IMPORTANT: Payout Still Missing (Patreon)

To start with, this is a continuation of the last two posts on the same subject, here and here. I'll still summarise whats going on just in case, but those also have the info. Second one even has some more business RD drawing if you just want the pictures. :)

Also if you don't want to get hosed down with a text wall full of depressing stuff then really, just peep the pic and then head out, I have no problem with that. I did spend time making it in the first place to draw in eyes, so to be expected people would only want that part. Or just read the next paragraph for the short of it all, if that's also what you are looking for. :)

But a quick tl;dr for this since it's very long, I've worked on my patreon for almost half a year and have not made a single cent on it and if things keep going the way they are, possibly never make money from it. The money everyone thinks they were giving to me isn't reaching me and possibly never will. It bad, big sad.

Now for a better explanation, a 'payout' is when the person running a patreon page goes to take the money the patrons payed to their patreon account.

When you pay for something on patreon, you don't directly pay the person running that patreon page, it first goes to a pile that ALL payments go into. Then, when the person that runs that patreon page wants to claim the money, they do a payout, and patreon then sends the money off to them through various means, at which point the person running that page eventually receives the money that the patrons paid and actually gets that money for real. At least, theoretically that's how it works.

So, around Oct 20th, I initiated the very first and currently only payout for my patreon. This payout encompassed all earnings from every patron over the lifespan of my patreon, about half a year'ish worth of all accumulated earnings. I didn't want to wait so long to do so, but a lot of problems kept popping up that got in the way, especially a bank fraud problem where someone had almost stolen all of my money. But then I finally felt comfortable enough to make that first proper step and claim the earnings and started the first payout.

I waited a week for it to show up in my bank account... never came. No alerts from anyone, no anything. Decided to be patient.

Waited a second week, since it was the very first payout I had ever tried it was possible that it took longer because it was new. Nothing. No alerts, no anything. Patreon listed the payout as successfully being sent. I contacted support.

From there I've been very slowly dragged along the ground as every single part of the support process wastes my time. Reaching the current moment where I have spent the half the time talking to the payment processors who have now handed me back off to patreon. With still no mention of where that money is at all.

SO YEAH. That money is either gone forever, or I'll have to spend like half a year getting the money paid for half a years worth of payout, just so I can go through it all again since at that point, I have ANOTHER payout I would want. You can see why this is a problem.

Worst of all, this isn't like a single payment, or even the first of many. It's the only one. And if it doesn't go through, then pretty much nothing will. I can't even change payment options since that will just give them another excuse to say there is no money.

It's not even the amount of money I'm bothered with at this point since, to be completely honest, the patreon was already running at a loss. I put the prices fairly low to try and get people to join up and it didn't even work all that well. So it isn't even all that much. But knowing it could be the only one as well feels... bad.

On the patreon, I had already requested anyone that was on a tier higher then support downgrade to support at the time, but because of where it's been heading since then, I have unlisted the commission and super commission tiers from the patreon for the time being. I can't really risk anyone hopping onto one of those right now and ending up paying a huge sum that could very easily just get stolen before I ever see it. I can't even offer refunds for the older ones since the money is just gone and it would just come from me alone.

Other tiers I've left active for now, with the intent that even if this goes completely south, I will draw up all the tier rewards to the people that paid for them. Even if I don't get that money, I am implicit in its loss and as such, will provide what I said I would. All previous and current tier rewards are still active and will still get done up eventually, even commission tiers, so no worries there. It might take some time to get to though, which I've very sorry for.

All of that, as well as problems like pixiv outright threatening to perma ban my pixiv account if I ever advertise my patreon or even link anything external from it ever again, the bank fraud I had already mentioned, my work being increasingly more shitty and damaging to my hands and even just generally getting sick. Most of this happening within the time the patreon has started and ran so far.

In that time, I have also gotten so much better at drawing and made the best things I have ever done, including the very first thing I ever made FOR the patreon being my biggest hit I have ever had. So for that the patreon has, in some way, paid off. I just wish it had also LITERALLY paid off. :)

So what now? For now, I keep fighting support, I will try and keep posting the timed exclusives to the patreon and posting the ones that go public everywhere else. I wanted to also try and catch up on the tier rewards but really... I'm not in the right mindset for that yet. I don't mind messing up something that I post as an exclusive, as they will always have ups and downs and are every second day so if one doesn't do the job, the next can. But stuff made FOR specific people, I don't want to mess that up. So they'll be very slow going while I deal with this, sadly. Sorry to everyone that is waiting for theirs.

I really don't like these kind of announcements, especially making them fully public, but I have to make them to spread the word. Not asking for help or anything like that, just wanted to put all my cards on the table at once so everyone knows whats what.

Anywho...

Uh... normally I'd say 'enjoy' as my outro, but that seems a bit off for this one. Unless you liked the image, then I guess, enjoy that. :)