Does a follower's Country Affect How a Creator Gets Paid?

No. A follower's country does not change a creator's payout currency, Brillay's 8% platform fee when a follower pays for work, 5% on tips and goals platform fee, the payout schedule, or where the creator files taxes — all four follow the creator's own connected Stripe account and country. The one thing that does move is Stripe's card-processing percentage: a foreign-issued card or a currency conversion adds a small published surcharge, and the follower's own bank may add a separate fee on their side. Tips let followers send a one-time thank-you, with nothing for you to deliver and no membership for them to join.

For the exact math behind those numbers, see the pricing page.

It's a reasonable thing to wonder. A creator based in Texas gets a payment notification from a follower in Manila, and the natural question is whether that changes anything — the currency received, the cut taken, or how long the money takes to land in the bank. Where you are based determines your payout currency and timing; where your follower is based can change only the card-processing cost for that payment.

Does a follower's country change where a creator's money settles?

No. Stripe pays you in the currency tied to your payout country, no matter where your follower pays from. A creator with a US Stripe account is paid in USD and a creator with a UK Stripe account is paid in GBP, whether the paying follower sits in Canada, Germany, or the Philippines. (onboarding)

Stripe's own payout documentation states that funds are paid out "based on a predetermined payout schedule, which varies based on your industry and country of operation" — the creator's country, in other words, not the customer's (Receive payouts, Stripe). Stripe supports payouts and settlement in 135+ currencies, and the currency a given creator settles in is the one tied to their own connected account (Stripe Payments). Stripe's currency rules apply to Brillay payments. Your dashboard, earnings totals, and the money Stripe pays you use the currency for your Stripe account, as covered in do creators get paid in USD or local currency.

Does a follower's country change the 8% on work, 5% on tips and goals platform fee a creator pays?

No. Brillay's platform fee is 8% when a follower pays for work and 5% on tips and goals, and it is identical for a follower in Ohio and a follower in Oslo. Stripe's separate card-processing fee is the only line that can be higher on a foreign card.

Stripe's published US card pricing is 2.9% + $0.30 per successful charge, plus 1.5% for international cards and an additional 1% when currency conversion is required (Stripe pricing). Those processing costs are deducted from creator earnings rather than absorbed by Brillay: Brillay's pricing page defines creator earnings as the follower payment minus the platform fee minus the processing fee. Stripe states the general rule for platforms that create direct charges plainly: "When a platform or marketplace creates direct charges on a connected account, the connected account is responsible for the cost of Stripe fees" (Stripe Connect pricing). In practice, a $20 Paid Question carries the same $1.60 Brillay platform fee anywhere in the world, while a foreign-issued card can add roughly $0.30 to $0.50 of extra Stripe processing cost on that same $20 at Stripe's published US rates.

Can a follower from any country pay a creator on Brillay?

Generally, yes: followers can pay by card from anywhere, subject to Stripe’s restrictions, when the creator is in one of Brillay’s 41 payout countries. Stripe processes every Brillay payment, and Stripe accepts card payments from customers in effectively any country once the creator's own country is supported. The narrow exceptions are transactions blocked under sanctions or restricted-business rules, which Stripe applies at the compliance layer rather than Brillay configuring anything per follower.

Stripe describes its own reach directly:

"Once Stripe is supported in your country/region, you'll be able to sell to customers anywhere in the world." — Stripe, Global availability

That guarantee has one carve-out: Stripe's prohibited and restricted businesses and sanctions rules (Stripe), which can block transactions tied to specific sanctioned countries or entities — a compliance rule applied by Stripe to every business on the platform.

Does a follower paying with a foreign card cost the creator extra?

A little, yes — on the processing line only. Stripe charges 1.5% for international cards and 1% more when currency conversion is required, on top of the 2.9% + $0.30 US card rate, and Brillay deducts processing fees from creator earnings (Stripe pricing and Brillay pricing).

Separately, the follower carries their own cost. If a follower's card is issued in a different currency than the checkout, their issuing bank or card network may apply a conversion charge that never touches the creator's payout. The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Regulation Z commentary breaks down how that consumer-side cost is typically built: "In a transaction processed through a credit card network, the network may impose a 1 percent charge and the card-issuing bank may impose an additional 2 percent charge, for a total of a 3 percentage point foreign transaction fee being imposed on the consumer" (CFPB, Regulation Z commentary). Some issuers also offer the follower a choice at checkout to pay in their home currency instead of the creator's listed currency; HSBC describes that option as follows: "if you choose to pay in your home currency rather than the local currency, the conversion takes place at the point of sale — known as dynamic currency conversion, or DCC". The 3-percentage-point consumer fee described by the CFPB is priced into the follower's own card statement, not deducted from the creator's Brillay earnings.

Does a follower's country affect how fast or how often a creator gets paid?

No. Payout speed and payout cadence are set by the creator's own connected Stripe account and country, not by the country any given follower paid from. Stripe's payout documentation lists the United States at standard T+2 settlement timing and notes that manual payouts typically arrive within 2 business days (Receive payouts).

How often Stripe pays you depends on your payout country, not on where the follower lives. Those options are account-level settings on the creator's own connected Stripe account, so a creator on a weekly schedule stays on that weekly schedule whether a specific sale came from a follower down the street or a follower on another continent. After an order is paid, Stripe sends the creator’s money to their bank according to the timing for the creator’s payout country.

Does a follower's country change what a creator owes in taxes?

Generally no for income tax, with one cross-border exception around VAT. A creator's income-tax obligations follow their own tax residency: the IRS taxes US citizens and resident aliens on worldwide income, and the UK taxes a UK resident's foreign income. EU VAT on digital services is the exception, because those rules look at the consumer's country.

The IRS states the US rule without reference to where a customer lives:

"U.S. citizens and resident aliens are taxed on their worldwide income." — IRS, FAQs about international individual tax matters

The UK government states the parallel residence rule for UK-based creators: "If you are UK resident, you'll normally pay tax on your foreign income". Where a follower's country genuinely can matter is EU VAT on electronically supplied services: the European Commission's VAT One Stop Shop sets a EUR 10,000 annual cross-border threshold, below which an EU-established supplier may keep charging home-country VAT on those sales (European Commission, VAT One Stop Shop). Tax rules vary by country and by what you sell, so check your VAT or sales-tax obligations with a qualified professional where you live.

This page is general information, not tax advice, and the rules above are specific to the United States, the United Kingdom, and the EU VAT regime rather than universal. A creator with meaningful cross-border sales volume should confirm their own obligations with a licensed tax professional in their own country of residence.

What actually changes when a follower pays from a different country?

Almost nothing changes on the creator's side. A follower's country can move exactly three things: Stripe's processing percentage on that single charge, any foreign transaction fee the follower's own bank applies, and — rarely — whether the payment is blocked under sanctions rules. Payout currency, Brillay's 8% platform fee on follower-paid work and 5% platform fee on tips and goals, payout cadence, and tax residency all stay fixed.

Country support runs the other direction, too: what matters is where the creator can hold an account. Brillay's onboarding country picker currently lists 41 Stripe payout countries a creator can connect from, and that list is derived from Stripe's connected-account eligibility rather than invented by Brillay. Stripe's own Connect page advertises support for "46+ countries" for platforms and marketplaces, and Stripe's global availability page is the authoritative list of where a business can hold a Stripe account at all. Creators setting up outside the US can start with how to get paid as a creator outside the US.

Frequently asked questions

If a follower pays from another country, does the creator get paid in that follower's currency?

No. Stripe pays you in the currency tied to your own Stripe country, no matter what currency a follower's card uses. A US creator receives USD whether the paying follower is in the US or abroad.

Does Brillay charge a higher fee for international followers?

No. Brillay's platform fee is 8% when a follower pays for work and 5% on tips and goals, regardless of the follower's country. Stripe's processing fee is the part that can rise: Stripe adds 1.5% for international cards and 1% more when currency conversion is required, on top of its 2.9% + $0.30 US card rate.

Who pays the extra cost when a follower uses a foreign card?

Both sides carry a small piece. Stripe's international-card and currency-conversion surcharges of 1.5% and 1% come out of the processing fee deducted from creator earnings, while the follower's own foreign transaction fee — typically 3 percentage points, per the CFPB's Regulation Z commentary — is charged by the follower's bank on the follower's statement.

Can a creator block followers from certain countries from paying?

Payments aren't filtered by follower country on Brillay's side; the narrow cases where a payment cannot go through are governed by Stripe's sanctions and restricted-business rules, which apply to every business on Stripe regardless of platform.

Does a follower's location affect how long a payout takes to reach the creator's bank?

No. Payout timing is set by the creator's own connected Stripe account and country: Stripe lists the United States at standard T+2 settlement timing, with payouts defaulting to daily where supported (Receive payouts). That timing is identical for a domestic sale and an international one.

Create your free Brillay page and get paid on the same schedule, in the same currency, with the same 8% fee on follower-paid work and 5% fee on tips and goals no matter where your followers pay from.