Update On "Per Pledge" Reasoning And General Situation (Patreon)

After an update earlier today (will need to scroll down to see said update), it appears the motivation for per-pledge charges has to do with the option to make new patrons pay up front for Monthly pledges.

(Before I proceed, I'm not defending this reasoning, and I think there are better solutions)

What they're trying to address: 

Some monthly Patreons require an upfront payment when they pledge, which is intended to prevent people from getting things without ever actually contributing.

With such "upfront payment" Patreons, a person could pledge on the 30th, be charged immediately, and then charged again on the the 1st.

This can, to be fair, be an actual problem, and has resulted in complaints and refunds.

Their solution: 

An "anniversary" system in which someone who first pledges (and pays) on the 30th won't pay again until next month's 30.

I don't know how that works in February, but that's the basic idea.

As I understand it, this anniversary system works separately for each pledge, hence separate charges for each pledge.

If you pledged to me on the 5th, and someone else on the 6th, you'd be paying on separate days for either of us on a monthly basis. I'm also fairly certain that, even if you only ever pledged on the 5th, the pledges would be charged separately under such a system.

My take: 

I believe Patreon was trying to solve two perceived problems at once: Uncertainty of how much Patreons were actually getting, and this upfront payment issue.

They only tried to explain the former at first, which was a bad move.

I consider both solutions bad. I don't want to pass the fees on to you, and I don't want to create more fees to address a problem that is only applicable to some Patreons, and could be addressed with better communication.

Some people would miss that they're paying upfront and would be charged again at the first of the month no matter what, but attempting to reduce those numbers must be preferable to separating the charges and increasing the number of fees to deal with.

What I intend to do: 

Initially, most of what I can do is communicate to everyone as best I can, and try to get Patreon to change their mind. If you want to politely but firmly share your opinion with them, here is a handy link. 

If they go through with this, I will be reducing the $3 and $5 tiers to numbers that, once the fees are applied, will add back up to those numbers. Pledges would have to be edited (I assume), but once done, it should be effectively $3 and $5 again for anyone pledging the minimum.

I can't do that for the $1 tier, as $1 is the minimum.

I will understand if that, or anything else about this, really, is a deal breaker for some people. You are all very generous to have pledged at all, and I will remain thankful no matter what. 

Alternatives?

I am not eager to jump ship from Patreon, and won't immediately do so if they stick with this plan.

I will, however, be looking into alternative options, and paying particular attention to what other web comic creators decide. I fully admit that the best decisions I've made about such things have been made based on community advice, and if I do switch to something else, it will probably be on someone wiser's recommendation.