Is PayPal or Patreon a better service for receiving donations?

#1
I signed up for Royal Road about one week ago and have been drafting
a story since then, which I will be posting chapters for within two weeks.
Since I'm interested in becoming a professional writer, I want to receive
donations rather than write something for someone else to sell. This
itself could be another debate topic in the future about which is better
for a beginning author or how to decide which is better, but I wanted
to focus on what is available on Royal Road.

What I noticed is that at the end of stories on Royal Road are two buttons:
Patreon and Paypal. I could not find any deep discussion on this topic, so
I decided to ask the community. If you find one service better than the
other, please share your thoughts and explain them. Thanks for your time.
I am now off to continue drafting.
Orator Gym

RE: Is PayPal or Patreon a better service for receiving donations?

#2
Paypal and Patreon target two different audiences.

Paypal is a simple payment service - money goes in one end and out the other. Quick, simple, and people are more likely to have it if they feel like dropping a few bucks or more on your story, without commitment into the future.

Patreon tries to get spenders to support in smaller amounts over a longer term, with small related rewards for "patroning" the project. Think of it like a kickstarter for ongoing projects like stories.
My (Science) Fiction - Desolate Stars.
And historical - Out of the Motherland.
Go to a new fiction. Review it. Help the little guys.

RE: Is PayPal or Patreon a better service for receiving donations?

#4
Do you already have a following online that can flock to the Patreon? Due to it's crowd-funding style, it's a great platform if you already have an online presence that can attract people. It's also a way to build a following outside of RRL.

Paypal is easy and clean, especially for one-time donations, but will only be seen by your readers here on RRL.

What is your goal, with early donation requests? To experiment and offset your income a touch while you focus on writing, or to try and build something steady?

That said, I don't currently use either of them here...I just wanted to share my observation.
https://i.imgur.com/JBLglrm.jpg