tigerknight
patreon
Patreon pledge confusion!
🕑 Added 2017-09-04 13:04:43 +0000 UTC Hi folks,(Scroll down for TL;DR)
When I logged in to Patreon to process the pledges from August this morning, I noticed new supporters who pledged between 19-Aug and 31-Aug were charged twice, and new supporters from 1-Sep onwards were already charged. Scratching my head, I went to check my account details and discovered Patreon had converted my account to "charge up front" -- i.e. it charges when you pledge, then again on the 1st of each month. It would've been nice if they had notified me of the change :P To the new supporters who pledged but didn't receive subscription access immediately, I apologize for the delay as I only found out today!
To the best of my knowledge, the account was converted sometime after 16-Aug, because that's when all the bot accounts stopped pledging. I'm not sure what prompted the change, but my theory is that I've reached a threshold for number of bot/fraudulent pledges reported (50+).
So, since the campaign is now "charge up front", I am obliged to link you to this FAQ that explains how it works, in particular, what happens when you change your pledge amount: https://patreon.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/208404313
The main advantage of the "charge up front" system is 1.) less pledge-and-run bots, and 2.) new patrons get access to subscriptions faster.. no more waiting till the end of the month :)
In other news, I will be out of town from 2-Oct to 17-Oct, so I am trying to get much comic buffer drawn as possible. I'll likely post AMA sketches during the trip, but will not be bringing the computer with me. Prepare for some smartphone camera photos ;)
TL;DR: This Patreon campaign now "charges up front", which is described here: https://patreon.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/208404313
Comments
Jan
I'd like to know whether the "charge up front" system was enabled for every creator or just select ones. Patreon did say they were rolling this out to everyone at some point. Questions, questions! The lack of communication is concerning.
Muddypaws
Well that explains why my overall PayPal bill tied to Patreon support has been almost doubled. Sort of a pay as you go in hyperdrive. Yeah... you're right. Patreon should have clarified that with everyone!
