Patreon Fees Change - What It Is, and How It'll Affect You Here

Hi,

I wish I was writing a longer form thing under more felicitous circumstances but the responsibility of being transparent with changes going on at Patreon falls apparently only on the shoulders of us, the Creators.

Uh oh, what's going on...

You've likely heard rumblings about it on Twitter/Tumblr, but in case you haven't: Patreon is changing how fees will be processed starting December 18th. Everything I will talk about below will be in relation to my Patreon in particular but know that this applies to every Creator you support.

Okay, what does that mean?

Currently, the system is setup as so: You pledge X amount per month and you are charged for that, and only that, once at the start of the month. That's it on your end. On my end, I get payment once a month that is a tally of your pledges. From that tally, Patreon takes their cut (5%) and a small fee is taken out for transaction costs. This usually amounts to about 5-7% in my case. It's negligible, usually amounting to about $10 from my total.

Under the new system, you pledge X amount per month and on top of that, you are charged the transaction fees mentioned above. Under the new system, they are 2.9% of your total pledge+$0.35. Here is a graph that outlines the changes in more detail:

Used with permission by @wombatoverlord.

Patreon's objective with this change is that creators now, ostensibly, take an exactly 95% cut of every transaction because they no longer account for the fees in that transaction, since it is being passed onto you, the Patron.

This is unfair. It is done without the consent of the creators and was done with no consultation to the greater community of artists and creators on this platform who rely on low-level pledges. 

EDIT: This is somehow even more unfair than I realised. Ryan North posted on their blog a similar statement to their supporters. In it, they make note that the extra "fee" you are being charged per pledge is, in reality, only charged once on their end with their transaction processing. This means that only one of those fees is actually going towards something, the rest are going to Patreon itself. 

(The difference here being that as it is now, the fee was charged once on my end and, therefor, processed once on their end, as it should be.)

What does that mean for me, the Patron?

As you can tell from the graph above, it means that every pledge will now cost you more and that, for low-level pledges which make up the majority of my funding, I make less money total off of them. The processing fee on my end was taken out of the lump sum, not each individual pledge. 

But I don't want to pay... more...

And I don't want you to!! I'm super against this and I am writing this to be EXPLICITLY CLEAR ABOUT THIS. THIS CHANGE IS DONE WITHOUT MY CONSENT AND APPROVAL. I would happily eat the cost of transaction fees like I always have AND HAVE BUDGETED FOR so that you can continue supporting as many creators as you'd like.

The beauty of Patreon has always been it being a platform where smaller creators have been able to make money from a hobby, or outright make a living, in a society and economy that doesn't allow that to exist otherwise. I could not do what I do if it wasn't for you, for Patreon, and for the support shown to me through here. Myself, and many other small and marginalised creators, rely on Patreon to populate the creative scene with new, unrepresented voices and this change actively hurts this.

Can I help?

YES. I am writing all of this to be as clear as possible about how against all of this I am. That fee is not your responsibility to bear, not when it was not in the first place.

Talk about this on Twitter. Tweet at Patreon about your disapproval. Email them to let them know this is not something you want, that this is something that is harmful to creators and patrons alike, and that they've outright lied in their numbers to paint it as a win-win for everyone when it is aggressively not for anyone involved. Reach them at: @Patreon, @PatreonSupport, or through their Feedback form.

The Outcome of All This

If you have a budget and need to consolidate your pledges, and do not want to support this Patreon anymore, I understand. I operate on a budget and so do you, many of you. 

Because of the current loss I am facing from pledges that have already dropped, and the overall "cut" of low-tier transactions, I cannot adjust my pricing without taking a significant financial hit. I'm sorry. I have always priced my tiers to what I believe was a fair amount and I continue to value my time and my work, regardless of a platform thinking it knows what's best for me. While I have eggs in other baskets, Patreon is my primary source of income and I cannot stress how much this all scares me because of it. I have to protect myself and I cannot undercut myself in the face of unapproved change. I hope you can empathise and understand.

I will be doing some minor changes to the Patreon at the start of the new year. Consider it Season 3 of this whole operation. They will not be significant changes but I hope they're enough to revitalize this whole operation. 

For those of you who still stick around and have stuck around through arguably the worst period of my life as an adult being, thank you. A thousand kicks to the shins have repeatedly brought me down but you have all always been the ones to lift me back up and motivate me to keep going. 

I will continue to do my best and continue to, hopefully, make you feel like every dollar (and extra 35 cents, now) have been 100% worth it.

Love,

Erica

If you have any questions about all of this, or anything else, please let me know in the comments and I will reply as accurately/best as I can.

Housekeeping:

Print tier patrons, I'm sending all that stuff out tomorrow!! Sorry it's late I've just gotten back on my feet in terms of shipping stuff so they'll all be on time again DX