Patreon Billing Changes (Patreon)
Content
Heya,
So I wanted to make a public post about the Patreon billing changes. Back in September, Patreon announced they were going to be rolling out the option for Creators to modify the monthly billing to a new system referred to as "subscription billing."
The old Patreon system has Patrons billed on the 1st of every month, regardless of when you joined the site. The crap side of this is if you have a new member who joins at the end of the month, they can get immediately billed within a few days for the next month. For example, join on October 28 and you're gonna get billed again on November 1 at the same rate. Patreon does state this upfront during your initial payment screen but who the hell reads that in its entirety anyway? In short, that's caused some problems for Creators and Patreon has finally allowed changes to our accounts.
My account is now eligible for the change and I've officially made the switch today. The new Subscription Billing will allow you to make pledges at any time during the month and your pledge will then last a full month and be rebilled the following month on the same day. For example, if you become a Patreon on November 30, your next billing date will now be December 30 and NOT December 1. So now, regardless of when you join, you get a full month.
It should be mentioned that this change is specific to my Patreon account and may not be reflected in other Patreon accounts. My understanding is they're rolling this out slowly. So check if you support anyone else.
Major change and should save me some headaches for people getting frustrated when they make a pledge and immediately get double charged. If you have problems or feel you've been double charged --or you just joined late at the end of the month, let me know through a message here or on Discord. I don't mind refunding you. I'm not here to steal money or take advantage of billing loopholes. However, I'll say this publicly, I can only refund up to 3 months back and I normally suggest waiting a few days into the month before the refund. I've refunded some people immediately on the 1st or second of the month and it actually kicks them from the site. So it's best to wait a few days in and then hit the refund button on my end. That allows you to stay but still get your refund.
Let me know if you have questions below and I'll try and answer them so others can see. I definitely like transparency on things like this so I'm going to include a link to Patreon's official page regarding this for those that may want more information straight from the company here.
TL/DR
-Patreon pledges for this account now last a full month from your join date rather than being autobilled on the 1st of every month