alexwoolfson

So, Patreon did this dumb thing...

Added 2017-12-08 22:13:32 +0000 UTC

Howdy everyone,

So, y'all received an email yesterday where Patreon said they were changing their "Payment Fee Structure." If you missed that email, you can read about the change here (and there's a Q&A here) but the short answer is that they are adding a fee of 2.9% plus $0.35 USD to pledges to cover transaction costs (so, if you have a $5 pledge, they'll charge an extra $0.50 to cover the transaction costs.) This change is supposed to happen on December 18th.

Their reasons for doing this include creating a more predictable and consistent income for creators (right now, creators pay the transaction fees), as well as reducing the overall amount of transaction fees (right now, the transaction fee paid by creators can vary between 7-15% of the pledge totals). If you read their "Update" at the bottom of this post, they further explain that this will also allow them to move to a more sensible subscription model where people get charged each month based on the date they pledged, instead of getting charged immediately when they pledge and then switched to getting charged at the 1st of the month (which lead to new Patrons feeling they were double-charged if they, say, pledged on November 28th, got charged on that day, and then were charged again on December 1st—which is what can happen with the current fee schedule.)

While I, myself, haven't had an issue with paying the transaction fees, I know other creators have had a hard time with it. And I can see how charging people monthly on the date they pledged makes a lot more sense than the current system. Both are problems that could use fixing, and it's possible this is the best, least expensive way to do that, overall.

But the way Patreon shared their plans for this was, frankly, awful. They never consulted me (or many creators, it seems) about whether we were comfortable shifting the transaction fees to our Patrons. In fact, they sent an email to me about the change only 24 hours before y'all got one. (And I only found that email when a reader asked me what was going on.) And in that email, they basically said it was a done-deal, no exceptions.

And understandably, creators were pissed.

I support a number of creators here on Patreon, several of whom have already posted their reaction to this change—and it's been universally negative. Pretty much everyone talked about how they felt blind-sided by this change. Some creators pointed out that, while the overall increase in terms of pennies and dollars wasn't huge, it would disproportionately affect those creators who relied on $1 pledges since the percentage increase for those pledges would be huge, because of the fixed $0.35 USD transaction charge. And any increase in payment amount, even a small one, is a big deal—this whole thing works only because of the generosity of awesome Patrons like you—and many creators felt we were being forced to make a demand on our Patrons that we never asked for or wanted to make.

Many of these creators asked their Patrons to email Patreon to reverse this change. Some have openly flirted with the idea of rage-quitting Patreon to switch to some other platform. There isn't actually a good alternative right now, but like I said, creators are pissed. And I don't blame them. Patreon should have checked with us first about this, they should have done a better job explaining it from the start, they should have given a lot more warning, and potentially they should have given creators the option to opt-out.

So, here we are now. Some of you have asked me what you should do. And others have asked if I'm going to rage-quit Patreon over this.

Is this a money grab for Patreon?

There's a line of thinking that the secret reason Patreon is doing this is as a "money grab," that somehow they are going to financially benefit from this change. After reading that Update at the end of their blog post, I find that unlikely. Also, I live near the Patreon office, and so I've had a chance to meet the team there a few times—to really get to know them. Their whole culture is about supporting creators, and everyone I talked to seems to have really drunk that Kool-Aid. My direct experience of them—when I've needed their help, or had a suggestion of a way to improve things—is that they've been very responsive and eager to find good solutions. That their over-arching mission is to help creators succeed.

I suppose it's possible that their culture has undergone a huge change since I last dropped by, but if you asked me to guess? I think they really believe that they are acting in the best interest of the creators here—they just have handled the roll out of this very, very badly. They are still a young company and, frankly, their ability to communicate changes has never been great. It's always been one of their weak spots.

So, will this change actually happen?

I have my doubts. So many creators—creators much more popular than me—have protested so strongly, I expect them to backtrack. I myself have asked them to hit pause on these plans. I think the strongest argument for this change is the one they made in that Update—that it's the best way to set up a more intuitive subscription model, to make it so Patrons can be charged based on the day they sign up—but if they want to make that argument, I think they are going to need to take more time to explain it and get everyone on board. And come up with a better, more fair solution for $1 and "per-creation" pledges.

What do I think you should do?

I know some folks are trying to decide whether they should change or eliminate their pledges based on this change. If the change would be a financial hardship for you, then I think you should make the choice to keep yourself safe.

That aside, some folks have asked if they should quit Patreon based on principle. And I suppose that will depend on your reasons for offering your support to creators. And whether you think Patreon is one of the good guys or one of the bad guys.

I've expressed my own take above. I think the folks at Patreon are good people. And the truth of the matter is, if they didn't exist, if they hadn't gone out of their way to help me get set up here, I wouldn't be making these comics today. They could certainly do things in the future that could blow my trust, but as of now anyway, they've earned more than a little benefit of the doubt from me.

What am I going to do?

Patreon is how I make my living and it's currently the only way for me to continue making these comics. I think they handled this poorly, but I'm not convinced they did it for any other reason than to try to make things better for creators. My loyalty to them is not absolute, but I do believe that they've earned some loyalty from me. I still believe in them and what they are doing here—for me, and for all the other creators.

We'll see how this unfolds. I'll keep you in the loop if anything changes. But for now and for the foreseeable future, I'm not going anywhere.

I'll, of course, respect whatever decision you make, but I hope you'll stick around too. I couldn't do this without you, and your support here is what makes these comics possible.

Just recently, the support here has increased to the level where I've been able to start building back the savings that I had burned through during the lean time. For the first time, in a long time, things are feeling truly sustainable to me with these comics. Patreon just did something very dumb, and I find that very frustrating, but what they've made possible, what you've made possible, I'll always be very grateful for. And with your help, I'll be able to continue making these comics for a long time to come.

You are now, and will always be, superheroes to me. You are all truly amazing people. And I look forward to sharing many more fun stories with y'all in the future.

Alex