My thoughts on Patreon billing changes (Patreon)

To get this right out front: The changes that Patreon made today to the way that patrons get billed were only announced to us creators yesterday. I wholeheartedly *do not* support these changes.

You probably got an e-mail from Patreon today regarding how much it'll ultimately cost you to support your favorite creators. What used to be a $1 pledge will now cost about $1.40. This is because Patreon is now passing processing fees on to the patrons, instead of taking them out of the creator's payout each month. 

The fees are $.35 per transaction, plus 2.9%. Patreon still takes a 5% cut like before, and they're heavily touting that creators now get 95% of the revenue, instead of the previous 80-88% (which varied with the number and size of transactions each month).

The problem is that $1, for example, is a nice, small number. It's easy to justify spending, and it's reassuring to see that, when going through the Patreon sign-up process, your $1 pledge is only going to cost you $1. That's changed now -- you click the $1 pledge button, but then these extra fees are tacked on. You feel a bit cheated, like buying those cheap plane tickets just to find out you'll get nickeled-and-dimed for everything, and suddenly the tickets aren't so cheap anymore.

I don't blame anyone who opts to drop their pledge, either partially or completely. It's disappointing of course, but really, no hard feelings. I'm incredibly thankful for everything.

And no matter what -- as always -- thanks for watching.