Patreon

UPDATE: The post below is now obsolete, which is great news! Please read this instead:
http://blondihacks.com/?p=3623

 

Hey to all you beautiful people who support Blondihacks through Patreon contributions! This site would not continue to exist without your generous support. There has been some news that I feel I need to pass along.

As you know, I charge my patrons for each post that I make. I think this is the fairest way, because my busy schedule doesn’t allow me to put out the same amount of content every week. By paying per post, you fine folks only pay for exactly what I produce. That’s all well and good, except Patreon has made a big change to how they raise fees for themselves.

It used to be that I paid all the fees on your behalf. You gave, say, $5 to me for each post, and I would see around 94% of that (with the rest going to Patreon). That always seemed fine to me, because Patreon provides a valuable platform and service. Here comes the bad news.

On Dec 6th, 2017, Patreon announced they are shifting part of the fees to you, the patrons. They are going to pay me 95% of the pledges, and are going to charge you 2.9% + 35 cents per pledge. This is likely a way to increase their fees without us creators noticing, but I think it’s unfair to you, my patrons. This would be like American Express adding the processing fee they charge retailers to every purchase you make.

So, here’s what I suggest:

  1. Send an email to Jack Conte, the Patreon CEO, and express your opinions about this change.
  2. If you wish to continue the same cost-to-you for each Blondihacks post, lower your pledge amount by 2.9% (and 35 cents). If you pledge $5 currently, then change it $4.50. That will make your out-of-pocket the same. I’ll get less funds overall, but I would prefer that to losing you as a patron.
  3. Switch to another payment system. I am now a Paypal business, so you can send money directly using the button the left side of every post, or right here:

 

As always, thanks for any support you can afford to provide. I don’t make any money on this site- all donations go to defer costs of hosting, with a bit left over to make a tiny dent in my materials and tools.