Ryft is a new way to receive your tips on SPONSA, rolling out gradually alongside PayPal. This guide explains how Ryft works, who can use it right now, and the key differences to PayPal.

Ryft is a payment processor SPONSA has partnered with, available alongside PayPal. When you're set up with Ryft:

Why creators might choose Ryft:

Ryft is rolling out gradually. Access is currently invite-only for volunteers in our Closed Discord.

If you'd like early access:

We'll open Ryft up to more creators as the rollout continues.

Ryft works differently from PayPal in two important ways: there's a minimum payout threshold, and there's a short settlement wait before funds reach you. Here's a side-by-side:

With Ryft, your tips build up in your balance until they reach £20 / $20 / €20 (depending on your payout currency). By default, Ryft checks your balance once a day and sends a payout automatically as soon as you're at or above the threshold. Prefer to control when you get paid? You can switch to manual payouts in your Ryft dashboard and trigger them yourself.

If you haven't reached the threshold yet, your balance simply carries over and keeps building - nothing is lost.

This is different from PayPal, where every tip lands in your balance straight away with no minimum.

Card payments through Ryft settle on a T+5 basis - funds from a tip become available 5 days after the day the tip was made (T = the transaction day). Those 5 days include weekends, but payouts themselves only go out on business days - so if the fifth day lands on a weekend or holiday, your payout follows on the next business day.

This short wait is normal for card payments: it covers the settlement and fraud-protection window that card networks require.

Putting both together, a tip needs to (1) settle over the T+5 window, and (2) take your balance to the threshold. On automatic payouts, Ryft checks daily and sends your money on the next business day once your settled balance is at or above £20 / $20 / €20.

When you first start with Ryft, expect your first payout to take a little longer than PayPal's near-instant transfers. Once you're regularly above the threshold, payouts settle into a steady rhythm.

The £20 threshold and T+5 settlement aren't permanent. As SPONSA builds up processing history, we're working with Ryft to lower the threshold and shorten settlement times - so expect these to improve over time.

Just like PayPal, supporters never see your personal details when they pay through Ryft. On their card or bank statement they'll see a SPONSA reference rather than your name or personal information - for example, something like RP*SPONSA LTD-SPONSA L (the exact wording can vary slightly from bank to bank).

Once you've been given access, connecting Ryft only takes a few minutes. You'll start on SPONSA and finish on Ryft's secure onboarding.

That's it - you're ready to receive tips through Ryft!

Two fees come out of each tip:

That last part is worth explaining. Ryft's agreement with us is on what the card industry calls interchange++, which means the card networks' actual costs on each transaction are passed through at cost rather than wrapped up into one blended rate. Those costs vary by card type and by where the card was issued, and they come out of the tip alongside the fees above. On your Ryft dashboard they appear as Interchange (the issuing bank's cut) and Network (Visa or Mastercard's). Neither Ryft nor SPONSA keeps a penny of either.

There's also a 1% fee if a tip needs currency conversion, which only applies where the tip currency and your payout currency differ.

A lot of what the card networks charge is a flat amount per transaction rather than a percentage, so it doesn't shrink as the tip does. On a small tip that flat cost is a large share of the total; on a larger tip it's barely noticeable.

This is true of card payments generally rather than anything specific to Ryft, and it's the main reason your fee percentage will look different from month to month depending on the size of the tips you receive. If most of your tips are small, expect the percentage to run higher than you might have assumed.

Only useful if you actually have both available, so you can skip this if PayPal Business isn't an option where you are.

The two price differently. PayPal charges a blended rate (typically around 2.9% + a fixed fee, varying by region), which is more predictable but wraps card costs into a single margin. Ryft charges less up front and passes the card costs through at cost, which is usually cheaper overall but moves around more.

Where Ryft tends to come out ahead:

Where it's closer than you'd think: on international cards, Ryft's pass-through costs rise, because cross-border card fees are higher and they reach you directly rather than being absorbed into a blended rate.

PayPal's exact rates vary by region and change over time, so treat this as a general shape rather than a calculation.

Yes! You can run Ryft and PayPal at the same time. When both are enabled, your supporters choose at checkout how they'd like to pay: via PayPal, or via Ryft (card, Apple Pay, or Google Pay).

You can refund a tip yourself, from Insights > Detailed Activity on SPONSA. Find the tip you want to refund and issue it from there.

"I haven't received a payout yet"

"My balance isn't going up after a tip"

"How long does a payout take once I've hit the threshold?"

On automatic payouts, once your settled balance is at or above the threshold, your money goes out on the next business day. On manual payouts, it's sent once you trigger it (also on a business day).

If you have questions about Ryft or your payouts: