A Change to Patreon's Fees (Patreon)

You guys will likely receive an email about this from Patreon tomorrow, but  they informed us creators today and I wanted to just start a dialogue about it.

Creators on Patreon don't receive the full amount you pledge to us each month. It seems obvious, but you probably don't think too much about it; Patreon gets a cut, and then there are transaction fees (credit card processing, etc) that all comes out of our end.

Typically what we end up with is about 80-88% of your total pledge.

Patreon is changing their system so that the content creators actually receive more of that pledged money going forward; starting in the next couple of weeks, we'll receive 95% of the pledged value.

It seems they're accomplishing this in a couple of ways. First, lowering the transaction processing fees to a flat 5% (from a variable 7-15%).

They're also lowering Patreon's cut from 5% to 2.9%+ $0.35 per pledge, AND it looks like they're moving it outside of the pledge. If I'm reading it correctly, that will no longer come out of my end, but rather be tacked on to your pledge (like tax). So if you pledge $3, I think you'll actually be charged $3.44 ($0.35 plus 2.9% of your pledge).

So what does this mean? Well, it means that more of your support will actually make its way to me, instead of to Patreon or credit card companies.

It ALSO means that, since we have been literally on the cusp of our next milestone for the last couple of months, that the additional pledged amount MIGHT push us over the line and get everyone that extra comic. Seems pretty likely to me, we'll have to wait and see.

However, it does mean (I think), that you'll see your pledges increase a bit. It doesn't seem like its a LOT, but it's not my place to tell people the value and importance of their hard-earned money. So in that regard, I'm interested in hearing from you, my Patrons, how you feel about this change.