Everything You Wanted to Know about the "Payment per Creation" System

As I realised there are many of you who are unfamiliar with this billing system, here you can find out everything you need to know about it 😊

But at first, I would like to note that Patreon, and especially this billing model, is a way to support your creator. It is not a way to "purchase" releases, just cheaper, but rather a way to  get a membership with an artist whose work you enjoy and value, so you support them while getting everything they release with a huge discount - as a "thank you" for your support 💜

My releases don't happen on schedule, they happen based on inspiration, like any other art. Which, unfortunately, many people still don't understand and instead consider every artist's patreon as just another store, making everyone speed up their work and sacrifice the quality just to be able to release each set every single month 😟

So, quoting Patreon itself: 

Per creation billing was built with the idea that you want to support your creator and think their work is more valuable than ad revenue. Instead of thinking of your creator's paid posts as things that you have “purchased” try to think about them as content they’ve created – and you have membership that unlocks access to their content, which you value at different levels of support.

And now, back to the "Pay per creation" system's description!

📬 Joining my Patreon

To subscribe, click Join next to any of my Tiers, or Become a patron button if you're on a different page. This will redirect you to the page where you can configure your payment.

Once you’ve joined my page, you will get access to my entire back catalog of patron-only posts. You will not be charged for any of my previous paid posts, but you will also not receive the models from those releases.

On this page you can select the amount you pay for each of my releases, choose the currency in which you'd like to pay and set up your monthly limit.

🤔 Monthly limit

I will only be charging you for my future releases and them only (there is no monthly payment!), so my paid posts will happen around once in 4-8 weeks, but you will never be charged for more than one release in any given month. Which means that setting up a monthly limit is not necessary for my page, but below you can read up more on what it means:

Sometimes referred to as a “monthly max,” your monthly limit is the maximum amount you will be billed for paid posts in a given month. It is set in the amount of paid posts and ensures that you are never charged more than you’ve agreed to when you joined your creator's page.

This limit is set during membership confirmation (see the picture above), and can be edited throughout the month. Usually, If a monthly limit is not enabled, you are eligible to be billed for every paid post your creator makes. 

Q:  Does this mean you will lose access after you’ve been billed your monthly limit?

A:  No. You will have access to all paid posts and patron only posts published as long as you have an active membership with your creator and do not have a declined bill.

📜 Regular Posts

I will be making lots of regular, unpaid posts, containing my work in progress, announcements, previews of my sets (which will be public), collaborations with other artists, discounts, voting and bonus models for all of my patrons. You will never be charged for any of these posts, but your access to the additional models will be revoked if you cancel your subscription before paying for my next release. As they're offered as a part of your future pledge.

💲 Paid Posts

When I'm done and ready to release my next set, I will make a paid post with it. This will place a pending bill equal to your pledge amount on your account. This bill will only be processed on the 1st of the next month, or - if you cancel your subscription - immediately on cancelling.

There will be public previews of all of my upcoming sets for those of you who want to see the release before subscribing, but once my set is released you will not be able to receive it here if you weren't subscribed to me at the time of my sheduled paid post. So everyone who joins my patreon after the release will only be eligible for my next set, since it's impossible to charge anyone for already created posts. And if you still want my past release, you will need to buy it on MyMiniFactory.

💳 Payments

When are your bills processed?

• On the 1st of the following month after each release: When I make a paid post, a pending bill is placed on your account. Patreon will process your pending bills on the 1st of the following month. So if I make a paid post on June 1st, a pending bill is placed on active patrons’ accounts. These pending bills will be processed on July 1st.

OR

• Immediately when you cancel your membership: When a patron cancels their membership with a per creation creator, Patreon charges them for all pending bills on their account.

❔ Different Tiers

Want to be subscribed just to get a sneak peek into my future releases and decide afterwards if you'd like to pay the full price? No worries, you can easily do it even while staying subscribed to my standard 💜 Treasure Chest 💜 tier! You will not be charged until I release my next set, so after each release you will have plenty of time to decide on the next one! 

But be aware that your access to additional models you've received during this period (in between the old and the new release - so you always keep every model for the time you've been billed for!) will be revoked if you decide to cancel or downgrade your pledge before the next release, since they're offered as a part of it.

And if you want to support my work without getting my future releases, just because you like it or want to receive my discounts and bonus models only, you can choose the 🤍 Treasure Map 🤍 tier! 

It starts with €1.50 ($2.00), but you can pledge as much as you'd like to support me with - consider it a tips tier! The chosen amount will only be charged each time I release my new set (not monthly!), so only after I make a paid post with my next release.

Want to become my 🧡 Merchant 🧡? You can! You will need to get a Commercial License from my Tribe on MyMiniFactory for $25.00 USD a month. Please note that said License comes as it is, without the STLs I release, so to get my future releases you would also need to be subscribed to my 💜 Treasure Chest 💜 tier. 

I had to divide my Merchant tier into a separate License as there is no way of billing you monthly with my chosen billing system here on Patreon.

🔼 Upgrading from Treasure Map to 💜 Treasure Chest

By subscribing to my 🤍 Treasure Map 🤍 tier you will be able to see all of my posts and discounts, with a very small exception - in case I release something for my standard tier only, but you will not receive my collaborations with other artists and future sets. You will still be able to change to the higher tier after seeing the upcoming releases to get them, so don't worry! 😀 But be sure to do it before I release my next set.

There’s no upfront charge to upgrade, and you instantly get higher membership access, unlocking all of my Treasure Chest posts. Your higher pledge amount is applied to paid posts I will make after you upgrade. Pending bills already posted to your Billing history are not altered and will be kept at your lower pledge amount.

Which means that if you upgrade your Tier after I released a new set, this will not give you access to the said set and your new pledge will count only for my next release. So be sure to make a switch before I release anything if you'd like to get this set!

Patreon won’t exceed your monthly limit, so you may not be billed for additional paid posts. If you want to ensure a creator gets your increased amount, you may want to increase your monthly limit as well. However, since I won't be making more than 1 paid post a month, your monthly limit shouldn't affect anything and you don't need to worry about it :)

🔽 Downgrading back to the 🤍 Treasure Map

With this billing system you won't be charged until I release another set anyway, so there is no reason to downgrade after my release! 😊 But, of course, you can still do it.

Decreasing your membership will not change the amount of any pending bills already posted to your Billing history. So if you do that after my release, you will still get it and all the additional models released for it, but you will not receive this type of models for my next release.

Your lower amount will be applied to future paid posts.

❌ Cancelling

When you cancel a per creation membership, any pending bills are processed immediately. Patreon recommends that you check your Billing history before canceling, so you’re aware of potential charges.

Since future billing stops as soon as you cancel, so does your membership access. This also means that if you haven't had a bill yet (cancelled before my release), you will lose access to all of the models I've released since your last payment. But if you cancel after I release a set, you will keep the access to it and all of the other models released in that period of time.

If your payment declines, canceling will not remove the declined bill. Patreon will continue to try your payment to get your creators paid.

⏩ Rejoining

Exactly like when you first started your membership, there’s no payment to join and you instantly unlock membership access.

Once you join, you’ll be billed for any paid post the creator makes after you rejoin.

If you have any declined payments with the creator, you’ll first need to resolve those before you get access.

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Hope it answered all of your questions and helped you understand this billing system a bit better. Feel free to ask me if you have any questions left and I will be happy to answer you! 😊