(Updated) Regarding upcoming Patreon changes- (Patreon)

Quick recap for those of you unaware: Patreon will start to charge a 2.9%+35 cents to all pledges starting January. This makes a $1 pledge into $1.38, a $5 into $5.50, $10 into $10.64 and $25 to $26.10.

Why? They are splitting fees between Creator and Patron. Creators pay Patreon their 5%, and Patrons will cover the processing fees. And at first Patreon wasn't very clear on why they wanted to do this, other than "keep creators' paychecks more reliable". Turns out the answer is much more complicated, but thankfully they did release an update earlier today detailing it. 

Nothing's changed unfortunately, but it does help in a way. I highly suggest you take a read at the whole thing - it ties together in the end.https://blog.patreon.com/updating-patreons-fee-structure/

(Specifically the part under Update: 3:57pm PST )

Long story short: Patreon wants to move to charge-up-front to everyone. Patreon wants your monthly pledges to recurr on the dates you subscribe, not "the day you subscribe and then every 1st of the month". To do this, they no longer benefit from aggregating charges all on the 1st, and so more processing fees occur. It's why the fee-per-pledge thing is there and another reason why they can't keep covering processing fees: because of pledge-cancelling. Charge-up-front eliminates it, but to roll that out, they need the recurring-payment-on-payment-date to work. And to do that, need the standardized fees, etc. 

The system isn't great, because it still doesn't solve the main problem: The fact that it will cost patrons a bit more. It's just a few cents, but if you pledge a lot, it can add up.

TL;DR: It makes more sense, I don't believe Patreon is money-greedy or evil, but it's still not a solution to the main issue. A solution would be to make the fees optional for patrons to cover if they wish, or an option to lump pledges timed together to save on the fees.

Anyway, I will do my best to keep going forward as usual and making my work the best I can, hoping most of you will stick through it, without putting yourselves or finances out of whack. Do take care of yourself first! I hope they find a middle ground solution. Sorry to keep bothering you all with this! 

(old post:)

There an upcoming change to Patreon that mostly affects small, multiple pledges, so please read ALL the info below to get the whole picture.

So if you haven’t heard, Patreon is rolling out a process starting January 2018 where the patrons(you) will cover the processing fees for pledges instead of the creators(me). It’s a nice idea in theory, I guess, but it has some problems. The fees themselves haven’t increased, it’s the application of the charge -per pledge- that makes it a problem for patrons. They always took per-pledge on my end, but it was fine, since, you know, crowdfunding. So from my understanding, this affects lower pledges more than larger ones, and affects patrons who pledge to multiple creators more than those whom pledge to just one. It also makes it more confusing for patrons to budget their pledges.  

As it stands, Patreon creators take the hit for the fees, and I guess Patreon wants to make it more stable for them. There are two problem parts: One is that the new fees occur ‘per individual pledge’. So if you pledge $1 to two Patreons, you’ll be charged the new 2.9%+0.35$ for each pledge, bringing your total to something like 2.76$ for that 2$ pledge. This can add up, and it doesn’t make much sense since Patreon is only charging your card once for the total amount of your pledges. If you pledged to 20 creators $1 each, they’d see .95$, and it would cost you $27.60. It would only cost Patreon 0.93$ to process that from you, (2.9%+$.35 of $20) yet they’ll charge $7.60. My math might not be penny-perfect, but you get the idea.

As a creator, I’m more than happy to eat the processing fees instead of shunting it onto the supporters. It just feels weird having to put a disclaimer on my tiers saying “This 1$ tier will really cost you $1.38“ or whatever.. They always took that 35cents per pledge from the creator’s side, but it. Is easier to swallow for them/us than to rack up fees for the patrons.

I always only see 0.65$ of each dollar pledge, $4.50 of each 5$ pledge, etc. and you can see how it hurts lower pledges worsens. I don’t think making it so I see 0.95$ of each one-dollar-tier pledge is worth the loss of supporters by headcount.

You can read more of the official statement on it here:

https://patreon.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115005631963

So, I want to hear from you guys about this. Is it really a big of a deal as people are making it out to be? In favor? Against it? Is it really that big of a deal to you? Happy to cover the fees so creators make more, or would you rather find a middle ground? Personally I’m fine with it as it is. I don’t see all these creators Patreon is claiming support this move. I’m going to be writing them an email; I don’t think it’s a good idea in its current implementation. It makes smaller pledges more expensive and discourages pledging to a lot of creators. 

I think if they don’t fix this by January, I’m going to TRY to tweak some of my tier prices to try and level it out, maybe? Ive been told pledges less than $1 aren’t possible.  I put much more value on the individual patron than the amount pledged. I really do care to reach more -people- than reach a specific -total-. And I want to make it easier somehow, keep people from having to drop or lower their pledges. Again, it Will affect each patron differently, depending on how many people you pledge to and how much.

So you could look at it one way and say “Is my $1 pledge worth $1.38?” But even f so, the fact remains that if you don’t have the budget for it, you’ll have to drop something, which is the problem.

It not the end of the world or the site, it’s just not a great idea as it is. Patreon needs to hear the feedback. Comment here to let ME know what you think, but remember they won’t look here, you need to email or tweet them to help get this heard!