Considering Going to "Pay up front" Charging
Added 2019-02-06 16:40:07 +0000 UTCHi everyone!
I'll start with the disclaimer that this would not affect any existing patrons.
This is something that has been on my mind for a long time but I'm unsure whether I want to push forward with it since it is irreversible.
Pay up front charging is very much what it sounds like... When someone becomes a patron the first time they are charged is the next 1st of the month, so someone pledging on the 16th of a month doesn't get charged until the 1st of the following month. Needless to say some people take advantage of this system and since I get notifications of each pledge and pledge deletion I know who they are.
Up front charging would mean as soon as someone pledges to me they get charged and then the charging continues as normal ie. The 1st of each month.
The upside of the system is it stops people essentially ripping me off. The downside is that if someone pledges on the last couple of days before a month they will get charged twice in quick succession, for instance they pledge and get charged on the 30th and then get charged again on the 1st.
I'm not sure whether to change or not but I am considering it. If anyone has any comments, suggestions or advice I'm open to hearing it :)
Comments
I agree with Ryan in that from the artist’s perspective it’s too easy for someone to sign up, scrape all the posted work and then cancel their pledge. But the problem from my consumer perspective is this: I pledged with a couple of different artists and then changed my mind after actually seeing the content wasn’t a good fit for me. Example: I like male age regression femdom stories and art and while the artist had one or two sketches in that area, most of his or her art depicted female regression scenes. That is when I cancel and provide the reason why otherwise I might forget and then get hit with the recurring charges a month later.
2019-02-09 16:59:02 +0000 UTCIt's the double charges at the end of the month that I worry about. I really worry about people thinking I'm being scummy when I have no control over that!
2019-02-07 14:45:01 +0000 UTCNope, only as you cross the 1st of the month do you get charged.
2019-02-07 14:44:01 +0000 UTCI agree with the "grace period" for someone signing up late in the month. I do have the option of refunding myself so I could implement it myself it would just be a bit of extra work and that might carry complications with accessing content. I personally don't know why Patreon doesn't just charge on the date of sign up rather than doing it all on the 1st of each month!
2019-02-07 14:43:34 +0000 UTCFrom the pledge confirmation message, I assumed that once you pledged, you'd be charged on the first of the next month regardless of if you cancelled before then or not. "No charge has been placed yet. You've pledged to a "per month" page and will be charged on the next 1st of the month, Pacific Time." If that's not the case, then yeah, I feel like an up-front charge is fair. It'd be nice if, once you'd paid the up front charge, you then wouldn't get charged again for at least 2 or 3 weeks. So, eg, someone who pledged on the 5th of February would be charged up front and then on the 1st of March as well, but someone that pledged on the 24th of February wouldn't get that second charge until the 1st of April.
2019-02-07 07:46:49 +0000 UTCI thought I was just getting charged when I signed up and again at the first of the month
2019-02-07 03:44:38 +0000 UTCHonestly if it is happening enough where you are being ripped off, I would move towards the charging upfront model aslong as you leave enough notice to warn people who might be joining towards the end of the month I don't see a problem
Ryan
2019-02-06 16:57:59 +0000 UTC
