Patreon Changes & What I'm Doing

Hi folks. Some of you have probably heard by now that Patreon is planning to start passing fees on to patrons. You may have seen creator discussion on social media, and you will probably be receiving an email from Patreon itself today if you haven't already. Patreon is pitching this as a creator-positive move, but it isn't, and I don't support it. Here's why:

They're planning to start charging you a 2.9% + $0.35 fee per pledge. This won't hit large pledges like the Bug Club very hard, but if you're pledged to me at the $1 level, Patreon will charge you about $1.37 if they implement this new fee structure. This will be the same for every individual pledge you make, which is frankly dishonest on Patreon's part because the processing fees are only charged once per card no matter how many creators you're supporting. It seems to us creators that Patreon is planning to pocket the difference, and they're asking us to try to smooth this over with our supporters, as if gratitude for your generosity is somehow going to make more money appear in your pockets. It's not right for them to ask patrons to cover operating fees. That is traditionally a business expense and something I am responsible for. I get about 90% of the total amount pledged to me under the existing format; the rest goes to keep Patreon running, which I accept as a cost of using the platform and its tools.

Patreon is claiming that this is a pro-creator move, but a lot of creators have done the math in the last 24 hours, and it's clearly not. Patreon will actually be taking a larger portion of what you are ultimately charged. I'd see about 95 cents of every $1 pledge + 37 cents fee. That's not what you signed up for, and it's not what I expected when I joined Patreon, either.

I want you to know that I've both reached out to Patreon yesterday via email and also had an extensive say on their community forums, including talking to a representative in their marketing department. I hope they will see good sense and go back on this decision, but if not, I am already considering what to do to protect you, my supporters. You are a huge part of the reason I can do art full-time, and I am absolutely going to bat for you and your interests here. I can't thank you enough for everything you have enabled me to do with your generosity. I won't stand for someone to take advantage of that generosity. Some of you are already aware that I used to be on Storenvy before moving to Tictail this year. I moved because Storenvy started charging customers a fee for every order on top of what shopkeepers were paying. I didn't stand for it there, and I won't stand for it here.

If you have to reduce or cancel your pledge should Patreon refuse to alter course, I do understand, and I'm sorry to see you go. I will be exploring alternatives such as Paypal subscriptions or competitor services should you wish to continue supporting me as you have been. One idea I have is to set up reoccurring monthly Paypal subscriptions for the tier amounts & rewards if you'd like to continue pledging but cannot work with the extra fees. I'll have to do a little more research on how that would work, though, before making a decision. You can also support me whenever you like with one-time tips through Ko-fi, which does not take fees out of your tip for you or for me! I am still hopeful that this decision may be reversed, though.

I'm sure I sound like a broken record, but I really can't stress enough how important your pledges have been for the growth and success of my art and business in the last year. I don't want new policies on Patreon's part to put a divide between us, and I've been contacting them along with many other creators to try to get them to see reason about this terrible idea. The good news is, they haven't implemented the change yet - since pledges to me are charged monthly, it wouldn't affect you until January. If you'd like to contact them yourself and make your voice heard, Patreon does have this form.  Check off that you're here to "get help" so they'll be more likely to respond. Let them know how this will affect your ability to support creators you love and how it makes you feel about the platform.

Thank you so much for supporting me and coming along on my creative journey in a direct and meaningful way. I hope the site that has made this connection and growth possible won't let us down now.