Q&A

Hey mermaids! I advise all of you to read this post, as it will answer many questions you may have, and will help you understand how Patreon works :) 

When are my Patrons Charged/When do payments get processed?

On the 1st of the month - your patrons will be billed- (starting at midnight PDT (GMT-7:00)) We will try to collect funds for the first 5 days - on the 5th automatic payouts happen. 

NOTE: if you have recently changed your payout method, email address, or paid out more than 600$ within the calendar year, you will have a 5 day freeze on all payouts. 

5 days?! 

We retry billing for cards that have declined - There are a LOT of reasons why a card can decline - and it’s not unusual to have to retry. Sometimes it’s a just a matter of needing to be retried- sometimes it’s a matter of a card needing updating, and sometimes it can be insufficient funds. You can double check your % of declined payments in your dashboard - the average is 5%-10%- so if you’re below that, you’re doing great!

We’ve found that 5 days is about the point when continuing to retry the existing payment method won’t make a difference, and new billing information is needed.

The billing period is 5 days to let us do our best to collect from your patrons - You can pay out what has been collected at any time but the automated payout is always on the 5th.

What if a patron updates their billing info after the 5 days?

Any pending bills will be processed and the funds will go to your creator balance, and wait for the next time you chose to payout, or have payout happen automatically. 

What if they delete their pledge?

If they have never paid - and they delete their card another attempt is made against any billing method on file.

NOTE: Payouts may not show in your bank or PayPal account ON the 5th- as PayPal/Payoneer/Stripe may take time to deliver the funds to your account.

I have declined patrons! Will you charge them again?

Good question!. Yes, we do attempt to charge them again. Please note that a patron will only ever have one declined bill. If they decline once, we will not continue to charge them for future months. Instead they will be restricted from viewing patron-only content until they pay for their past due bill. They are essentially not a patron for future months until they've successfully paid the past due bill. Once the pledge is paid for, they will regain access to your patron-only feed.

To do our best to collect past due bills we:

• Retry billing daily
• Email patrons to let them know there was an issue with billing and to reattempt
• Place a banner on their Patreon page prompting them to update payment info
• Restrict access to patron only content until past due bills are collected

You can also check the status of your patrons and their pledges from your patron manager. Feel free to message patrons through your patron manager and give them another heads up that the pledge didn't go through.

If you feel that they are evading payment, you can also block them, which will remove their pledge to you and prevent them from rejoining your community.