morepurplemorebetter
patreon
Switching to "Charge Upfront" payment method
🕑 Added 2018-08-31 12:02:21 +0000 UTC No update about v13 yet, but there will be one next week (hopefully with a new beta). In the meantime, I'm making a change to how payments work for my Patreon that I would like all of you to be aware of.I'm going to be switching to Patreon's new "Charge Upfront" method of payment as per today. This affects how Patreon handles new pledges and how it is handled when you change your pledge amount. Let me explain some of the differences so that it is clear for everybody.
New patrons will be charged on the day they join. Then, they will be charged on the 1st of the following month and the 1st day of every month after that.
For example, if someone pledges $3 on September 20th, they'll be charged on September 20th for $3. If their pledge remains active into October, they will be charged $3 again on October 1st and subsequent months.
If a subscriber increases or decreases their pledge, they'll immediately be charged the difference between their recent payment and new membership value.
For example, take someone who has a pledge for $1 now and pays this $1 on September 1st. If this person then changes the pledge to $3 on September 5th, they'll be charged $2 on September 5th and $3 on October 1st and subsequent months.
Nothing will change if you are currently a subscriber and don't change your pledge now or in the future.
1. Prevents people from pledging, taking the content they want, and then immediately cancelling their pledge without being charged.
Some of these people even apply for rewards outside of the Patreon (e.g. Google Drive access, ask for things to be transcribed) which I then have to constantly monitor if they paid or not.
2. Prevents people from pledging with payment information that doesn't work, taking the content they want, and then never paying.
These cause the most headaches, as they stay on the list of patrons and often apply for rewards outside of Patreon, which I then have to chase down when the payment doesn't work.
3. Eliminates the need to schedule or stagger updates because everyone who is viewing a post has already paid for it.
This means I can immediately make updates on the Patreon and the Google Drive/Dropbox, which I have, in the past, been hesitant to do during the second half of the month.
Items 1 and 2 above make up 2-5% of pledges every month and they take a relative large amount of time to keep track of with regards to rewards (much more than 2-5% of my time). Not having to spend this time on this kind of boring administrative stuff will free me up to spend more time on useful things, like improving the sheets!
People can feel cheated out of their money when pledging near the end of the month and then getting charged twice within a short amount of time.
Unfortunately, Patreon doesn't offer any way to disabling charging during the last days of the month. However, I am able to do refunds and will do so happily for anybody who feels they have been charged unfairly. To make this clear for everybody, I have changed the Welcome Message to explain the process and a way to ask for a refund.
For more information, please see the Patreon help articles "What is charge up front?"and "Why was I charged immediately? Will You charge me again?".
If you have any questions or concerns about this switch, please leave a comment or message me. The switch is permanent and Patreon doesn't let me revert it back once I apply it.
I am intentionally doing this switch at the last day of the month, so that it will be applicable for the whole of the next month. From the help articles linked to above, it is clear that there are some issues during the remaining days of month of the switch. I hope to avoid this by doing it today, the last day of the month.
Comments
MorePurpleMoreBetter
v12.999 was released at the end of 2017, it doesn't offer any support for the changes to Adventurers League that were introduced in July 2018. I know that the rules for level and treasure have changed for Adventurers League. An update like that is a lot of work and that is why I asked the community if I should do it before finishing the magic items. This was voted upon back in July, with magic item support priority being the clear winner. See here: <a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/20407399">https://www.patreon.com/posts/20407399</a> I will start working on updating the adventure logsheets once the magic item support (v13) is finished.
Erik Frankhouse Presents
With adventure league using the advancement checkpoints. Is there a way to turn this on or maybe a script I'm missing from 12.999?
MorePurpleMoreBetter
Hi Static, Thank you for checking in. Your payment seems to have completed successfully for October, thank you very much! Don't forget that your pledge makes you eligible for joining the shared folder on Google Drive and/or Dorpbox. See the welcome message for more information: <a href="https://www.patreon.com/bePatronDone?u=4833468">https://www.patreon.com/bePatronDone?u=4833468</a> Cheers, Joost
static
Is it registering that I am pledging to you now? I hope it is. I have a lot of trouble with some Patreon pledges while others have been going on for years without issue. Can't figure that one out, but I'm willing to bet much of it is due to errors on my end... very old, cantankerous computer being operated by even older, cantankerous user. Lol. Please check. I want to support you.
MorePurpleMoreBetter
I see, the Lay On Hands also appears double in the class feature section. It seems somehow level 7 got skipped and never got applied correctly. Do you have a way of reproducing this issue, because with just the end result I don't know where the issue lies. Did you change subclasses at any time, or change race?
Erik T.
Minor error occurring on this sheet, it's miscalculating my Lay On Hands points: <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/xved3gpg5gnqp3h/Vyrant%20-%20Character%20Sheet.pdf?dl=0" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.dropbox.com/s/xved3gpg5gnqp3h/Vyrant%20-%20Character%20Sheet.pdf?dl=0</a>
Thomas John
Since the checkpoint system only applies to Adventurer's League characters, and not any other characters, I would not worry about it yet. Perhaps in the future make a near duplicate with it built in as an optional alternative. Everything about the checkpoint system can be worked around easily enough. For example, in tier 1, just divide the difference between starting XP of your current level and next level by 4 and add that amount for each checkpoint earned. You can keep track of Treasure Points in the remarks field.
MorePurpleMoreBetter
The issue is not money, but time. I don't have a lot of time to work on the underlying code for the sheet, currently only 1 day per week. This will change in a couple of weeks. I asked the community what I should be spending my time on using the poll. It would be pretty careless of me to ignore that when I asked for it myself. Thus, I'm sorry, but it will be some time before the checkpoint system comes to MPMB's Character Record Sheets.
Erik T.
Is there anyway to beg/pray/pay for a checkpoint logsheet ASAP? I know you're working on the magic items, but my logs are quickly going wild on me...
MorePurpleMoreBetter
Thank you very much for you continued support Brady, it is greatly appreciated. Don't forget to collect on your rewards :) My work is available for free on ENworld, so there really shouldn't be any reasons for people to join the Patreon to get it. There are some Patreon-only exclusives (like the beta versions), but the fully-functional Character Sheet is available for everybody, for free.
Dao of Fried Foods
As a $20 subscriber, my goal is to encourage you to keep doing what you're doing... I would hope that you take my my money and support as, not a payment for a service, but a contribution to a project that matters to us mutually. We are a community. Part of the reason I subscribe at this teir is the respect you show that community as a whole. Even the gimmie gimmie jerks. This change makes sense to me, but I do want to push back a little here, simply because I want to see this project remaining for everyone. Even the idiots who don't pay.
Rachel Sanchez
Totally understandable. I have a similar issue to static, but I watch my bank account at the end of the month. If there's nothing in there I ask my husband to transfer me a few bucks to cover pledges.
static
I went ahead and set it up today, so you at least get paid for last month. Hopefully, when they attempt it tomorrow, it will go through for next month as I have left over money this month to support a payment on the 1st. We'll have to see how it goes, here's wishing us both luck!
Jeremi Przadka
Definately an issue and an understandable solution, fortunately it has no direct impact on me, so I am good with it. Thanks for the clear reasoning.
static
Man, that sucks. I was a 3 dollar tier pledge since I found you here. I have checked, and you are correct. Patreon did not reinstate me after the first failure. I will make this proper but apparently there are several others I have been dumped from as well. This is exactly what I have feared <sound agony="" groaning="" in="" of="" souls="">. I will have to check every month for every pledge. I hate not being able to rely on technology.</sound>
MorePurpleMoreBetter
As far as I can tell, you have always only been a 'follower' of my Patreon, there is no history that I can find of you pledging at any tier.
static
Wow, I just was going through my pledges and for some reason, you're not even listed. I don't know what's going on, but I will set it up again tomorrow. If I do it today, as discussed here, I will be charged today and tomorrow as well. This is bad. I hope Patreon isn't dropping me from pages due to their faulty system.
static
Yes, access is totally denied until my payment goes through. I support several pages and I am blocked from all until the 4th every month. I just hope all of you realize, it's not my fault and I'm not one of the ones trying to put one over on you.
static
P.S.. I understand your predicament and support your reasoning and appreciate your explanation. I just argue that Patreon caused this download-and-dash problem through their own lack of foresight. Keep up the good work and I truly hope my loophole problem does not cause you problems in the future. I know I can get your stuff free elsewhere, but I honestly feel your work is worthy of my money for my part, little as it is.
MorePurpleMoreBetter
I'm sorry to hear that and I agree that an anniversary charging system would work better, but also can understand how taxing that is on your back-end. Also, it would bring much more transaction costs as one person pledging to multiple Patreons would pay each separately instead of bundled. As I understand it and what I see happening at the start of the month, is that Patreon tries to charge you every day or two at the start of the month until the payment goes through. I don't have any experience with being a patron and having a declined payment, do you get blocked from accessing all paid content on a Patreon page immediately after your payment doesn't go through the 1st of the month? I don't have any control on what Patreon gives access to and what it doesn't gives access to, but I don't remove people who have a declined payment status from the shared folder on Google Drive or Dropbox until at least half the month is over and I'm sure they aren't going to be able to pay.
static
There is an inherent problem with Patreon's charge system which I have yet to get any response on from Patreon: Not everyone who supports has supportive paydays. I, for one, only get paid once per month. Generally, I get paid on the 4th of each month. I don't always have funds available on the 1st, as some of those I support charge by the item they produce so my bill amount changes from month to month. Every month, from the 1st to the 4th, I get cut off from the people I pledge to support because Patreon lists me as a non-payer. It is aggravating, and it makes me appear to be a grab-and-go person as opposed to a true patron. When I first signed up to Patreon some years back, the payment was taken on the anniversary date that you signed up on. That is the best and never should have been changed.
MorePurpleMoreBetter
A pro rata charge would be better for the $1 and $3 pledge tiers, I agree, but wouldn't work so well for the higher ones as I don't think somebody would only want 1/2 of a subclass transcribed ;)
MorePurpleMoreBetter
Good point, it could well be done by accident if someone is new to how Patreon works. Hopefully it will now be clear for all new pledges :)
MorePurpleMoreBetter
Patreon apparently has this feature of 'charge upfront' for a long time already, but is slowly making it available on existing accounts, made before the feature was available. It is honestly not the lost income I'm worried about, just the extra work/annoyance it is to keep track of people not paying after already receiving the reward(s).
MorePurpleMoreBetter
It would be thievery if it wasn't available for free on ENworld already... But I guess wasting my time on Patreon is easier? Or perhaps they do it by accident, not realizing they are not being charged.
Matt Martin
That's how I would do it.
Jason Silver
Makes sense.. It is a shame that it isnt pro-rated for the month so those who join late dont get hit, but it is what it is.. Totally makes sense.
WarWizard
To be totally fair; I did this accidentally to someone. I did not realize this was how Patreon worked. I subbed, got the recent content I wanted, cancelled a few days later. Assumed they'd get the pledge amount. I was confused when I didn't get charged. This is probably better for everyone honestly. The timing at EOM is weird; but that is how things go sometimes.
David Herman
Seems like this should be the default anyway.
Dmitriy Eliseev
Exactly why I have decided to finally show my pledge.
TheMountainThatRoars
All fine with me, and I am glad you are taking steps to protect yourself. We appreciate the work you do, I know my table wouldn't be as organized without the MPMB sheets.
Kurt Buhler
Completely understandable. Thanks for explaining it so well.
Aliqux
This is great. I was wondering about this when I started pledging in the middle of the month. I exspected at least half of it to come out but didn't see anything untill the the next. That small percentage certainly can add up to a lot of lost income for something you work so hard on.
Igor Kadir
This is cool, keep on doing the good work.
Makes perfect sense. I've been hearing from a ton of creators on here that people pledge, grab what they want, and leave before the payment is made. Literal thievery.
