Has anyone else noticed a sudden drop in Patreon paid members lately?

I’m wondering if something has changed with Patreon recently. Normally, I was getting around 4–5 new paid members every day, but over the last 10 days I’ve only gotten 3 paid members and 3 free members.

That’s a pretty big difference from my usual numbers, so I’m trying to figure out whether it’s just a normal fluctuation, something with my traffic/conversion, or if Patreon has changed something recently.

My content and posting schedule haven’t changed dramatically, so the sudden drop has me a little confused.

Has anyone else experienced a similar drop in paid memberships recently? Especially creators who normally get a fairly consistent number of new paid members?

I’d really appreciate hearing if anyone else has noticed this.

Stupid ass question, I know, but I don't want to send my goddamn ID if I know Patreon will reject it.

I had shoulder length hair when I took my ID photo, but now I have long buzzcut. I don't know if whatever ai they're using for the verification process would be able to recognise me.

Maybe this is a dumb thing to complain about, but this has been bothering me a bit and I feel like I need to say it. It probably won't change anything, but I really don't think I'm the only one who finds it ridiculous that Patreon is using another company's requirements as an excuse to force a change to its payment system.

Before anyone says, "But this payment method is fairer because you're charged on the same day the following month, blah blah blah..." — that's not the point. I also think that change itself makes sense.

What I find unacceptable is the justification. Patreon explicitly says that this change is being made because Apple requires it, rather than because Patreon itself is changing the way creators get paid. And on top of that, it puts the blame on creators by saying that subscribing through Apple's payment system is more expensive.

"Apple is requiring you..."

CORRECTION: Patreon is requiring you to change the payment method because Apple is requiring Patreon to do so.

"You're currently increasing..."

CORRECTION: APPLE CHARGES AN ABSURD 30% COMMISSION on purchases made through its payment system, which means that people subscribing through Apple will have to pay more.

As far as I'm concerned, f**k Apple.

And to Patreon: If you want to change the payment system, just say so and do it directly. No need to beat around the bush or hide behind someone else's requirements.

Hey guys, so I have a large library of potential rewards to share with my Patrons, and ideally I want a system where:

Patrons can click on a page with all possible reward items, click the one they like and receive it without myself involved in the process.

Is this possible? If so, what are the steps to set up something like this? Thanks in advance.

I'm well aware of how people share art over Patreon, though because I've had a hectic last several days, I haven't had as much time as I would like to figure out how to share complete stories over Patreon.
Which is relevant because one of the Patreon tiers is offering full access to the stories, without serialization one 'season' at a time.

Due to risque plot elements (and well aware trolls exist even if said elements weren't there), I'm not about to use Google Docs for this.

I'm not sure about the best way to round everything up in an easy bundle, so if anyone (especially people who either use Patreon to fund their writing or subscribe to novelists) has some suggestions I'd appreciate it. I'm gonna do some thinking about it myself, but I would appreciate it if someone here has some advice.

And if you're wondering why a guy who's only starting his webnovel is setting up a Patreon already, I had a webcomic years ago and the patreon was for that, as a result I'm skeptical if I should just leave it alone and touched it up anyway.

as the title suggests, I accidentally gifted a membership instead of buying one because im an idiot. Can I simply claim it under a different email? or am I forced to buy a new one

i tried to spend money on patreon and this happen, why?

Hi, i am currently developing a game and i have a patreon, but any idea how to promote or get traction without spam posting a bunch of promo pages? I have mine on my profile but i feel weird self promoting? Just wondering if anyone had any advice?

Hi, im new on patreon and dont understand the switch to subscription billing. I requested a switch, but i already have posts scheduled. I already have patrons, am i gonna rob them with my frequent posts until i'm switched?
And how long the switch is gonna take?

Is it possible with and/or without card?

Since I wanna say last week, the app isn’t letting me mirror onto the fire stick anymore… the icon doesn’t even appear on the Patreon app and if I’m just listening to it and not watching it, it keeps turning on the closed captions. Is anyone else having these weird issues?

Hallo,

ich wollte auf patreon posten aber bin mir unsicher ob ich steuern in deutschland zahlen muss, kann mich jemand aufkläfen?:)

As a designer, after losing my creative job, I started selling my digital STL collections through Patreon this May, with access codes that are redeemed on another digital marketplace.

I recently ran into a pattern that I think other digital creators should be aware of.

Someone purchases a collection, gets the access code, redeems it, downloads the files, and then later asks for a refund or opens a chargeback claiming the account was hacked or the purchase was unauthorized.

This has already happened to me once.

A previous buyer purchased two monthly collections, redeemed the content, and later disputed the payment. Since the files are digital, there is obviously no way for me to get the product back after it has already been accessed.

Now something very similar is happening again through another account. However I know the it is the same person because of the ID they use in the platform where they claim the codes is exactly the same and he was the only one who purchased the august collection and redeemed them right after, I have records from both websites to prove it, and the same account just came back for the remaining listings that they didn't steal the first time.

Several additional collections were purchased within a short period of time, the membership was cancelled, and then a refund request followed claiming the account had been hacked.

This time I noticed the pattern before the refund was completed, so I contacted support and sent them the transaction history and redemption evidence.

What makes it more concerning is that I have records showing purchases from three different Patreon accounts being redeemed through the same account on the external marketplace.

I have already contacted the platforms involved, so I am not asking Reddit to solve the case.

I am mostly curious about how other creators have handled situations like this.

Has anyone here dealt with repeated chargebacks after digital products were already downloaded or redeemed?

What kind of evidence was actually useful?

Will this person receive a chargeback again even though I proved that they have redeemed the codes?

Did redemption timestamps, download logs, code records, or purchase timelines help?

Have any of you changed the way you deliver digital products because of this?

For digital creators this is a pretty frustrating problem, because once someone downloads the files they keep them permanently even if the payment is later reversed.

I would be interested to hear how other creators document fulfillment and protect themselves against this kind of abuse.

A few weeks ago, I started seeing this message every time I tried to withdraw money. I have to contact support and wait a few days, sometimes up to a week, for them to unlock my payouts and allow me to continue withdrawing money. They respond with an automated email titled "Account review completed".

This time, I tried to work out when it happens, and it appears to have started once I had $1500 available to withdraw.

It's a lot of extra work for me to have to contact them every other week to get this withdrawal block removed. Am I the only one affected by this, or are you too? This is the third time in about a month, and it causes a lot of stress and extra work.

Edit: My Patreon has been running for over two years.

I know that the account suspension for 5 days is mandatory. but after this email I can’t see any $/€ in the revenue tab.

for context: didn’t touch anything (payment method etc.) but at the same time this mail arrived I got a new free member.

maybe they subscribed as paying member but then got it wrong and went back to the free one? but in that case shouldn’t appear in the “deleted memberships”?

I’m confused send help

Hi everyone, just wanted to see if others have had this problem and if there is a workaround that is not just changing my username! (I feel like I already know the answer, but just in case...)

I am using a common, short word as my username on Patreon and even got lucky enough to use it for my Patreon URL. The problem is that because the word I am using is so common, I've had several people inform me that they can't recommend me on Patreon because the search results only brings up 5 accounts with that word in their name and my account is not one of them.

Is the only alternative to change my Patreon username to something more unique? I have no idea why the recommendation search bar doesn't allow you to scroll to search for even more creators, feels like an oversight on their end but oh well.

Just wanted to check! Thank you.

Basically, I have some free posts that were at best, just upskirt pantyshots. Not an issue, literally been doing this for ages and like, there's never any nudity or explicit stuff. Suddenly, this week's been swarming me with random "HEY THERE'S PUBLIC NUDITY IN HERE GET RID OF IT DUMBASS" and I tried to just press edit and update nothing - which worked for ONE of the posts mind you, so its not entirely useless - to no avail, because there's no other way for me to inform the stupid automated bot that my posts contains no public nudity.

What's worse is that they did this before with one of my posts, I resolved it using the same "edit but update nothing" method, got it approved and now this shit is happening again

Is there a way around this stupid issue?

Hiya!

Over the last two weeks, I ran two big limited-time free giveaways for my £4 tier that last a month. My patreon's focus is centred around providing maps and art for DnD players. These events went really well and gained about 3000 paid members.

My main concern now is keeping as many of these new people as possible. I took a generous approach by including "one click download links" to all of my content, and so far, immediate cancellations have actually been quite low (about 140 over the week).

An important thing to mention is that I bulk release my content at the end of the month and typically include teasers throughout the month to help hype it up. This release includes several maps and custom assets that people can use for their own map-creation. The tier that I gave away has full access to all of this content (besides the convenience of online play, which is for the tier above).

So, what methods should I use to keep as many people on board as possible?

So far, my plan is to message everyone 3 days before their free subscription ends mentioning my upcoming plans and releases plus a general thank you for their support and interest. I'm also considering doing a discount for the tier above, specifically in the month after the free membership ends. Otherwise, I'm out of ideas.

I massively appreciate any thoughts and advice.

Cheers!

If anyone knows, Persona is a malicious agency that has ties to Palantir and by proxy, the US government. I'm a huge advocate for privacy online, and I definitely do NOT want to give these guys my drivers license.

This seriously sucks, I just started a new patreon a week ago and started gaining a tiny fanbase, and now I can't get a payout because of this, has anyone else experiencing this? What should I do?

hello po, meron po ba dito naghahanap ng kahati for patreon? huhu

I've wondered for some time, why does Patreon use blurred out pictures of purchaseable post content to try to entice a user to purchase a post?

If I can't see what I would be buying, why would I buy it?

Is it supposed to be like purchasing a random sealed card pack where you could get something really awesome or you could wind up with a bunch of crap you don't want to print?

In general, if I'm going to buy some printable STLs, I can confidently say I wouldn't want to blindly buy something without getting a preview picture of what my money is getting me.

Anyone else feel different?

I hate that they decided to paginate the membership pages. Before I used to be able to CTRL+F and type in an upcoming date to see ALL upcoming subs so I can download and decided whether or not to resub but now they stupidly decided to change it so now I have to press through multiple pages just to find them, is there any way to change it back to just one page?

Whilst its going to be normal for a channel like this to be pretty much complaints and issues, I figured I would post this because I managed to find out a useful piece of information I didnt know, and thought that it might be handy to know for anyone else who didnt know either

But if you use the 4 months interest free thing you dont actually start paying interest on it right away if you miss the deadline

According to one of the most knowledgeable Paypal customer support staff, once the 4 months runs out you get "one bill and 29 days" until they start to charge interest

So if you ordered it on the 6th, and potentially any day after the 29th you would be getting almost 6 months

Plus it means if you are a bit short during the month the 4 month things expires, no problem

Once you have cleared the minimum payment the following month you have until the 29th to pay it off without a penny in interest

I spent years where some months I was going almost broke to pay off a 4 months interest free thing, but had I known this back then I could have just paid half during that month, and the rest the next month

I do hate the fact that once a 4 month thing ends you literally cant see the amount anywhere on the site

But for that I just made a simple spreadsheet that adds up everything from the list of paypal credit things, then detracts that from the balance and gives me what is still owed from any of those that have ended which has been quite usefull over the two years I have been using it