Antares Complex

Patreon dun goofed.
So, I’m sure you have heard  that Patreon has done something quite stupid and changed how they’re charging people. They’re apparently putting a fee on supporters rather than creators, and putting a transaction fee on top of this.

While I don’t think it’s crippling or deal breaking….yet, I do think it’s an incredibly poor way to handle a price hike. They claim it’s for the benefit of the creators, meanwhile I’ve seen tweets, facebook and blog posts stating how many creators are losing  a lot of their $1 patrons. It hurts them the most as patron is now taking something like $0.30 on top of a 5% of the patron’s support. Which, as you can see hurts small pledges the most, and they even say this in their FAQ:
https://patreon.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/204606125-How-do-you-calculate-fees-

Why are they doing this?
I really don’t know. My guess, is like what I’ve seen with the gaming industry, Patreon has lost interest in a lot of small money coming in and they want people to put in bigger chunks. I’ve mentioned this in my streams, companies don’t want a hit, or even a home run, they ONLY want grand slams and constant ones at that. This focus has driven up fees and costs.

I think they’ve grown as a company and they could be pressured by their shareholders (if they have any, I’m speculating here) to make more money than they have been. And, as a company they do have a responsibility to those shareholders to improve cash intake. That said, this was not a good way to do it. Especially not them trying to make this sound like it’s better for the creators, when it’s obviously hurting more than it’s helping.

What’s my take on this?
I think it was a very poor decision. A small fee increase on what creators take would have been far more desirable and if they wanted to move fees to the patrons? Well my feeling on that is make it an option that’s OFF by default. This way if the person is feeling extra generous, they can contribute a bit more and not have the rug pulled out from under them.

This is likely ..and hopefully what they’ll decide to do. I think the flat transaction fee has to go because frankly it makes the $1 tier feel a bit weak. Support is support but to just take up that large chunk straight up? I think that’s a pretty crap idea.

Should we bail on Patreon?
I don’t think so, not yet anyway. They’ve been very helpful up until now, helping creators and progressively been making their platform better. Slowly, but surely. This was one stupid decision and judging by how they’ve reacted (retracting tweets/blog posts shortly after posting them) they’re obviously aware of the problem and the hornet’s nest they’ve kicked.

So, I think we sit and wait. See what they’re going to do and if they stand by this? Well, then it’s up you people. I have no interest in telling you what to do with your money. Do what you feel is right and don’t be afraid to ask others what their thoughts are on this.  If you want to support Antares Complex you can do so via Patreon or Paypal.

I have some lovely people supporting me through these sites I’ve put the contributions toward keeping the comic afloat. I’m super grateful toward readers or supporters and am happy to have you all.

 

If you have any questions, hit the comments below or ask around on twitter on this. I hope we hear from Patreon soon and they clear up or fix this mess. I’d hate to see the potential of this thing fall apart because of 1 bone headed move.