PATREON FEE UPDATE (Patreon)

At 3am (Singapore time) this morning, Patreon creators have received an email announcing a new fee system that will be implemented on the 18th December 2017.

In summary, patrons will have a 2.9% + $0.35 service fee incurred on all paid posts. In the past, creators instead have been covering Patreon’s 5% fee and all of the processing fees in full.

The full FAQ directed to us creators can be read here:
https://patreon.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115005631963 

What Worked Before

The key success to Patreon's business model was essentially the $1 pledge. It's very straightforward - "for just a dollar, you could support your favorite creators each month". The $1 tier created a safe point of entry for a lot of potential supporters to "check out" a new creator. It also bares with it minimum financial risk and allows patrons to spread support across multiple creators within a limited budget.

Where The Issues Lies

The flaw with the new fee system is that Patreon's minimum pledge sum cannot be adjusted below $1. With the new fees, the minimum sum will be $1 + ( 2.9% + $0.35 service fee) = $1.38 - which pretty much screws up its original marketing strategy - and it doesn't even roll off your tongue nicely. Currently as of this writing, the creator user interface does not allow the minimum pledge sum to go lower than $1, as a counter effort to negate these fees incurred by patrons.

The implementation of this new fee system impacts the largest portion of my own supporters, namely, those who have chosen to pledge $1, with no workaround to it.

What Meatier Showers Believes In

It is with the endless support and patience of you guys that making adult furry comics can become a self-sustaining full-time gig for me. This is my dream and being able to share this while paying the rent and feeding myself is more than what I could ask for. You guys have been backing me all this while, and it's time for us creators to back you guys up.

To counteract the additional fees, Meatier Showers will be adjusting all possible reward tiers to "absorb" fees. The $5 and $50 tiers will be revised so that they remain the same amount, even after the new fee system is implemented.

However, this is limited to higher tiers. As explained above, the reward system currently does not allow for creators to modify the pledge amount below $1, in order to negate the fees.

For now, we are still monitoring the developments and hoping that Patreon gets back to creators with a more sensible solution.

Snares,
Dec 2017