I’ve written to the help desk about this previously and was treated as if I didn’t know what I was talking about. The amount of money showing on my campaign page is supposed to be a close estimate of what I will receive from my patrons after fees, right? But this is the second time it is significantly inaccurate because one of my patrons has paused their pledge. I know they’ve paused because they told me and because there was no notification of a cancelled pledge. The amount difference between last month’s earnings and this month’s earnings is accounted for by the amount they were pledging. When a pledge is paused, it shouldn’t be counted toward the estimated amount, but it currently is. For one pledge, this may not seem like a big deal to Patreon, but multiple paused pledges could make it seem like a creator is earning hundreds more than they actually are. Accurate numbers are important, especially when one isn’t making a ton of money, as lower numbers can be more of a draw for folks to support a creator who they perceive “needs it.”
Has anyone else experienced this discrepancy? Are there any plans to change the calculation of the estimated earnings? Or am I just best off hiding what I earn? I don’t like hiding it, but I also would prefer it to be more accurate.
I´m on Patreon since past August and NEVER get the received the estimate amount of money. Usually are around 100$ less that is expected in the main page, due the patreons haven´t founds on their amounts, those who misteriously leave near the payday, frauds, etc…
I think Patreon should work on this issue ince and for all.
To me this is absolutely illogical. The creators are the harmed ones when they are who do everything … The patrons receives their reward and Patreon his percentage, but your incomes? are an estimation.
Fraud is definitely frustrating as well. I do find the estimate adjusts for that once charges go through, but it doesn’t really help us plan beforehand if we’re basing our expected income on roughly the amount the estimate says. The estimate just plain shouldn’t be including anything we’re not actually going to receive. It throws off goals as well - what if I have a goal set for $1,000 I can really only afford to do around that level support? Even if I build in a buffer amount, I can’t predict fraud or paused pledges or other issues that currently make the estimated income higher than the actual income. I don’t expect it to necessarily be on-the-exact-dollar, but nevertheless it’s something Patreon needs to work on.