promises you do not intend to keep, or set up a page to collect money under a false identity or false cause.

No spam or platform abuse. Do not send unsolicited promotions, run mailing lists or auto-responders through the platform, or post repetitive content to game visibility. Do not scrape or crawl the platform, interfere with how it runs, or open new accounts to get around a restriction.

5. Respect intellectual property

Only post and sell work you created or have the rights to. Do not post content that infringes someone else's copyright, trademark or other rights. If you believe your work has been used without permission, please reach out to us at [email protected] with proof. We remove infringing content and terminate repeat infringers.

6. What you can and cannot sell

Everything you sell should be your own work, or something you clearly have the right to sell. The following are not allowed:

  • Other people's work. Resold ebooks, courses, software, templates, fonts, presets or video clips you did not create; counterfeit goods; software keys; pirated or hacked software, including game mods and cheats; and mass-produced physical items such as electronics, toys or jewellery that you did not make.
  • Unauthorised streaming. IPTV subscriptions and any other service giving access to content you do not hold the rights to.
  • Illegal goods and services. Illegal drugs and controlled substances; weapons, explosives and other dangerous goods; forged documents, fake identification and fake references; hacked data; and anything connected to trafficking, bribery or tax evasion. This includes items that are illegal under US federal law or under the laws where you or your supporter is located, such as non-compliant CBD products.
  • Financial and regulated services. Investment offers, passive income claims, crypto tokens, NFTs and crypto fundraising; pyramid schemes and get-rich-quick programmes; debt relief, credit repair, tax, legal or financial advice without the right credentials; and gift cards or other cash equivalents.
  • Gambling and fundraising. Gambling, betting systems or tips; raffles, lotteries and sweepstakes; and political fundraising or campaign donations.
  • Regulated physical products. Food and drink, medical products and health supplements, and cosmetics. Handmade, properly labelled skincare and beauty products are allowed.
  • Events and in-person services. Tickets to events you do not organise yourself, event planning services, and work requiring physical labour or in-person attendance such as repairs or installations.
  • Animal cruelty. Any product that encourages, depicts or results from cruelty to animals.

This list is not exhaustive, and we update it as new issues come up. If your offer is not clearly covered, ask us first.

7. How we enforce these guidelines

What we do depends on how serious the problem is, whether it looks deliberate, and whether it has happened before. We may:

  • remove or hide the content, or make a page private
  • issue a warning and ask you to fix the problem
  • restrict features, such as the Shop or direct messages
  • hold or delay a payout while we investigate (see Section 8 of our Terms of Use)
  • refund affected supporters
  • suspend or permanently close the account
  • report the matter to law enforcement where the law requires it or where someone is at risk

Repeated or serious violations lead to permanent closure. Some categories, such as child safety, are permanent on the first instance. We may also take into account serious conduct outside Buy Me a Coffee, such as fraud or harassment directed at our community.

We use automated tools alongside human reviewers to find content that may break these guidelines.

Appeals. If you think we have made a mistake, email [email protected]. Someone who was not involved in the original decision will look at it again, and we will reply within 3 days. Child safety removals are not open to appeal.

8. Reporting and blocking

If you see something that breaks these guidelines, report it to [email protected]. Tell us what you saw and where, and we will look into it. You can also block a creator or supporter at any time, and we will stop showing you their page and their content.

We do not share the identity of the person who reported something with the person reported.

9. Changes

We update these guidelines as the platform and the law change. If we make a material change we will update the date at the top.

Questions: [email protected]. Related pages: Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy.