Its kind of like psudo-Pay-up-front system… but without any drawbacks
To sign on to be a pledge, no matter what level, you’re charged $1 up front: and that $1 is deducted from the next pay period. (If it’s for a $1 tier, then it prepays the next pay period, for other tiers $1 is deducted from that next pay period)
Asking for a global ‘pay $1 upfront’ will 100% destroy fraudulent patrons, who don’t have valid paying credentials- avoids the double-charge problem, and dings double dipping patrons who pledge, download your content, and bounce before the 1st of the next month!
Is there any downside?
There is a pay upfront feature, however it doesn’t work for everyone since they so far have been unable to allow people to pay for a tier and have it prepay for the next month as you suggest. Currently it is setup to where it essentially double charges people. We haven’t heard from patreon staff on weather they are actually trying to fix this or not since many of us wont use the pay upfront feature since it screw over both sides of the equation in a lot of ways.
If they could just make patreon content not visible to patrons that haven’t had a successful pledge this wouldn’t be an issue. I like your idea for an alternative to that, if they can actually make it deducts/prepay the amount for the full charge. So far they seem to be failing with that
