Issue with Patreon Pause/Reimbursement Offer (Patreon)

Alright everyone, I'll go straight to the point, I've encountered a huge issue with the Patreon pausing.

A few months ago ago, I changed the Patreon billing from "paying upfront" to "subscription" so patrons could pay the day they subscribed (instead of being billed on the 1 if a new patron subscribed on the 29th of the previous month for example, forcing them to pay twice in quick succession, they are instead charged on the 29th of next month). This change was marked as irreversible, but I didn't think much of it back then. I mean, it just made life easier for everyone, especially newcomers.

However, there is a very important detail that Patreon failed to mention in the billing change notice. Something which would have made me think twice, and which I learned when I prepared to pause the billing for May.

Well... you can read it for yourself.

Yeah... as it turns out, if I pause the Patreon while I have the subscription model, no new patrons can register for a whole damn month/30 days.

Which isn't the case with the upfront billing system.

Some of you who were there might remember that I paused the Patreon in November 2021 during the Perfect Run/Underland transition, which allowed me to show a gesture to existing patrons. Back then I used the upfront billing model, so old patrons weren't charged but newcomers could still register to join in when Underland hit the shelves.

I made the promise to pause the Patreon for May with this case in mind; old patrons like you wouldn't be charged during the transition between stories, but newcomers wishing to subscribe to read Tamer's ending could still do so.

I have sent a support ticket to Patreon asking if I could change back to billing upfront to sidestep the problem altogether, or if there was a workaround. The answer just came back; I'm not the first one to have complained about that 'no new patrons on paused subscription billing' issue and Patreon is working on fixing it in the near-future, but it won't be for tomorrow and the billing change to subscription is irreversible.

So... I admit preventing new patrons from coming until June is simply far from ideal. No one could subscribe to read Tamer's end early or see the new stories. I can't compress the pausing duration either. It's no new patrons for 30 days or nothing.

So... I'm proposing an alternative. I will reimburse any patron who asks for it. Just put the demand either in comment or send a message, and I'll reimburse the May month's pledge through Paypal or another means.

I sincerely apologize for this; I assure you that I had no idea this thing would happen when I chose subscription billing and the pausing pledge was done in good faith.

Best regards,

Voidy.