NealJohnstone
patreon
Patreon's Changes to Service Fees
🕑 Added 2017-12-08 09:22:54 +0000 UTC Hello! It appears that beginning on December 18th, Patreon will be changing the way it charges your pledges. Previously, 5% of every pledge went to Patreon, and then services fees were taken out of the pledge you made, giving me about 88 cents for every dollar you pledged. The change they intend to make is to put those service fees onto you rather than onto me or any other creators your supporting.The change Patreon intends to make is now patrons will begin paying 2.9% plus 35 cents for every particular person pledge. That means a dollar pledge now costs you guys $1.38. However, I would be taking home $0.95. Seems excessive to charge you $0.38 to hand me an additional $0.07. Personally, I'd choose to retain the current system.
The problem is that I charge on a per chapter basis. I cannot find clear answers whether that means you'll be charged 38 cents four times for four chapters or whether you'll pay just one fee when you're charged at the end of the month. If you'd like to support as you were but minimize the fee, you could alter your pledge to 2, 3, or 4 dollars and them limit your maximum per month charge to that dollar amount. One 4 dollar pledge may cost $4.47 rather than $5.56 for 4 one dollar pledges. Again, I haven't found a clear answer to how a per unit pledge will be calculated each month.
I do my best to provide 4 chapters a month. However, I have had months where I only posted 2 or 3, and one of those months probably occurs every three months or so. Take that into consideration if you are reconsidering you pledge.
If that change isn't what you signed up for, I thank you for all the support you've given and wish you well. If you're good and continue on that will be fantastic.
Thank you so much for the support you've given me! I'll see you all on Monday with the second option in December Votes.
Comments
Neal Johnstone
Not much, other than enfolding 4 one dollar pledges into 1 four dollar pledge to skirt the rule. Means If anyone takes that route I'll be even more compelled to get out four posts every month.
Neal Johnstone
Thanks! I'm glad you clarified.
Tony
its 2.9% +.35 for each post
HardhatDoozer
Just read the FAQ and I guess per pledge is how it goes. Makes a big hit for micro pledges. But what can you do?
HardhatDoozer
I think I'm confused. The new fee should be based on the processing fee that patreon has to cover. So they pay that $.35 processing fee on the total charge that they give to me each month. So if I support 5 creators per month and some of then make installments, the $.35 fee only needs to be charged once per month as I'm only charged once per month.
Neal Johnstone
Thank you so much, I suspected it worked like that. Whatever you decide, thank you for the support.
Kyuusaku
It's essentially a per charge fee, so if you publish X number of posts per month that have charged content, we get charged each time. Because of this, I'm reconsidering my Patreon subscriptions, as I have quite a few. I feel really horrible for content creators like you, because I'm sure I'm not the only patron who's thinking about shutting down their monthly patronage due to this fee change.
