Dis Patreon Business
Added 2017-12-08 02:33:00 +0000 UTCSo, Patreon recently announced that they're changing the way they're going to charge and process fees, which has the internet feeling a lot of different things, from raging fury to disquieted irritation. In general, the idea seems good on paper, and/but the public response to it has been negative.
You can read Patreon's announcment HERE,
https://blog.patreon.com/updating-patreons-fee-structure/
and about the general response to this change, HERE
https://www.theverge.com/2017/12/7/16746652/patreon-pledge-processing-fee-controversy
Here's how the changes will affect pledges, and proposals for new tier amounts, as broken down by another Patreon Creator:
https://twitter.com/Everblue_Comic/status/938886557724958720
I haven't yet done enough research on this one way or the other, so am still in the process of forming an opinion, but will be trying to take in as much information about it as I can, including y'all's feelings about it, how it affects my personal Patreon account, and how things shake out over the next couple of weeks.
Depending on all of these things, this Patreon account might go through a couple changes in the form of adjusted Tiers and price levels, and additional posts that are available to the public (to both encourage people to support the project and also so that people unable to support it can at least get SOMETHING).
I try not to react impulsively to things - but in general my goal is to keep you guys happy and feel like your investment has some level of return. I'll keep working towards that and adjust to what changes happen as they come, because that is literally the only thing I have control over.
If you guys do not like this idea and would like to get in touch with Patreon or express your views on this change, you can contact them here:
hello@patreon.com
...or sign this petition HERE (which I have done, simply because of the response to this announcement (given that the most important people on Patreon and the ones that are actually affected by this change are you, the Patrons), and the effects it has had on my account personally).
I will continue to research and try to figure out how to react to this in the meantime, but please keep me up to date on your thoughts and general feelings about this.
As always, thanks for everything.
Comments
I wrote comments on a bunch of my creators post about this change, all of which have disappeared. Each (except the one here), contained a link to the petition Meg posted about above, and a link to the calculator that Dammit Ryan created (it can be found in his comment to "Isa and Meg, The Namesake Team", if you'd like to try it -I don't want to put any links in this comment, in case that was an issue). It showed that my $40 pledge to about 35 creators has been getting about $36 to the creators, with the rest going to admin costs. The new fee structure costs me about $13 more, and about $38 will go to the creators. So, over $10 in admin costs get piled on me. This is inequitable. And the disappearance of my posts does NOT make me feel much happier with Patreon.
AlpineBob
2017-12-09 18:47:22 +0000 UTCMy understanding of how payment processing works is that the "processor" (whether Card company, PayPal, or whoever) takes their fee off the top before forwarding the balance. Patreon isn't responsible for remitting it after the fact. So whatever that processing fee is, is between the Patron and the Creator - NOT with Patreon. All Patreon has to do is charge their percentage of the original pledge.
Granny Smith
2017-12-08 17:28:15 +0000 UTCI'm so sorry. I wish I could keep being a patron, but between this and my current financial situation... Maybe someday, I can come back.
Adrius Frostglare
2017-12-08 16:25:13 +0000 UTCMy pledges are already affected by the exchange rate so I doubt this will change that much. I'm only patreon-ing this comic at the moment so I'm not going anywhere. ;P
2017-12-08 15:14:05 +0000 UTCI think it's per pledge. 35 cents plus 2.9%
Robert
2017-12-08 04:07:23 +0000 UTCExactly. The majority of my pledges are $1 (32 of them at the moment, to be exact). If Patreon goes ahead with their plan to charge each of those individually and hit me for an additional $12+ in service charges in the process, I will most certainly go out of my way to find other avenues to support those creators. If I'm going to be paying service charges anyway, the way this has been handled does not make me keen on giving them to Patreon.
Owen Smith
2017-12-08 03:50:33 +0000 UTCHmmm... for people who only have a few pledges, this new update shouldn't make much of a difference for how much they pay, but for people that have numerous small pledges, that flat $0.35 fee per pledge could add up pretty quick. I think that's where a lot of creators are gonna wind up actually losing some money, is the drop outs of smaller pleges. :(
2017-12-08 03:14:57 +0000 UTCMy $20 looks like it will become $20.93 or maybe $21.28, because it’s split between 2 accounts. Don’t know if Patreon will feel it’s worth it though. It wasn’t clear if the $.35 is per account, or just a flat fee on top of the 2.9%
JeanetteB
2017-12-08 02:56:25 +0000 UTCShoot, yeah, good idea - I'll update the post with a link to how individual pledges will be affected. Thanks.
Meg Syv
2017-12-08 02:54:11 +0000 UTCIt looks like a $5 pledge gets about 50 cents added on, for reference.
Robert
2017-12-08 02:46:14 +0000 UTCI feel discombobulated!
peter allen
2017-12-08 02:38:30 +0000 UTC
