On Patreon new fee structure
Added 2017-12-08 11:10:34 +0000 UTCMany of you know probably that Patreon changed their fee structure. They did without asking us, creators. The new structure punishes small backers heavily by forcing them to pay an extra $0.35c.
In larger pledges the difference is minimal, but Patreon has a lot of backers in the $1-3 range who pledge on dozens to hundreds of project, and this punishes them directly.
As a result, we've noticed that (both in our project and pretty much all other projects on Patreon), many users in this range have removed their pledges. This was made with several messages of support and asked us to please set up an alternate platform so they can keep supporting the project.
For many projects it's easy to just set up a Liberapay account or similar, but in our case, for the sake of transparency, all our funds go to our fiscal sponsor (Software Freedom Conservancy). This makes it more troublesome because, as a charity, they have to evaluate compliance with all the relevant laws in the United States so it may take some weeks.
If you are a small backer, or the new fee model affects you, we will be working hard to set up an alternative as soon as possible. Thanks enormously as always for your support!
Comments
Thanks for your will to provide an alternative. I hope this will work out. (and that one will be able to pay in euros because my terrible bank has 1€ fee per USD transaction... (take that Patreon and your 0.35c /s))
tuxayo
2017-12-12 21:25:07 +0000 UTCGoteo: It's not for recurring funding so it doesn't seem tailored for Godot. > it might be a problem that creators have no way of knowing who their patrons are. Here is the issue to follow/contribute to: <a href="https://github.com/liberapay/liberapay.com/issues/271" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://github.com/liberapay/liberapay.com/issues/271</a>
tuxayo
2017-12-12 21:23:26 +0000 UTCVia the Liberapay FAQ, I found this list of alternative crowdfunding platforms: <a href="https://wiki.snowdrift.coop/market-research/other-crowdfunding" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://wiki.snowdrift.coop/market-research/other-crowdfunding</a> On that list, the one that looks most interesting for FLOSS projects with backer rewards is Goteo, since it's primarily aimed at non-commercial, FLOSS projects, and it has its own source code available on Github. Liberapay also looks awesome, and I'm already backing a couple of projects there, but for some projects it might be a problem that creators have no way of knowing who their patrons are.
flesk
2017-12-10 08:28:41 +0000 UTCSame here. Patreon stays a good communication platform, but to actually collect donations I'll be looking forward to using Liberapay now. I wasn't your patron *yet* but I'd gladly throw in a couple euros a week on Liberapay if you add an account there :)
Rémi Verschelde
2017-12-09 08:53:43 +0000 UTCThe upcoming changes make me uncomfortable both as a creator and a supporter. I'm sill using Godot for a bunch of my projects and definitely want to continue supporting! In an update to their blog post, Patreon claim that the fee restructuring is to pave way for up-front charges billed on the monthly anniversary of pledge support. These changes only benefit/enable one of 3 available charging methods that creators can choose from. Having creators who want immediate up-front payments pay any additional fees incurred feels like a fair trade-off to me.
Josh 'Cheeseness' Bush
2017-12-09 00:36:37 +0000 UTCI'm ok. Also refreshed annual 120usd to Software Conservancy. Know them by Inkscape. They still have that pretty much strange site design...
1D_Inc
2017-12-08 22:42:30 +0000 UTCThank you for addressing this. Patreon now takes ($2*1.029+0.35)*1.19 = $2,87 for every $2 i want to give you. (pledge*servicefee+servicefee)*vat Thats 45% extra, way to much. I still like your great project but will cancel my pledge now. I will follow you here, so if you find a new way to support you, I will gladly use it.
Macros
2017-12-08 12:31:24 +0000 UTCHope we can sort this out! Thanks!
Emi
2017-12-08 11:59:44 +0000 UTC
