A little confused

[8bit]

So, is the total pledged value that i see include the amount from folks who had their billing declined last month? Just trying to get as accurate an accounting as I can.

Same with the # of patrons total, in my case 643… does that include the 33 or so that were declined last month?

As you can see, i have one person who’s committed $3,000 in total but declined the last month… that’s a big chunk of change if it’s being included in my “total pledged” but I can assume that he’s done committing money to patreon.

[Jack]

Sheesh. That’s a bit galling having all those declines…a big hit. It is January, though, I guess.

I have nowhere near as many Patrons as you (yet!), so it’s easier for me to see the affect of declines as there are only one or two. When I have declines, that does effect my total amount showing as pledged, if that helps. I mean, the total amount showing on my Patreon page reflects the actual amount that’s been successfully processed.

Mind you, I see you have yours hidden from the public on your Patreon page, so I might be confused by which Total Pledged figure you mean.

[Ghool]

Total pledged has never included declined pledges, nor does it even show on the front page those Patrons that have payments declined.
If a Patron is declined, they do not show in your number of Patrons nor your total earned until the payment is fixed.

So your 643 Patrons are only those that have approved payments and only their totals will show under your total pledged this month.

It makes no difference if your totals are publicly visible or not.

If you check your current Patrons it will only count those that have approved payments. Declined payments are never included in any total of money earned nor number of Patrons.

[8bit]

thanks for this clarification…

so, i did some simple math and comparisons… and so what shows publicly is this:

624 patrons.

what shows in my backend is:

657…

the difference is 33 patrons… which is fine because that’s how many were declined!

but, the amount of money $ pledged includes those 33, even though they’ve been declined. that’s where my confusion stems. and the total amount difference between that public # and private backend number is $2,300+… that’s a lot to be “off”.

[Jack]

Hmmm. In my first month (December), I had one declined payment. My public amount showing the total amount pledged automatically adjusted down to reflect the $25 that hadn’t gone through.

Likewise, my publicly displayed patrons reduced by one. When the payment went through, the patron quantity was ‘reinstated’ to the total number of patrons (the publicly displayed figure) as was the $25.

The same happened again in month two (January) for two new patrons whose payments didn’t initially go through.

Just relaying what I’ve seen happen on my page but it seems to contradict your experience/understanding?

Jack

[johnftseman]

yep i concur, the $ number on the top right of the patrons page on my account includes declines and also pledges of people who have left. it does reset at the beginning of the new month ive noticed though. for me i take no notice of it, as it doesnt offer me any meaningful information.
The home page with the number of patrons and dollar amount is the only thing i take notice of, That other number isnt representative of the true situation.

[Jack]

Indeed. Now, if we can only find a way to stop the painful feeling when the amount goes down rather than up…!

[DysonLogos]

Yes. The backend numbers are your “raw” numbers. It includes every patron on your list with their full pledge without deductions taken into account or declined pledges. Once upon a time that was the number on the front page of your Patreon also, until December 2015 when the front page was changed to show your estimated revenue not counting declines and accounting for processing fees.

[bjorn]

Just trying to get as accurate an accounting as I can.

Just adding a small note here, that this “Total pledged” is totally irrelevant for accounting since it’s only about the potential amount you may receive the next time your patrons are charged (which is a number that will not only change due to declines and fees, but also because of new, cancelled or changed pledges until the start of the next month).

For accounting you should probably look at the “Your Share” column in the Dashboard -> Earnings page. Of course that can only apply to past months.

[8bit]

To be specific, when I refer to “accounting” I mean just estimating the months potential income. True accounting happens post-billing, obviously.