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Potential Patreon billing changes; what do you think? (Patreon)

Published:
2020-11-18 02:54:36
Imported:
2024-01

Poll

Potential Patreon billing changes; what do you think?

  • Yes, I like the idea of annual memberships and billing in advance is OK 19
  • No, I don't like the way Patreon is handling billing in advance and don't want to see a change 13
  • It honestly doesn't matter to me 21
  • 2020-11-18
  • —2020-12-01
  • 53 votes
{'title': 'Potential Patreon billing changes; what do you think?', 'choices': [{'text': 'Yes, I like the idea of annual memberships and billing in advance is OK', 'votes': 19}, {'text': "No, I don't like the way Patreon is handling billing in advance and don't want to see a change", 'votes': 13}, {'text': "It honestly doesn't matter to me", 'votes': 21}], 'closes_at': datetime.datetime(2020, 12, 1, 3, 0, 12, tzinfo=datetime.timezone.utc), 'created_at': datetime.datetime(2020, 11, 18, 2, 54, 37, tzinfo=datetime.timezone.utc), 'description': None, 'allows_multiple': False, 'total_votes': 53}

Content

I recently got an e-mail from Patreon outlining two new options for handling the billing of patrons for their membership. I haven't made any changes, but am curious about what you think.

The first option is simultaneously the most and least impactful, switching to billing up front. Currently, when someone signs up as a patron, they get billed at the beginning of the following month in arrears -- basically, if someone signs up in January, they'll get billed on February 1st for their January membership. Switching to billing up front means that when someone signs up, they're charged right away to cover for that month, then again on the 1st of each month.

Patreon is offering this as an option to close a loophole that a small number of dishonest patrons have taken advantage of, where they sign up for a membership, consume members-only content, then cancel before getting billed at the beginning of the following month. Unfortunately this option also means that someone who signs up on, say, January 25, gets charged right away for their January membership...then they get charged again on February 1 for their February membership. I can see how one would consider paying for a month's worth of content but only getting 6 days would be off-putting.

I only bring this up because switching to the pay-up-front option unlocks the second option that I'm curious if anyone is interested in: Annual memberships. Instead of paying per month, you'd make one contribution and have access for an entire year. Patreon says this is something that about a third of patrons want, but didn't outline any reasons why.

Hence the poll; I'm genuinely curious as to what you think. I also want to be very clear that I'm totally fine with leaving things as-is, if that's preferred -- as you know, I'm very grateful for your support and respect your opinions. (I'm not aware of that loophole mentioned above ever being used on my own Patreon account, but even if it did, I'd prefer that over discouraging someone from joining because of a billing policy.)

Comments

Anton

I like the annual subs, I'd consider that for sure and didn't even know it existed!! I didn't realise that Patreon used this "full month" rounding oddness anyway, it should be a simple "pay for the remaining days up front, then the next month "billed in advance a month on the day" like practically every other service. I'm truly shocked that people can "taste" the content up-front too for nothing, especially if they signed up on the 2nd and cancelled on the 27th, that just seems really dumb, like most of Patreon's ridiculous ideas. I start most at $1, that's pretty much a "free trial" anyway. I've only canned one out of 13

Anonymous

The annual option is opt-in, so people can stick to the current system if they prefer. We activated it on our Patreon and a handful of people signed up for the annual (we offer 1 month free for annual memberships) but it was nowhere near what Patreon claims is the amount of people clamoring for it. I think from Patreon's POV they want cash in hand immediately and are putting that viewpoint onto the public at large.

thisdoesnotcompute
>>47936302

Yeah I'm with you on the skepticism of how "popular" the annual payment option actually is -- seems like Patreon is getting squeezed for cash from impatient investors.