Substack introduces new payment methods for international markets

Newsletter publishing company Substack is introducing new tools for international writers and audiences, including local payment methods, support for more currencies and the ability to set a default language for newsletters.

In a blog post, the company said that it’s rolling out support for payments in 13 currencies, including USD, CAD, GBP, AUD, EUR, BRL, MXN, NZD, CHF, DKK, NOK, SEK and PLN. If users are paying in any of these local currencies, they don’t have to worry about the dollar conversion rate every time their subscription money is due.

Substack writers still can’t set different prices for folks in different geographies. When a writer asked about that in comments, a company staff member said that geo-specific pricing is “very much on our radar.”

Additionally, Substack said that subscribers in Europe can use methods like direct debit or payment through a bank’s portal. Initially, the newsletter service supported iDEAL, Bancontact, Sofort and SEPA direct.

The company noted that in early tests it observed an 85% “relative lift” in paid conversions when a local method was available for payment.

What’s more, Substack is introducing a default language option for international writers. This change will be reflected in their newsletters, emails, buttons on the post, the publication page and the personal dashboard. Currently, it supports Spanish, French, Italian, German and Portuguese (with an option to select Brazilian Portuguese) apart from English.

Substack has had a controversial start for the year, with the company saying that it will take a hands-off approach with Nazi newsletters and won’t explicitly ban them. CEO Hamish McKenzie said in a post that it will enforce rules to ban posts with “incitements to violence” but will stick to a “decentralized approach to content moderation.”

In response to this, publications including Casey Newton’s Platformer and Ryan Broderick’s Garbage Day decided to leave the platform.