About Patreon's new fee system...
Added 2017-12-09 09:42:47 +0000 UTCHi guys!
You may know that Patreon implemented a new fee system a few days ago, and the internet nearly exploded by the consequences that could bring to us, if your’re a creator or a pledger. If you haven’t read it yet, with the new fee system the pledgers will be charged like 2% of the pledge + 0.35$ after every single pledge you make. Basically that means the more artist you support, the more money Patreon will charge you.
So this upset both sides in a high level, and it affects badly the whole community. I assume tons of artists wrote a discouraging letter to the Patreon team because this change caused tons of pledgers deleting his pledge amount, because they need to think through twice whom they support.
They say it’s good for creators, that I have to pay less fee in that way, and I’ll take home more money. Well, putting the full pressure on the pledgers shoulder, it’s absolutely unfair, and it’s pretty hard to take home more money if the pledgers feel robed an just stop pledging. Honestly, I didn’t have any problem at all to take the responsibility about that 15% fee per month, it was a little price for that I do what I like.
Allegedly they run tests before the system implemented. Well, I don’t think so. the system wasn’t announced, they just implemented the update a few days ago, and after that did they tell you about it. And since then, complete silence from them. It absolutely smells like it’s a decision to take away more money. Businessman decision.
Okay. So with this new system, every pledger must consider who they really want to support, because the more creator you support, the more extra money you have to pay. So many unanswered questions. Everyone is disappointed in patreon, so am I.
I won’t hold you back folks if you’re about to make hard decisions about to shorten the line which artist you can and want to support. Don’t feel guilt about me, because right now, basically Patreon is trying to rob you out.
I really hope something will happen, and they will rewind the system, but even if that happens, the harm is already done. I also lost a bit of my confidence in Patreon too. And I feel sad for every creator whose livelihood depends on Patreon, just like mine does.
Despite what happened, I’ll be here, and I’ll try to work hard creating as I usually do. And thank you for all of you who supported me through the years with your money, or your comments.
Comments
I'm on the fence with this as my pledge amount totals around $53, but I want to see how much I'll get charged so that I can then make a decision on the pledges, as in if I should remove them or continue and if it's something that I can manage money-wise or not.
_I_want_to_dream
2017-12-10 12:22:05 +0000 UTCI'm sure they would be a thousednds more ways to get some extra money if they want, but doing that from the good intension of the supporters is just a disgousting step. And with this new system you are basically discuraged to support many artist, and ecuraged to only support a few...
Zummeng
2017-12-10 11:17:01 +0000 UTCThanks for the tip, I'll look into it! :)
Zummeng
2017-12-10 11:13:07 +0000 UTCThis is the saddest part in this, because the true sufferes of this change will be the smaler, less know artists, who came here to get a chanse to work on their dreams, and now this change basically takes that chanse from them...
Zummeng
2017-12-10 11:12:32 +0000 UTCOf course you can! I don't know if I could describe this whole thing properly, but if you think what I wrote is fine, sure thing! ^^
Zummeng
2017-12-10 11:09:05 +0000 UTCYou could also look into Patreon's competitors, such as Kickstarter's D.rip. A mass exodus away from Patreon would get their attention.
Kenneth Chisholm
2017-12-10 04:49:43 +0000 UTCDefinitely going to still support you, but the unfortunate reality is now I have to stop supporting several other people because going wide as opposed to narrow is now punished badly. If I support a single creator for $10 ($10.40) its less of a financial impact for me than supporting 10 creators for $1 each ($14), which makes no sense. Such a shame it's come to this, but sadly I find it unlikely that we can do anything short of finding another crowdfunding site. They don't seem to want to listen.
Mizar
2017-12-09 21:09:38 +0000 UTCAlso darling, would You maybe mind if I make an announcement on my page as well, linking it to what You wrote here? I also want everyone to know what is going on and You laid it out very well.
Furlana
2017-12-09 11:36:18 +0000 UTCOh my god, I did NOT hear of this and this is just horrible to read... I can't believe they cam up with such a disgusting solution. I guess we slowly need to look for alternative crowdfunding sources, since this one has lost it's track :/ Not to mention it will be vastly damaging to small artists, becasue they wil probably be the ones ditched first, while very popular big artists will still have the support. It's very unfair to charge the pledger and I agree it should be us who get charged, not the good-willed pledgers... >_>
Furlana
2017-12-09 11:34:10 +0000 UTCHi Zummeng, I'm sad to hear that Patreon is betraying its creators and funders again and again. As soon as I received their mail describing their new "ways to do what’s best for our creators", I feared that it was the nth sugar-coated sales talk to hide a business move that really means more money for them. As if the recent ban on adult content wasn't enough. For this reason I've been funding Sponsorion, a new creator-designed, crowdfunded platform that aims to provide an alternative to Patreon which isn't discriminating adult artwork. I hope the project will succeed and we will have a much more welcoming place to support our beloved creators.
hirumono
2017-12-09 11:32:40 +0000 UTCyeah man, im supporting 6 artists till now, i will limit myself to one favorite, it seems wierd to me that for fixing the system they had to implement the tax rise, the excuse is the artists didnt get before what it said they gonna get but to fix it they had to pull more money from patrons? very fishy... almost like the money dissapear somewhere halfway thru, i mean what is complicated here patreon was having 5% of what artist got from patrons and it just didnt added up because 95% was often less than 95% i bet because 5% was often more than 5%
Polandball
2017-12-09 11:23:21 +0000 UTC