next_lvl
patreon
Upfront payments for new patrons?
🕑 Added 2016-10-22 23:06:11 +0000 UTC Patreon processes all pledges at 1st each month. Then I'm posting rewards. All of them are becoming available on my feed, and can be viewed by anyone who pledges to a certain tier - even if a person signs up, grabs them patron goodies and then leaves before 1st, obviously without paying.Many creators use the option of sending the monthly reward packages in a private message, but for now I'd prefer not to.. I'm simply used to the way I communicate to you guys now, via posts.
The "pretend a honest patron then leave" accident hasn't happened to me so far, thank. But I'd still like to set up the upfront payment thingie, and here's why.
Any of the new patrons get to view EVERYTHING that was posted previously in their tier, including exclusive stuff. Meanwhile old patrons have been paying for all this content monthly. I think, just for the access to the accumulated content, it'd be fair to pay once. It's like paying for the archive.
So, a new patron is getting charged at whatever day they decide to pledge, is able to take part in my monthly suggestion boxes/polls right away, is eligible for any extra rewards that require at least one processed pledge. Upside is that you don't have to wait anymore. You become a trusted patron immediately.
The second charge will happen regularly at 1st of each month, and will count towards the new month. Right now people are getting charged for the previous month. This will NOT change for the current patrons.
More explanation from Patreon staff here.
This's a discussion/notice post, I'm not switching to the upfront payment yet! Just wanted to let you guys know and possibly hear whaddya think.
Comments
NextLVL
Oho your solution was a pretty neat one. Thanks for taking your time to explain! I'll see if I can do that in November probably.
RiceGnat
My solution to this was to combine the last two months into one reward package (in my case, it was April + May) and just sent that out as my final monthly package before switching to Patreon posts. That way both new and old patrons got a bit of a "bonus".
RiceGnat
So let's say you switch over right now. Your last processed payment was at the beginning of October, for September's content. If you switch now, your next payment will be at the beginning of November, for November's content. Existing patrons will not be charged for October when you switch, but new patrons AFTER the switch WILL be. So in either case, between September and October there will be only one payment.
NextLVL
Thank you for the input :D Could you please explain about the free month thing? Why so? I still don't get it, Patreon sometimes is so confusing. @_@
RiceGnat
I made this change back when the feature was in beta and I'd highly recommend it. It gets rid of the hassle of sorting through declined pledges and makes the Patreon gallery actually useful. Be aware though the month that you switch it over would be like a "free" month.
