chrissabug

Quick PSA about pledging in different currencies

Added 2022-12-23 08:41:02 +0000 UTC

Hey hey pals! Apologies for the brief interruption of art in the feed. This is just a super quick PSA about pledging in different currencies on patreon.

TL/DR: To save money for both yourself as a patron and fees to the creator, make your pledge in the currency of that creator's page. (for example, my page is in USD)

A friend of mine let me know about all of this.
If the creator page is set in USD and the patron decides to use his/her local currency other than USD, a lot of things happen.

ARBITRARY & OUTDATED CURRENCY PRICEBOOK

First of all, the conversion is not calculated by a real-time currency exchange with mid market values; instead it is arbitrary and there is an outdated table at this link: https://c5.patreon.com/external/currency_conversion/updated_currency_pricebook.pdf

While I am writing this post, the date of the table is October 2022.

CREATOR IS FORCED TO PAY A 2.5% FEE

Yes, there is no way to avoid this fee. The only way is to ask patrons to pledge with the same currency as the creator page. Patreon states: "Our goal is to update the Price Book every 6-12 months, depending on when large exchange rate fluctuations occur." (good luck to us)

Link to article: https://support.patreon.com/hc/en-us/articles/360044469871

PATRONS RISK TO SPEND MORE WITH THE ARBITRARY PRICEBOOK

Example:

Patreon's currency pricebook says: a $50 USD tier is converted to €54

Today's midmarket currency conversion: $1 USD = € 0.94

Therefore the patron should pay: $50*0.94 = €47 instead of €54

Difference: €7/month, €84/year.

Of course if the USD dollar gets stronger than euro, the patron will spend more. The point is about having a realistic and updated conversion fee rather than an arbitrary one.

If you also run a patreon page, it may be worth asking your supporters to pledge in the currency of your page if they can.

Original post with the info: https://www.reddit.com/r/patreon/comments/zrz1b5/additional_fees_if_your_patrons_pay_in_a/