Seeking feedback on idea: alternative to Patreon

[perldiver.livejournal.com]

Hi folks,

I messaged a few of you about this already, but was just given mod permission to post it at top level.

I’m a Patreon creator (http://patreon.com/davidstorrs), and a web developer. My business partner and I are frustrated enough with Patreon that we’re building an alternative. We’d like to make sure it does what people actually want so, if you have a minute, I’d really appreciate your feedback.

We think the site should have:

* No percentage taken from your pledges
* Charge patrons immediately to avoid in-and-out “pledge-dodgers”
* Content management for all your content, past and present
* Specify when things should become visible (a.k.a. a publishing queue)
- ...to whom
- ...and for how long
* Ban abusive or exploitative patrons

As far as creators go, our current plan is that early adopters would receive as much storage as they need (within reason!), and future creators would get 1GB of storage for $9.99/month. Again, these are tentative plans and might change as we do more research.

All comments appreciated; a few questions I'd love answers to:

1) Does this sound like a service you would use?

2) Are there any other features you’d like?

3) What is particularly good about Patreon?

4) What issues do you have with Patreon?

Comments

[okojosan.livejournal.com]

$10/month for 1GB of storage space seems really high to me. On pair.com I can get 15GB for $6. GoDaddy has even cheaper prices, though of course you have to pay the registration fees/domain name.

I am not on Patreon at all, is it possible to host images on one's own site and hotlink them on Patreon?

I'd think a choice between flat fee and a percentage would be best.

[gatekat.livejournal.com]

Yes, but on those servers you are not paying for anything but space and bandwidth. With this (and Patreon) you are paying for much more. The site that regulates access, money exchanges, more intensive 'help-desk' needs and stuff I'm not thinking of.