If you’re not familiar with StreamLabs, they are a service that YouTube content creators can collect donations on their live streams from well-intentioned viewers who are trying to support their chosen content creator.

In March, BandGeek donated $5 to a streamer he was watching on YouTube. We saw a $5.99 charge that we assumed was the donation and thought nothing of it. A few months later I happened to notice another payment and asked BandGeek, but neither of us knew what it was. Then life happened and I forgot about it until this morning when I saw another charge!

This time I went to PayPal and checked our history, and saw that we’ve been charged $5.99 a month, every month, since March! And, I didn’t see the original $5 that he was trying to donate! That’s $36 paid for what was originally supposed to be a $5 donation, and I can’t even be sure the original donation ever made it to the YouTuber we were trying to support.

Apparently this is not a new issue, either. In a trusty Google search, I found a bunch of threads on Reddit and other locations with people talking about the same thing. Here’s a couple examples, from 2018 and 2019.

A few streams indicated that if you’re giving a donation and choose to “add a special effect”, it automatically signs you up for StreamLabs Pro and a monthly $5.99 subscription fee.

And even in their own website support threads multiple times. In a couple threads BandGeek found, they actually told the person that they’d follow up in email to keep it private.

Turns out, this service is so that when you donate, your name shows up differently for other viewers and the YouTuber you’re trying to donate to. I found this post about that: https://howto.streamlabs.com/streamlabs-in-general-21/pro-subscription-how-to-stand-out-more-when-you-donate-42.

After a few tries, I figured out how to log into StreamLabs (www.streamlabs.com). I also had to use my iPad because the print on the phone screen was so tiny I couldn’t tell what I was clicking.

  • I didn’t know what they used as our username and password, so I chose the option to log in with our PayPal account.
  • The landing screen offered a series of options that I had to choose “skip” on or else potentially be signed up for more “services” I didn’t want.
  • Finally I landed at a page that told me I was a Pro subscriber and my next due date was September 17. Fortunately there was an easy link to click and unsubscribe.

I wanted to tell you all about this in case you’ve ever considered donating to a YouTuber or are a YouTuber using this service yourself.

I feel like the fact that it’s happened multiple times to multiple people, enough that it shows up immediately in a simple Google search, means that they know about this problem and aren’t doing anything to change or prevent the accidental subscription. That being said, I haven’t tried to donate today so I don’t know if they’ve changed the screens at all to make it clearer since BandGeek did his donation in March.

As an online service provider, I feel that all companies have a responsibility to be transparent to the buyer about what they are getting and how much it will cost.

As a viewer, we will never use StreamLabs to donate again. As a future YouTuber, I will never monetize my channel using StreamLabs.

Our experience is not something I’d want any of my subscribers to have, and I am angry that these YouTubers, who are just trying to support themselves, are having this happen to their subscribers.

Okay mini-rant over. If this was completely irrelevant to you, I apologize. I am just fired up!