Alternatives to Patreon

[Awas]

As you might be aware, Patreon will soon require creators of adult content (sexually explicit and material containing nudity, etc) to undergo an age verification process. The process is intrusive; requiring a photograph and copies of official documentation (Government IDs etc). Information obtained during the process will be retained by the verification provider (a 3rd party called Jumio).

Failure to either re-classify content as all-ages, or undergo the age verification process would result in the creator's page being closed. It's all being driven by Mastercard, who apparently have grabbed Patreon by the balls and squeezed a bit.

Creators (or others aware of the particulars), are there alternatives to Patreon? Specifically, the ability to accept payment for access to content (either transactional or similar to Patreon).

My thinking right now is something like one of the e-commerce providers where content is ordered and VAM files are digitally delivered. Any thoughts?

 

[Sally Whitemane]

Thanks Awas for the info. This wasn't on my radar.

Official info here:
https://blog.patreon.com/two-new-updates-from-cpep
Not the first time Patreon goes against adult content creators due to pressure from payment providers.

Don't know a solution. I guess any platform that involves the big payment providers will have that problem.
I wonder if not VAM hub could implement a Crypto based payment provider to act as middlemen.
Something like - customer pays for specific item on Hub > crypto payment received confirmed by provider > download unlocks for this user account only and creator gets *whatever*-coins.

Edit: For now I've submitted a request to Patreon to set my Sallyw page to non adult. I just had it set it to adult to be "extra safe" with only sfw content one there. Hope this works out. Obviously that won't work for real nsfw content.
Edit 2: Received confirmation 19 hours later that my page is now non adult.

 

[VAMIC]

The best alternative is probably just to make stuff for free and upload to the hub and then use patreon as it was intended, that is as a way for patrons of your art to support you for your creativity rather than obscuring the creations themselves behind a paywall. It seems this has been a serious debate in VAM since its founding and this move is likely to restart the debate all over again. I recognize that some folks put a lot of time into their work and feel it's only fair they profit off of it, but in this kind of environment, the money is what will attract the heat.

 

[DJ]

I wonder if not VAM hub could implement a Crypto based payment provider to act as middlemen.
Something like - customer pays for specific item on Hub > crypto payment received confirmed by provider > download unlocks for this user account only and creator gets *whatever*-coins.

Meshed has always said he wants absolutely nothing to do with hosting paid content or running a store. There are legal liability issues around having to protect users paid content. It's not going to happen.

As far as moving away from Patreon, people try this occasionally. What tends to happen is that they find nobody is willing to sign up (and provide their credit card info) to another service just to access that one creators stuff. They lose almost all of their customers, and people complain and leave them bad reviews on the Hub.

That's not an issue with Patreon, because everyone who has a legit copy of Vam already has a Patreon account.

Realistically, I think the choice is between verifying your identity to patreon, or giving up the idea of selling paid content.

 

[Awas]

Excellent, that's what I was after. Thank you. Not great news, but understandable.

 

[kumsix]

I have had no issues selling content on https://myprivate.club
It is crypto only though. I guess thats the way forward if you do not want to give all your data to big platforms like patreon.

 

[concrete1880]

Just signed up. How do you search for creators?

I have had no issues selling content on https://myprivate.club
It is crypto only though. I guess thats the way forward if you do not want to give all your data to big platforms like patreon.

 

[asparagus]

Please also keep in mind the fact that Patreon / Visa / Mastercard do not work in some countries. I want to buy some paid looks or plugins and I technically cannot do that, even though I have money.

 

[Toonen1988]

Please also keep in mind the fact that Patreon / Visa / Mastercard do not work in some countries. I want to buy some paid looks or plugins and I technically cannot do that, even though I have money.

You always have different possibilities, like using PayPal which Patreon also supports. And you can always sign up for debit cards. Which is exactly the same as a credit card, but you need to put money on it, before you can pay with it.

Or does your country has some restrictions on certain credit-card providers. Where do you live exactly?

But anyway back on topic. If I going to make a Patreon creator page and need to verify myself, I would do it anyway. Because I need to fill in a W8 form anyway with Patreon. Otherwise I pay double taxes. One in America and the other one in my country. So they get my information anyway.

 

[Awas]

You always have different possibilities, like using PayPal which Patreon also supports. And you can always sign up for debit cards. Which is exactly the same as a credit card, but you need to put money on it, before you can pay with it.

Or does your country has some restrictions on certain credit-card providers. Where do you live exactly?

But anyway back on topic. If I going to make a Patreon creator page and need to verify myself, I would do it anyway. Because I need to fill in a W8 form anyway with Patreon. Otherwise I pay double taxes. One in America and the other one in my country. So they get my information anyway.

The w8 form identity requirements are far less invasive then the jumio id check. In addition, every time you have shared sensitive data with a third party, is one more place where that is stored and will one day be accessed by unauthorised persons. Perhaps sooner rather than later. Id providers would be juicy targets for hostile state and criminal actors.

If this sounds a little paranoid, visit

List of data breaches - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

These are only the big, reported incidents.