Zedrin
patreon
Patreon Fees (Dec. 18th)
🕑 Added 2017-12-07 00:48:39 +0000 UTC So the changes appear that they will be final. I'm trying to talk to staff but it doesn't look like it'll have an effect.The basic summary: Before, I'm charged between 8 to 15% of all total pledges for fees. 5% goes to patreon, and for me between 4 to 6% is for processing.
With this new change, I only have to worry about the 5% patreon fee, so I get paid a higher percentage of the amount pledged (up to 95% instead of around 90%)--however patrons wind up paying the processing fee on top of their pledge.
And I have confirmed that it is per pledge, unless they decide to recant / change that last minute.
The fee is 2.9% + 0.35. The flat fee part can add up if you pledge to a lot of creators.
To give an overview of the new tier costs:
- The $1 tier will be charged at $1.38
- The $2 tier will be charged at $2.41
- The $5 tier will be charged at $5.50
- The $10 tier will be charged at $10.64
- The $20 tier will be charged at $20.93
As you can see, the fee is a higher portion the smaller the tier.
The thing is that the cost difference is per creator, so if you have a lot of small pledges you'll see more of an increase. If you have just a few pledges or larger ones, the net change is less drastic. (For instance, if you pledge to 17 patrons, you'll see a 2.9% + $5.95 increase overall.)
I don't agree with the change but I can't really do anything about it. The changes will go into effect December 18th, so you won't have to worry about them until the next billing cycle (January). New patrons will also have the fees reflected when they pledge, so they see up front what they're getting into, so this won't sneak up on them.
It's more you guys, the current and long term patrons, that I'm worried about. If you need to adjust or scale back, it's completely understandable (it always is, just even moreso in this case). I'm pretty adamant about not wanting to use permanent paywalls, so if you do need to part before January, you can always still find my content at my tumblr, my nsfw, via my webcomic and via my twitters (@zedrinbot and @zedrinbutt), as well as anywhere else where I'm active (it's all on my front page).
Comments
Mal
Yeah I posted this shortly after the changes but later on was told it was wrong but forgot to remove this one. Sorry about that ^^;
Zedrin
Late to this but the issue is Patreon doesn't actually earn anything from the fee, or at least much of anything. The fee exists cause it's a separate interaction with a financial institution. This is because Patreon wants a responsive system, one where as soon as you pledge, you have access for 30 days. Each financial company, from CCs, to Paypal, to Stripe, have different feed models, and the $0.35 + 2.9% is meant to accommodate all of them. Whenever a transaction is made, a fee exists somewhere in there. This move is moving away from charging those fees all at once which is why it gets more expensive. It's a casualty in the quest to get a more responsive system--one thing that has been a goal of theirs for YEARS.
Thisstufferguy
I just hope that this doesn't discourage support to creators in general, I can afford little bump ups being that I have higher tiers but only a couple of people. I can easily see some people pulling back support from others to reduce the impact.
NiGHTS4life
Just got the message from Patreon about the fees. This site will now charge me even more now.
Mal
also interesting but I was talking about this with people and did some more numbers EDIT: Never mind I was way off so i removed the wrong information
Mal
This post was super helpful. Thanks
Drake Cervantez
They're increasing your fees in order to pay their own fees for the Net Neutrality Act that's about to be removed so all these websites are starting to charge a lot more money in anticipation of having to pee alot more of themselves for their own domain
Pioneer1111
I have to say, I really appreciate you spelling this out for all of us. It is great to see that you care about your audience so much when all of my existing pledges (aside from one other) havent even mentioned it. I will be keeping my pledge active for someone that pays attention to what affects their supporters.
OmegaResNovae
If they're hellbent on implementing this fee structure, then perhaps they can be be persuaded to do so based on the sum of pledges instead of the proposed format. If not, well I can only hope they come to change their minds when the inevitable supporter pullout and outcry happens.
Calsetes
I'll be honest, man, I do like your work. I'll try to keep pledged, but if I do need to trim my expenses, yours is likely the first to go. It's nothing about your art or anything, it's the simple fact that your one pledge going bye-bye means I essentially don't see any increase. I ran the numbers for another guy I pledged to, and the amount he sees increased is a good bit less than what Patreon sees increased. Their cry of "it's for the artists!" definitely seems to be ringing hollow from what I can see numbers-wise. And numbers don't lie. So, here's hoping that I can cut back on a few other things to keep your pledge there. At this point, I think the only thing that might trigger a reaction from them would be getting as many artists on-board with running the numbers from their campaigns as possible, posting them to social media, and hoping that public opinion sides with the view that yeah, artists are getting a bit more, but Patreon's getting the better part of the deal, and that's not right. You see an increase of $15, but they see an increase of $25, and the pledges are the ones footing the bill.
NiGHTS4life
Patreon is screwing patrons over. Those fees will add up to the number of pledges you currently have. Once the end of the month you'll be paying even more.
