Patreon Changes, You and Me

Hey everyone, 

As some of you may have heard, Patreon is making some changes to how Patrons are charged on their platform. The new change is that Patrons NOT Creators will be charged processing fees at a rate of 2.9%+$0.35. Previously, this had varied and was charged to Creators. This meant support varied by 2-10% less (in additional to the 5% Patreon fee) than the amount pledged. Unfortunately, this was poorly communicated. Currently it will apply for each Creator you support despite most Creator’s payments being transferred to Patreon as a single lump sum.  In a recent update to their previous post, Patreon had clarified this is because they are moving to a rolling sub model (like nearly every other subscription service such as Netflix, Twitch Subs or harbour fees) where you pay when you sign up, and then a month later - rather than the current system which is at the beginning of the calendar month regardless of when you supported someone.

This means that rewards can be rolled out to supporters immediately rather than having to wait until the beginning of every month to see if there are any issues with payments.

Since the additional fee they are leveraging up front on Patreons does include a flat $0.35, it will heavily hit $1 Patrons who will be paying $1.38 (plus VAT). The way our Patreon community support is structured means that it will have a relatively small impact and the ability to roll out rewards immediately once they bring out Charge Up Front (which this is a step towards) next year should be beneficial for everyone.

Please bear in mind that this does offset the current 2-10% (generally 5-6% extra) processing fees and means that your support will go further.  Of course, this does represent a big jump for contributors at lower tiers and it goes almost without saying that you should always do whatever you feel you need to for your own personal financial situation! We're really sorry if this has caused any worry or confusion, but it does look like the changes aren't quite as bad as initially made out to be. However, Patreon certainly could have explained the situation far better.

Stay shiny,

EE.