I found part of the problem... (Post Charge Update)

I'm posting this as a new message to all sponsors (and already put it up in my blog) because I want everyone to understand what happened, in the event that this ever comes up again.  And I am still asking for everyone who either came in during the pledge drive or changed their pledge at that time to make sure their desired cap is in place.

But this discovery is something which could potentially affect everyone who uses Patreon at some point.  And that applies whether you're sponsoring me, someone else in the vastness of the Internet, are considering launching your own support page or already have one...  the works.  So new post for a general announcement of How This Works. 

Ready?

For per-piece pledges, any change made to a pledge amount (increase or decrease) only applies to the post charges which came after it.

Example:  let's say you were pledging at $3 per post charge.  I put up two of those, and then you rework your budget and drop the pledge amount to $1, with no change in the number of total charges allowed by your cap.  I then put up three more post charges to close the month.

In this example, you will be paying for two post charges at $3 each and three at $1 each, for a total of $9.

You might have had a reasonable expectation of $5 for the billing cycle.  But that's just not how Patreon works.  They only lower the collection amount for anything which came after you switched.  And maybe that's different with the creators who do a straight monthly cycle -- but I haven't been operating that way.

And of course, this hits in reverse as well.  If you came in on the 29th, when my last post charge of February was posted on the 28th?  No bill.  Showed up on the 26th?  One or two post charges based on your exact timing, because that's how long you were around for:  there's no backdating.  Here's another example:  if you were at $2 each before the pledge drive started and bumped to $4 with a cap which went up to five post charges per month, then you got charged $14 total:  three at $2, plus a pair at $4.

So what happened?

I was right.  The collection amount was too high.  Because the sponsor who had to cut back for personal financial reasons had their first three charges for the month go through at the number which existed prior to the change.  Only the last two were figured at the lower level.

(I am so glad they didn't wait for March...)

I've contacted them regarding the situation and asked how they want to proceed.  I can issue refunds, but it has to be done within a certain amount of time and due to the way Patreon structures things (only three recent charges can be refunded, always in full, and not the last three of a month:  the first -- yes, I know), I can't offer exact change through the site itself.  So I'll need a PayPal address in order to give out the true difference on a five-charge drop:  refunding direct charges only gets me partway there.  

Still, it can be done.  

-------------------------------------------

So now y'all know.  And I wanted to make that public, because I didn't know how it worked, I was guessing a few of you didn't either, I still want everyone checking their caps and I will, to the best of my ability, get this sorted out somehow.  

For those who came in (hi!) or changed their numbers, the real impact will be seen around April 1st (groan...), and true comparison can only occur if I reach five post charges in March.  If you have your own Patreon page, then you know what to expect (if you didn't already) when numbers change.  And if you're sponsoring anyone, there's how the math operates (and same).

Whew.

I'm not quite at the point of Sheldon Cooper 'itchy brain'.  But I knew something was off, and I had to run it down because I didn't want anyone to be in trouble.

At least now we all know.

(And one last time:   check your own caps.  Just in case.)