tegerio
patreon
Oh Jeez, More Fees...
🕑 Added 2017-12-07 22:36:39 +0000 UTC Feel the squeeze, if you please.By now you all should have gotten the email from Patreon outlining their cockamamie plan to make patrons pay the moneychanging companies' transaction fees. In theory it's supposed to increase creator income by making our earnings more closely reflect the pledged amount - but in practice I'm afraid it will result in a loss of income across the board as the new charges drive patrons away. I'm not in favor of this move, but there's nothing I can do besides send them a feedback message registering my disapproval (which I have done).
According to the info they gave me, here is what I calculate my pledge tiers are going to cost after the changes go into effect in mid-month.
Basic $1 = $1.38
Zandar's Saga & Smut $2 = $2.41
Audio $3 = $3.44
Doodle Club $10 = $10.64
Commissions $40 = $41.51
When the change officially takes place then I reckon I should put these figures into the tier descriptions on my front page so you'll know at a glance how much they "really" cost.
This is going to most adversely affect those of you who are supporting multiple creators with a lot of little pledge amounts, because the new plan (starting December 18) is going to charge an extra 35 cents plus 2.9% PER PLEDGE. Those fractions add up. If, for example, you are supporting 10 creators at $1 each, your monthly bill will go up from $10 to $13.80. If $10 is your absolute spending limit, this means you've got to ditch THREE creators to bring it down to (7 x $1.38) $9.66, and three people just lost the approximately 62 cents they would have been getting from your dollar pledge under the old system.
I hope all of y'all can stay with me, but if you can't .. I understand. I don't like it, but I understand.
In other news, it looks like they switched me to pay-up-front at last. I don't know this for sure because they didn't actually notify me that they did anything, but I have been asking for it for the last couple of months. So far this December I haven't had any fake pledges from bots. Considering that I was getting them every day last month, my guess is that my account has been changed. So that's a good thing, I guess.
Comments
Well, this announcement has already lost me $7 in pledges which is significantly more than the extra pocket change I would have gotten from the fees. PS - guys, you're paid up until the end of the month, so it really doesn't make sense to panic-quit right now. Might as well wait til the 30th to get your moneys worth and duck out then.
GC
meh I'm staying. But it is going to effect if i'm going to toss 1$ at someone. Like if you do that to 100 people you're paying 139$ i could see that effecting a lot of people's bottom line and making them think twice about giving away that dollar, my self included.
benin81812
I wonder how many patrons will see their total charge jump >20% and chuck it in all together.
Simone Spinozzi
Eh... yeah... i'm sticking here.
Yeah, I don't know what they were thinking / smoking when they came up with this one.
DurradonXylles
I've been a big advocate for Patreon creators for the last couple years, and I feel this is the worst decision that the site could've made. Because this place acts as a service, I don't understand why the SUPPORTERS have to pay for privilege to support their favorite creators since it's always been a service to the CREATORS (and most people knew that going in). This will drive people away, and I, myself, will likely stop supporting a few people if Patreon actually goes through with this stupid plan. It sounds great if people only support a few creators and/or said creators only have a few supporters, but that's not the case for many, many people who create or pledge. Let's just hope the immediate, negative backlash at least makes Patreon reconsider this stupid plan before it rolls out.
