What are Ko-fi Commissions?
All kinds of creators use Ko-fi Commissions to turn their passions into income. Add a listing, share it with your fans and start making money from your skills in just a few minutes!
What can I offer?
There are loosely two kinds of commissions creators usually offer - custom work and services.
Custom work ideas
🎨 Artists might offer custom character designs or pet portraits
🧶 Crafters could sell bespoke jewellery or clothing
✨ Spiritual creators might offer tarot or charm readings
Services ideas
✍🏽 Writers provide proofreading
🎵 Musicians sell 1:1 lessons
👘 Cosplayers offer custom kits
Setting up Commissions
Head over to Commissions to get started. From here you can show or hide your Commissions tab, manage listings, control available slots, set your terms and manage orders. It only takes a couple of minutes to set things up - let’s get started.
Choosing to accept messaging
Make sure this is ticked if you want to allow potential buyers to discuss their commission ideas with you before buying. A message icon will appear on your commission listings. By discussing projects before a purchase, both you and your buyer can be sure you’re happy with the work being commissioned and you’ll likely make more sales.
Limit available slots
Use this option to limit the total number of commissions you receive across all of your listings. This helps make sure you don’t get overloaded with too many projects at the same time. Note by setting a total slot limit here, all individual slot limits across your listings will be ignored.
Choose your commissions wording
Choose the word that suits what you’re offering. This word will be used in places like your profile page and your preview image.
Setting your standard terms
Buyers will be asked to accept these terms when they purchase a commission from you. It’s a good idea to cover details like delivery times, how you transfer files or send items, your refund policy and any ‘will’s and won’t’s’.
Managing preview images
We’ll create a neat preview image for you that displays your listings. This image shows when you share your page online (e.g. on social sites). You can stick with the one we’ve created or upload your own replacement graphic if you prefer.
Note
It can take a few days for social sites to update their previews if you’ve already shared another one recently.
Add a listing: step-by-step guide
Tap ‘Add listing’ to get started adding your first commission listing!
Tick ‘Requires Shipping’ if you’re selling a physical commission requiring delivery and hit Next Step to add the main elements to your listing.
Description: Set your buyer's expectations about what is included/not included in the commission. Think sizes, number of pages, revisions, length of time, amount of detail etc. The clearer you can be the fewer questions you’ll get and the more sales you’re likely to make.
Instructions to Buyer: This is the place to ask for reference material, character information, plot points or background information you’ll need to complete the commission.
Preview Images: Upload up to 10 images. Use 1:1 or 2:1 ratio for best results. e.g. 600x600px or 600x300px.
Price: Enter an amount you want to charge for the commission.
Enable ‘Pay what you want’ option: Buyers are often happy to pay a premium to support creators they love. Tick this option to let buyers pay more than the minimum price (the amount you set as ‘Price’).
Offer Add-ons
Provide buyers with the choice of up to 12 'add-on' options for their commission.
Add-ons could be additional characters in an artwork, 500 more words in a written piece, or faster turnaround of the service. Buyers can select multiple add-ons for a single commission.
Set shipping rates (physical commissions)
Control where you're happy to ship physical commissions and tailor prices for each location. To set accurate prices you’ll need to measure and weigh your packaged commission and look up the shipping prices from your chosen courier.
Enable worldwide shipping: Choose this for global sales with a consistent shipping rate, ideal for lightweight, easy-to-ship commissions. Specific destination prices override this rate.
Adding a destination: Use 'Add a Destination' to specify continents or countries you'll ship to, and set the shipping fee for those locations. If you’ve turned off worldwide shipping, only people from these destinations will be able to buy this commission.
Add shipping information
Give buyers more information like estimated delivery times, your chosen shipping service, and how they'll receive tracking updates.
Note
You can add tracking links and courier information after you receive an order and Ko-fi will notify your buyer.
Additional options
Leave a message or instructions for buyers: Use this section to control the message that’s shown to the buyer after they’ve completed payment. You could share your link to book an appointment, share a special reward or simply say thank you.
Limit the quantity available: Limit the number of these commissions that can be bought. Setting this number to 0 will mark the listing as "not for sale". Once all commissions are sold, your Commissions tab will not be viewable publicly.
Note
If you choose to limit available slots on the commissions set up screen, this will not restrict the slots for this listing.
Exempt from sales tax: Ticking this option will not collect sales tax for this listing. You can manage your sales tax rates from your sales tax settings page.
Choose who can request this item
Make any listing available to everyone or exclusive to monthly supporters or members.
If you’ve set up Memberships on Ko-fi, exclusive commission listings are a great premium benefit to offer your higher-paying members.
Member-only listings are visible to everyone but are tagged with a new “Member-only” badge. Regular visitors are asked to join your membership to unlock the listing.
Make your listing live by accepting the terms and conditions and clicking "Save & Publish".
Sharing your commissions
Once you've published your listing(s), you’ll need to let your fans know you’ve opened Commissions.
Tap "Copy" to share your direct link and post it wherever you’re active. Your preview image showcases your commission options, but you can also upload your own custom preview image from the commissions set up screen if you prefer.
In addition to sharing your commissions page directly, you can also share your individual listings. Just head to your commissions tab and click the share on any commission listing.
Fulfilling commission orders
If you’ve chosen to accept messages first, you’ll be able to tell if a message started from a commission listing by a note within the message saying "message via your commission title.”
Once someone buys a commission those orders will be visible in your Orders tab. From here you can filter to just view those you haven’t completed yet. Commission orders also appear in your Payments & Orders page.
It’s always a good idea to acknowledge buyers with a quick DM once you get an order. Keeping buyers updated with progress helps reduce any concerns and reduces the chances of disputes.
When you’ve completed the commission, be sure to send the work to the buyer using the method you agreed with the buyer (Ko-fi DM, email, file sharing site etc). Once you’ve sent it you can mark the commission as complete in your orders section.
If it’s a physical commission, don’t forget to update the tracking information so your buyer can track their shipment.
Offer a discount to promote your commissions
Creating a discount code for your commissions gives potential buyers a great reason to purchase. Simply head over to your Discounts section, and create a new discount, and click copy to share the link with your fans and followers.
Looking for more ideas about what commissions to offer? Here are some great examples from the community:
🧶 Crochet clothing like Stitched Stardust
🔮 Tarot readings like Crescat
📽️ Streaming support like MezameTV
📍 Pixel art commissions like Beeno
🖼️ Sketch commissions like andpierres
🎵 Music lessons like Hugo Moroux
✍🏽 Poetry & short stories like Jadedisland
Still have questions? Feel free to reach to us here. We're here to help! 💌
Frequently Asked Questions
Note
Normal payment processor fees also apply.
With Ko-fi, you’re getting paid, not the platform. This means you get your money sooner and there are lower fees for you and your buyers.
Change the word ‘Commissions’ so it sounds more like what you offer. Pick from Commissions, Requests, Services, Bookings or Readings.
Change your wording by going to Commissions > Additional Settings and under “Change ‘Commissions’ Wording”, select one of the options from the dropdown.
New wording will appear on your profile page, when you share your page on social, and in the emails to buyers.
If you have opted for custom ordering, sold-out slots will remain in the order you chose.
Simply visit the Discounts menu to get started.
It is your responsibility to determine if and where you are due to register, charge and pay sales tax or VAT. You can add sales tax or VAT to the purchase price of commission listings.
Visit ko-fi.com/manage/salestax to add the location where you’re registered to charge and remit sales tax or VAT and enter the % of the tax that should be added to the purchase price at the payment summary screen.
You will receive this money into your PayPal or Stripe account and it is your responsibility to seek the appropriate advice and report any sales tax due to the relevant authorities.
You must also notify the buyer that you will not be fulfilling their commission request. Please try to do this as soon as is practically possible and as soon as you know you are not going to be able to fulfill the request.
If you find yourself with too many or if your circumstances prevent you from completing a commission in the time you agreed it’s important to let your buyer know as soon as possible.
Message them with your reasons and promptly refund the payment if they don’t want to wait longer. By being proactive and prompt you reduce the risk of disputes and most of the time buyers will understand and be flexible with you.
The best way to reduce the risk of this happening is to set very clear terms, communicate regularly with buyers and keep records of all communications between you and the buyer.