Thoughts on Patreon’s fee changes.

Yeah, that's been one of the most important aspects of this site. I've seen many underdogs (myself included) earn support, create more content, and broaden their bases... all because of Patreon. I hate that they're making it harder to choose who to support. I'm honestly fine with paying my share of fees to use this platform so I hope they'll reconsider how they go about this. Anyways thanks for being such a great patron of the arts. Supporters like you are invaluable the creators and art in general. Thank you so much for all the support you've given me. I'm extremely grateful to you for it.

Erotibot

Ugh, yeah... that seems really unfair. I hope that gets adjusted.

Erotibot

Well I certainly appreciate that. I just hope they're able to make some changes before implementing this so supporters don't feel pressured to choose between their creators.

Erotibot

Understandable. Thanks for your support by the way. In light of any changes around here I value you guys and gals more than anything else.

Erotibot

Well I hope they reconsider, or at least make some adjustments before going through with it. That's all I can say really :/

Erotibot

The increase in pledges cancellation you noticed most likely has nothing to do with you doing anything disappointing, and everything to do with the upcoming changes Patreon is introducing. I hope they decide not to go ahead with it, but if they do, I will adapt just like, as an European, I adapted to the introduction of the 20% VATS tax on my pledges. I will keep supporting creators, and I will keep supporting the same total amount I used to. I will support less artists, but the artists I still support will get more money out of me as a result. The question now is: who to support more and who to no longer support? I consider myself a fan of every single artist I support, so it is not going to be an easy choice. I might end up cancelling my pledge to the most successful artists out there to keep on giving to the "underdogs". I don't want this change to make Patreon a place only for a few "elite artists" who can get single individuals to give them large sum instead of a lot of people giving them a little. Said "elite artists" of course deserve every penny they get, but I want to help those who are now going to struggle because of those changes the most.

Chirutai

I have a ton of $1 pledges. I can only justify this if they batch the charges every month and only hit me with the fixed $0.35 part of the fee once per month. If they start hitting me $0.35 for every creator I am pledged to, I will drastically chop my pledge list and may just quit Patreon entirely.

Todd Whitesel

I'm going to have to trim back my pledges (I needed to before this happened), but you're not going to be one of the ones I stop supporting.

Eddie Murphy

Best of luck to you and hopefully this shift in the system won't make people leave

A-T

Yeah, I've been fine with paying the fees thus far. I understand creators wanting to take home more of what they earn, but I've always viewed the fees as a small price to pay for a platform that has changed my life and enabled me to do what I do.

Erotibot

What makes it more of a hardship to supporters is they've got to budget themselves as opposed to the artists who essentially won't miss the income if their fees are deducted before hand. It's all essentially free or supplemental income as some artists do have jobs. They'll only quit their day jobs when the income from patreon is large enough. One of the artists I support gets around 8,000 a month. I know he's not working!

ANIMENIAC

Yeah, I got that. Guess we'll see what happens. Patreon has treated me fairly as both a creator and a patron thus far. I wanna believe these changes are done in good faith, but there's no way to overlook what it does for smaller pledges, and for people who pledge to multiple creators.

Erotibot

Thanks! I really appreciate the support and you saying so <3

Erotibot

Going to have to look more into it. I just read the email about it this morning. I've been very satisfied with your illustrations so I don't plan to stop supporting you.

Jax

Yikes! And yeah... I feel like I lost interest in the per update model some time ago. It's just what worked best for me when I was still holding down a day job. After a while I was earning enough that I didn't want to mess with it, but I think transitioning to comics will offer me a welcome change to the monthly set up. Anyways, I've said it before, but thanks for your support Troy. You've been with me a long time and I can't thank you enough for making what I do possible.

Erotibot

Well I've been duped by the multiple charges before. I used to support 8 people but once they charged me $75 three times for one month I had to cut some because that's a lot of money that just went out that shouldn't have been lost. I informed them about it but didn't get any compensation so I had to cut off a few creators in fear of it happening again. With this I knew their system wasn't perfect but I didn't think it needed a change such as this. Still I'm in a comfortable position right now so unless there's a big difference in my pledges I'll be sticking around!

TakuAmazuki

Not a big deal just offer different ways to pledge -sending money directly to your paypal -gumroad subscription -kickstarter

HEARTZMD

Anything involving money is always tough... changes will cause disruption and frustration for many I'm sure. I'm just hoping the platform, the creators, and the supporters get through this rough patch somehow...

Erotibot

Yeah, that would explain it. Although I constantly worry that I'm failing to deliver on my end when I see numbers go down. It's a fret I'd rather not have since all this is tied to my bank account and such. Ah well, I don't take my supporter's pledges for granted! I'm just happy to have made it this far, and hopefully things will even out.

Erotibot

I haven't really read all that pertains the change, but out of the math in my head and some discussion within a discord server, the change is absolutely stupid, and will affect negetively to a lot of creators in opposition to what patreon is saying. This is especially true with $1 pledges, as now they will be paying around 38% more. which before some percentage went to patreon as fee out of the $1, now it's around 31% is fee out of the $1.38. Well the problem is that creators with a lot of $1 patreons will see a big decline in pledging sadly. I don't think I explained myself too well xD. But here is a little sheet that someone I know made to illustrate it a bit <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1AiKpk_HZjBOrxCpLC7Ph0xeWaqSwPFDI6lFXhjedYJo/edit" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1AiKpk_HZjBOrxCpLC7Ph0xeWaqSwPFDI6lFXhjedYJo/edit</a>#gid=0

jirs

People have been hearing about this change in America for maybe 2 weeks now through word of mouth, which may explain your drops. In the UK, Patreon did this 5 months ago.

ZeroskieS

I think the reaction is only partially fair. I understand not wanting to pay more, but some of comment seem the blaming the creators which is just ignorant to say the least. I’m in the fence and currently see it all as a sales tax if anything.

Taya Toxin

I only support 2 Creator's. You guys won't hurt me any. If I supported more, I might drop Patreon completely.

I am saddened to hear that. Creators rely on supporters like you, and every single pledge, even the smallest ones count! I am not trying to guilt trip you or anything like that because I totally understand you, but if this is the result then Patreon could be making a bad move here.

Erotibot

I'm definately cutting off some of my support as I support about two dozen artists.

ANIMENIAC

I find it interesting. I follow a lot of creators on twitter who use Patreon, and the reaction is pretty much universal: "What? No. Why are you doing this?"

Simiusmagnus