Tipping your favorite streamer on Twitch is a feature that has been around for a while, where viewers can purchase things like “Bits” which they can then use to tip streamers, as opposed to giving them cash directly. This cheering service was added with a hope that you would spend some money on it. And the great news is Twitch has announced that you can fund your Bits account or subscribe to streams with PayPal.
If you are in the US or one of the EU countries listed below, you can buy Bits on any Twitch channel that has Bits enabled by clicking the “Get Bits” button above the video player. Once you select the bundle you want to buy, you will be able to choose PayPal as a payment method.
Purchasing Bits using PayPal account is as similar as other payment methods. Simply click the “Get Bits” button above the video player and you will be able to choose PayPal as a payment method once you choose the bundle. You will now see the PayPal option along with the others, like Amazon.
If you have used other payment systems in the past, you can click on “Change payment service” and choose PayPal as your funding source. Clicking on that option will let you select PayPal as your payment method. No matter what your payment option is, you will still get the chargeback protection for the streamer from Bits.
You can use PayPal for Bits purchase in the US, and the following countries in Europe: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
Twitch notes the benefits of using PayPal to send Bits, saying, “Bits still provides chargeback protection for the streamer whether they were purchased via PayPal or another method”. Note that using PayPal to tip Twitch streamers is not exactly new. Prior to Twitch offering official methods to tip streamers, there were streamers who would ask (and some probably still do) for donations that can be made through PayPal.
While it is not the most groundbreaking feature, if you do prefer using PayPal for your purchases, then this option will come in handy. In the meantime, it seems that ever since Twitch instituted its tipping system, it has reportedly made streamers $5.9 million collectively.
