I may have screwed myself over with the currency change. (Patreon)

I don't know if this is an exaggeration though or if I am missing something when I look through cancelled pledges.

Maybe it's just the whole jump from Dollar to Euro thing.

I changed my currency from dollar to Euro to actually get a bit more money out of it but it seems like that was a big mistake given the fact that most of my audience pays in dollars. Or that's what I believe at least. With that I get a conversion fee on-top of my earnings. Of course sites like paypal also have a conversion fee when it comes to exchanging currencies but it just gets used on the whole amount, not each one separately.

Based on the numbers I received after the 5th I was devastated to read that I paid 92€ (113,29$) for conversion fees (and the other billing stuff) when I paid 56$ (45,48€) before. Which means it doubled.

(Just a little behind the scenes thingy: Based on the stats I lost 144€ (~176$) which is why I looked into it because it's really high compared to previous months)

Of course I can't deny that people most likely also canceled their pledge due to the current situation with Covid and all that stuff that comes with it.

I think my brain wasn't calculating with the fact that my existing Patrons still paid their old rates...and in dollars with coversion fees applied. Which is extremely deadly when it comes to smaller pledges...which are in my case the majority of my Patrons.

Long story short...I think I fucked up my salary for the next 6 months...in case it is 6 months because in the support center of Patreon they just say that you can change your currency once but my page editor says every 6 months. I hope it just applies for supporters not for creators. If the latter is the case I really have to start thinking about commissions in the future.

So after breaking my Discord (which works again btw) I think I broke my salary lol.

I am not here to whine and I am an optimist, I just keep creating and hope it sorts itself out. If the editor is correct I can change it back in 6 months. Maybe it's just the decline of supporters due to Covid combined with the currency change that makes it look like a extreme loss of money.

So yeah... the only way I can avoid these extra charges is when my Patrons pay me in Euros. I know I mentioned it in the original post that you can edit your preferred payment method but I am not sure if:

1) You can select the preferred currency for each creator you support separately

2) If you want to pay the new price (which you have to pay in case you change your currency...I am not sure about that one though)

I really don't want to beg for extra money, I really don't. I fucked up at one step in my calculation and I have to live with decisions I make.

Here is the link to the post where I explained the steps to change your payment preferences 

You don't have to do anything if you don't want to, I will keep creating like before and look how further months look salary-wise. If I don't get by I will take commissions again until I can change back my currency (if needed or if I can at all because it is stated differently...which sucks)

I will stay positive! Have a nice day everyone and stay safe!

Aron

I always use these posts to help cope with these sorts of things, sorry about that lol