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Patreon cuts deep inside creators’ pockets

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Re: Patreon cuts deep inside creators’ pockets

#21

Post by egypturnash »

makeitdouble wrote: post #7
ghostly_s wrote: post #4

This article claims Patreon's true cut is not the advertised 8-10%, but *86-83%*?? Surely this can't be true? We would have heard more people complaining about it by now.

It might have been corrected ? it currently reads to me as 14~17, which is not great, but not that high either depending on the exact case. > When considering all factors, including standard payout processing fees, the real cut for a creator on Patreon is often a stark ~14-17% depending on the exact scenario.

I am a creator with the early adopter plan and I see about 10-15% of every month’s gross go to Patreon and payment processors.

Re: Patreon cuts deep inside creators’ pockets

#22

Post by jelling »

TFW when white collar professionals complain about the prices businesses charge in order to pay the white collar salaries necessary to make the products they use. And so many of these companies aren't even profitable, either.

It's like carnivores being judgmental of hunters.

Re: Patreon cuts deep inside creators’ pockets

#23

Post by SpicyLemonZest »

colechristensen wrote: post #18
comboy wrote: post #3

I'm not sure it's that high. They probably have AML regulations in multiple countries on their backs, and they are dealing with tons of tiny payments not a few big ones. For each tiny payment there's some chance of a problem occurring which will require support time.

Banks take care of an enormous amount of small transactions on credit and debit cards and only charge ~3%, some European countries have fees as low as 0.3%. The high fees of patreon have nothing to do with payment support issues.

At least in the US, banks provide quite a bit less payment support. Chargebacks are a big one: with Stripe or something similar, you have to manually respond and pay a $20+ fee every time someone files a chargeback.

Re: Patreon cuts deep inside creators’ pockets

#24

Post by bombcar »

kareemsabri wrote: post #17
bombcar wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no discoverability anywhere, save if you get into a new platform super early. There's just too many things. Most creators who have "made it" (whatever that may be) should work on setting up their own website with their own payment processing and encourage fans to use it, less for the additional money and more for the security against single-income flows.

I don't think that's true, there's discoverability on Spotify. I often get suggested artists or podcasts based on what I already listen to, and some of them are very good.

But how many of them are very small?

It's easy to find "big things" on any platform, the question is which are successful for those trying to grow?

Re: Patreon cuts deep inside creators’ pockets

#25

Post by zdragnar »

egypturnash wrote: post #19
tootie wrote: post #2

Apple take 30%. You have to understand that you're not paying just for the service, but the reach. You can DIY your donation platform and the tech side isn't rocket science, the issue that platforms like Patreon and Apple have access to orders of magnitude more users than you can ever generate on your own.

I make my living off of Patreon and I can confirm that they do jack shit to promote your work unless you are already one of their top earners. “Paying for the reach” is a bullshit excuse for the amount of money they’re sucking off of creators to try and make an immense payout for their VC. My spreadsheet says the total cut of my take that goes to Patreon and payment processing is about 10-15%, but I am an Early Adopt…

> I never got support via the old PayPal donation button like I have via Patreon

Sounds like Patreon helped you after all.

I'm not saying that they promote or market you, but having the name (much like Apple) seems enough to encourage people to pay you.

OTOH, I certainty don't think that their cut sounds like a good deal; rather, it sounds more like your options are a bad deal or no deal at all.

Re: Patreon cuts deep inside creators’ pockets

#26

Post by AtNightWeCode »

Maybe it is true, but I think it is somewhat ok. Patreon has enabled business that simply were not there before.

Some of these telemarketing companies that raise money for charity takes in the hundreds of percent more of the donations than this in fees btw. That something to be outraged about.

Re: Patreon cuts deep inside creators’ pockets

#27

Post by jfengel »

tootie wrote: post #2

Apple take 30%. You have to understand that you're not paying just for the service, but the reach. You can DIY your donation platform and the tech side isn't rocket science, the issue that platforms like Patreon and Apple have access to orders of magnitude more users than you can ever generate on your own.

As a developer I'm terrified of anything that handles payments. There are so many ways to do it wrong, and each exposes me or my clients to massive losses. Even well funded companies with teams for security suffer breaches daily.

I'm happy to outsource anything involving money.

Re: Patreon cuts deep inside creators’ pockets

#28

Post by Mc91 »

kareemsabri wrote: post #11

Patreon is a business and I don't begrudge them the ability to charge customers for their service (though I think it's pretty buggy). Before Patreon, I did not subscribe to a single podcast. After Patreon, I subscribe to 3-5 at various times. I subscribe to a couple other standalone products but the bar is certainly higher as the value they must provide is greater to get over having another subscription on another pl…

The same with me. I gave a little money each month to four different organizations on Patreon, about six months ago I saw LineageOS was on Patreon and started giving a little to them each month too. It makes it easier to get recurring donations, I already send to Patreon once a month, now I just send a few dollars more a month.

Re: Patreon cuts deep inside creators’ pockets

#29

Post by wahnfrieden »

jelling wrote: post #22

TFW when white collar professionals complain about the prices businesses charge in order to pay the white collar salaries necessary to make the products they use. And so many of these companies aren't even profitable, either. It's like carnivores being judgmental of hunters.

careful talking about profitability in your point, as most of these companies are reinvesting to chase unicorn/monopoly level growth. some struggle with profit not because it's a tough biz creators should be thankful to them for, but because they're structured/managed for growth over current customer needs.

for-profit platforms will always seek to maximize the function, the marginal value of the rent they take. any charity to creators is incidental dynamics along the way

Re: Patreon cuts deep inside creators’ pockets

#30

Post by markstos »

jelling wrote: post #22

TFW when white collar professionals complain about the prices businesses charge in order to pay the white collar salaries necessary to make the products they use. And so many of these companies aren't even profitable, either. It's like carnivores being judgmental of hunters.

Ghost provides similar features for bloggers but does not mark up subscription payments from subscribers. The cut of payments is about 3%.
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