As seen on title, I have read the processing fees article on how it works for Patreon. Yet I am still very confused as why the percentage is vary from month to month, sometimes it’s a 4%, sometimes it’s a 2% (I’m using paypal).
As Patreon said,If you have many patrons with small pledges, then processing fees will be a larger percentage of your overall earnings. If you have just a few large patrons, then processing fees will be a smaller percentage of your overall earnings.
Does that mean smaller pledge ($2, $5, $10…) get charged higher while larger pledge ($50,$100,$200…) get charged lower? Is it only capped at 5%?
It also depends on how they pay. Paypal and Credit Card fees are different. On top of that, if a person is subscribed to many creators, their fees get split (I believe this is just with credit card payments but i could be wrong) as they lump sum the charge so that creators split the fees between them instead of charging the person for each individual subscription and charging the artists full price on fees.
As for the % and any differences between lower and higher pledges, i think mostly what they mean by that is lower pledges, there is less to go around so it probably seems like you are getting less when you have small pledges. (Especially if they are paying by credit card because there is a larger flat rate charge for credit cards.
A $1 pledge gets the following treatment (approx) if using a credit card (assuming you are the only person they are subscribed to)
5% to patreon = $0.05
1.9% + 30 cents per transaction = $0.02 + 30 cents
Paypal transfer = $0.25 (min)
This leaves you with ~$0.38 of that $1. (Which is 38% of your earnings, left for you)
A $100 pledge gets the following treatment (approx) if using a credit card (assuming you are the only person they are subscribed to) (If you are making a couple hundred dollars, you should look into using payoneer, it’s cheaper for payout fees since its a flat $3)
5% to patreon = $5
1.9% + 30 cents per transaction = $1.90 + 30 cents
Paypal transfer = $1
This leaves you with ~$91.8 (which is 91% of your earnings, left for you)
Hopefully that makes sense.
Lots of people alternate their pledges to different people every month. They subscribe to more or less and some people change their payment methods, etc. So your fees will always change.
The fee’s really aren’t that bad considering how much work and management goes into patreon. How they handle a lot of things you don’t end up having to handle because of their service. It has always been worth it imo to pay for this service (and the services that go into it.) I know it can be hard if you aren’t making a lot yet but in the end its usually worth it.
Hi there! I want to draw attention to something you should be receiving an email about today. You’ll now see a more persistent percentage and you’ll be receiving 95% of every pledge. There’s more information in this help article: https://patreon.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115005631963.
With this update, creators will now take home exactly 95% of every pledge with no additional fees.
In the past, a creator’s income on Patreon varied because of processing fees every month. They could lose anywhere from 7-15% of their earnings to these fees. This means creators actually took home a lower percentage of pledges than their patrons may have realized.
A new service fee of 2.9% + $0.35 will be paid by patrons for each individual pledge starting on December 18th. This restructuring allows creators to take home a greater portion of their earnings, which is core to our mission of getting creators paid.
Hopefully this helps to clarify things. There’s a lot more information in that article, so please do check it out.
If that’s the only pledge they make, then yes. There may be some opportunities, depending on your tiers to get them to increase their pledge, because if they pledge $2, then the fee isn’t that much larger than for $1 ($2.41, or 3 cents more). Since you have $1, $2, and $3 levels, there may be some good opportunities for you to share with your patrons that they may get more value by increasing their pledge and the fee will be a lesser portion of what they pay you. Please let us know how your patrons react - we’re listening!
I also want to underscore that we approach every change with a creator-first mindset, aiming to help you grow your business and grow with your patrons. By standardizing Patreon’s fees, we’re ensuring that you can get paid to continue creating high quality content. We really want you to look at your numbers each month and know how much will go into your pockets.
Agreed. This short notice is not great, even if i’m intrigued by this change. I now need to inform my patrons that they are been charged extra fees now instead of it coming off my income as it was previously.
@carla For clarity, this fee is the only fee being charged to patrons? and as per the article artists will only see the 5% fee for using patreon deducted?
Agreed. As much as i want to take home more money, it is going to be upsetting for patrons. Especially on short notice.
Heck, i cannot afford the extra fees for those i pledge to (i have to calculate things very particularly every month for pledging especially because of the currency exchange difference) so i am going to have to stop pledging to some people now which sucks. I’d rather pay fees on my income than have my patrons charged more. I am mot certainly going to loose patrons because of this.
Since you have $1, $2, and $3 levels, there may be some good opportunities for you to share with your patrons that they may get more value by increasing their pledge and the fee will be a lesser portion of what they pay you.
So, your suggestion is to ask my patrons to increase their pledges, in addition to paying the increased fees?
My response is that my $1 patrons are pledging that amount because that’s how much they can afford, and the last thing I’m going to do is squeeze them again, on top of the fees you’re inflicting on them.
Exactly. Everywhere else those fees are usually the businesses’ responsibility. It comes with the territory. I don’t feel this fee is in any way, my patrons responsibility. I’m sure I’m not the only one who struggles month to month making payments to just have a roof over their head but even so this fee for patrons is not okay in my books, even if it means i’d get a little more income. I choose to do this with my life, It should be my responsibility. to pay business running costs.
Also, making this change right before Christmas, when people are painfully aware of where their extra dollars are going, and when they traditionally rethink their spending habits for the new year is not going to help at all.
Correct - this is the only fee being charged to patrons (apart from places where VAT is also charged). You, as creators and artists will now fully see 95% of the amount pledged.
Thank you for the feedback about the short notice, we’re definitely tracking all of your feedback and it always informs future announcements.
Dear God. I would much rather pay that fee myself. Everybody’s going to lose patrons over this. Did it not occur to you to consult creators first? This decision is so incredibly disconnected from reality.
Is that why some of us were charged twice for our pledges this month? My pledges to creators were taken via paypal and then ALSO deducted from my earnings.
If you assume that patron numbers will stay the same with this change then, yes, it is an advantage for creators. However, I get the feeling that there will be a number of patrons who won’t be happy abou suddenly being charged more when the content they get isn’t changing in amount or quality.
I can direct patrons that aren’t happy at the change to your support people to explain but that doesn’t change the fact that I will probably end up losing business. I wonder how many patrons I would have to lose for this to be a net negative on my income and I get the feeling it may not be much.
I definitely appreciate trying to find ways for creators to earn more but we are all (or mostly) independant creators and rely on good will with those that support us to keep doing what we do. The last thing I want my patrons to feel like is that I’m just trying to squeeze as much money out of them as possible.
Can you check in with Community Happiness about your individual account? I don’t have any specific information about your specific instance. These changes don’t go into effect until December 18th.