Subscription Billing
Added 2024-09-05 16:41:54 +0000 UTCHello Patrons and Audience!
Raven Fox here! It's been about a week since I took over managing Bobsheaux's Patreon account, both freeing up time for him to focus on creating content and letting me start working on more fun ways to reach out to the Patreon audience. Unfortunately, I came across a disturbing discovery. Because of the way Patreon has always billed on the first of the month, no matter when a person signed up, it was possible to game the system. There were a few who would sign up on the first of the month, watch as much of Bobsheaux's exclusive content as they wanted, and then delete their pledges before the first of the following month. I found one person who had been doing that for the entire time Bobsheaux has had a Patreon page! There was another one who took an exit survey, stating that “I only became a member for a certain benefit and now I have it” as the reason for the deleting of his pledge. That meant he'd signed up to watch a review he wanted to see and then deleted his pledge before actually paying for that access. That person and a couple of others were blocked from ever signing up again with Bobsheaux. Of course you're free to discontinue your pledge whenever you like. But don't cheat the system. It's not fair to Bobsheaux when he's already releasing most of his content for free, and it's not fair for the rest of his patrons who are pledging their hard-earned money to support him.
(Surprisingly, the guy that had done this for eight years ended up paying for all of those months in one payment, so he was unblocked and given another chance.)
Patreon has updated their billing policies and they are moving to “Subscription Billing.” That means that, starting in November, everyone will be billed the day that they sign up to support a creator. This is mostly because Apple is raising fees for those who download the Patreon app from the Apple Store. However, Bobsheaux is going to start subscription billing immediately. If you are already a Patron, nothing will change for you unless you cancel your pledge and then come back later.
Thank you for your time and continued support (through Patreon and Youtube alike), and we'll see y'all later!
Comments
I was in shocked when I heard about the Subscription Billing, and yes, I am been an apple user and had a apple device myself since 2005 of christmas (not yet a Mac person til 2014 of late-July, but I had 3 different type of Mac minis since then), but that doesn’t gonna stop me from being a patron of Bobsheaux, but yeah, I understand what you both are trying to say at this point forward!
Luke Jeffers
2024-09-06 02:04:30 +0000 UTCI’m not concerned about my own subscription. I’m just trying to understand how those clowns were getting out of anything by leaving and coming back. I believe it, but it doesn’t make sense to me—perhaps because my brain doesn’t work that way. I would have thought they’d have been charged upon coming back regardless, as it sounds like they will be now. I’ve had my Patreon account for a good 6-7 years, and even though Patreon seems to have only recently gotten away from billing on the first, I could have sworn at least some of my subscriptions still billed me upon signing up—regardless of *when* I signed up—and *then* went on to bill me on the first of each month. Am I misremembering entirely (unlikely), or were there still different billing options available to creators before the changes? I suppose it’s not particularly important now, but I like to understand things.
Ryan Crago
2024-09-05 21:18:15 +0000 UTC(Raven here) Yes, signing on up on the first of the month would mean you would be charged on the first of every month. However, if you're already a patron, nothing changes. Existing patrons will still be billed on the first of every month.
Bobsheaux
2024-09-05 20:01:55 +0000 UTCIt’s astonishing how dishonest people can be. I’m an asshole, but not a dishonest one. (If I think you’re a blinkered fool, I’m probably going to tell you straight up. I won’t sugarcoat it or tell you you’re amazing just for trying. Nor do I generally do shit like this.) I don’t understand how that exploit even works: I’ve always been billed upon signing up—whenever that might be—and then billed monthly on the first. Would signing up on the first of the month not still result in that initial charge?
Ryan Crago
2024-09-05 18:30:34 +0000 UTC
