["Open Mike" is the editorial page of TOP, and sometimes includes nuts 'n' bolts stuff like this. It appears on Wednesdays.]
Steven L.: "I have a question. I give to you via PayPal every month. Do I cancel that and do it through Patreon?"
Mike replies: Hi Steve, Yes, I started the Patreon site because I have to stop using PayPal. I need to do the work of asking people to switch over but I haven't had time so far in the New Year. But if you would, that would be great. THANKS!
I've had tax headaches with PayPal. I just gave up the fight and finally settled a dispute from 2014. I don't think I should have had to pay what I went ahead and paid, but the IRS doesn't understand PayPal yet. So I have to stop using PayPal.
Yr. Hmbl. Ed. in 2010 (on the right). Photo by Sally.
If you're a supporter through PayPal like Steven was, could I ask you a huge favor? Could you please cancel that pledge and change it over to Patreon? Patreon is similar to Kickstarter except that it's for people who provide regular content. Like moi. Under the Patreon system everything is tracked, every contributor is identified, no other funds are "confused" with those, and I've set it up so that all the contributions are directly deposited in a completely separate bank account. It's much cleaner and clearer, and should be easier to report without misunderstanding.
Here's how to cancel a recurring payment at PayPal:
- Log in to your PayPal account.
- Go to Profile and More Options.
- Go to My Money.
- Find My Preapproved Payments and click on Update.
- Find TOP.
- Click Details and cancel the recurring payment.
Here's an illustrated tutorial of the same thing.
If you choose to continue your support (and of course I hope you will!), please just go to Patreon and become a patron there. After you sign in, look for the orange "Become a Patron" button at the upper right, below the picture:
You can enter any amount as a monthly contribution. Please note that if you throw a dollar a month into the "Rent Party" hat, it's more than about 93% of all visitors to the site will ever contribute! Don't think it's meaningless. Don't think it isn't enough. It puts you at a high level as a patron. Of course more is better by multiples (a person who contributes $10 equals ten people who contribute $1) but a little is a lot better than bupkus. Everything helps.
TOP gets anywhere from 9,000 to 46,000 direct views a day, and so far I have 162 supporters on Patreon. A good start!
Thanks for doing this and thanks for helping. Let's see if we can keep this whole TOP shebang afloat for a few more years, yawanna? :-)
Mike
Original contents copyright 2017 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.
(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
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I hate subscriptions! I hate subscriptions! I had repeated year after year but, once my purchases at amazon.co.uk were less and less frequent I ended up deciding to subscribe last month via PayPal. Such a short relationship! Good bye PayPal, hello Patreon.
PS. If only you were affiliated to Amazon Spain... your Leica S would be much closer. Just kidding.
Posted by: Rodolfo Canet | Wednesday, 08 February 2017 at 02:13 PM
Mike, I added a small Patreon donation. It's not much but it is better than nothing and I hope it goes a small way to saying "thank you" for your content, not to mention the patience I'm sure I've strained with some of my commentary.
I thank you so very much for TOP. It's nice to have a place that is simply about photography and is as nearly platform agnostic as this is. I learn a lot here as a result.
Posted by: William Lewis | Wednesday, 08 February 2017 at 02:32 PM
Just followed your procedure to cancel my Paypal scheduled payment and create a Patreon contribution. One minor point of confusion, your linked Patreon page doesn't have a "Become a Patron" until you're logged on. The button label was "Unlock" until I created an account and logged on.
[Thanks Jim, I changed the post to reflect this. --Mike]
Posted by: Jim Campbell | Wednesday, 08 February 2017 at 02:40 PM
Hi Mike,
I used to do the Paypal thing years ago---but it somehow got messed up. This is a good reminder---this is one of my favorite places on the web, and you need a Miata. Pledged!!!!
Jim
Posted by: Jim Kofron | Wednesday, 08 February 2017 at 03:11 PM
I would just add that Patreon makes it VERY easy to provide TOP with support as a patron. You also get a statement every month from them.
Cheers,
Stephen
Posted by: Stephen Scharf | Wednesday, 08 February 2017 at 03:31 PM
Switch done! The Dutch government is also happy with the switch as i now pay 21% VAT on my pledge. Good thing they spend it on building dikes, roads, my salary and other mostly useful stuff!
Posted by: Nick | Wednesday, 08 February 2017 at 04:07 PM
163
Posted by: Yonatan K | Wednesday, 08 February 2017 at 04:14 PM
Mike - happy to move my donation across to Patreon from Paypal. Less happy to discover I am now charged VAT, under the EU's 2015 rules on how VAT is charged on digital services. For the first time since 23rd June last year, I can see one teeny, tiny potential benefit of Brexit...
(And who knew you were a 'digital service'? Fancy!)
Posted by: Nick Hunt | Wednesday, 08 February 2017 at 04:55 PM
Wow, looks like this was a successful fundraising drive. I suggest making a little plea every quarter or so and perhaps this will become one of your larger income sources one day.
I also support The Candid Frame podcast through Patreon. Paypal takes it from me, then Patreon divides it up. Hopefully using the Paypal to Patreon pipeline doesn't mean less to the intended.
Posted by: John Krumm | Wednesday, 08 February 2017 at 05:45 PM
Okay Mike you've convinced me to contribute, lets hope others do as well, a very small price to pay for your excellent site in my opinion.
Michael.
Posted by: Michael Roche | Wednesday, 08 February 2017 at 06:24 PM
Have you done any analysis of the web traffic data? How many of those views are from returning people and how many are drive by's? The returning viewers are the real number you should be looking at. Also have you done any analysis on how long people stay on your site? Anything less than a minute is again another drive by. Views as a number mean practically nothing in a business sense.
Posted by: Eric Rose | Wednesday, 08 February 2017 at 07:40 PM
Just an FYI, my Paypal page looks nothing like the one in the link you provided. (I.e. there is no Profile->More options->My money, etc.) I suspect that tutorial is out of date with the current site design.
Instead, I clicked on one of the payments made to you under my activity list, and selected "Manage The Online Photographer Payments". This took me to a page where I could cancel the subscription.
Posted by: David Bostedo | Wednesday, 08 February 2017 at 08:00 PM
make that 163
Posted by: MikeR | Wednesday, 08 February 2017 at 09:53 PM
It might also be a good idea for you to set up a Bitcoin and Ethereum donation address.
Posted by: Matthew | Wednesday, 08 February 2017 at 11:15 PM
So is Mike referring to the absolute path to the interpreter #! or the Ricky Martin song, or an archaic reference to a shed or hut?
And what is paypal horror are you alluding to and how does Patreon avoid said horror? I put out a Paypal tip jar and much to my surprise people are very generous and now I'm worried.
So many questions, mostly interested in the last.
Oh, and congrats on the NYTimes picking up the Dorothea Lange story.
Posted by: hugh crawford | Thursday, 09 February 2017 at 12:29 AM
Thanks for the reminder. I wasn't a paying supporter before, but am a daily reader and really really appreciate your posts. Happy to contribute to your continued endeavors!
Posted by: Jeff Pressman | Thursday, 09 February 2017 at 01:27 AM
Done. Easy. Keep the kibble flowing, and I'll keep those big bucks rolling in to you!
Posted by: Ernest Zarate | Thursday, 09 February 2017 at 02:08 AM
Thanks for letting us know -- I moved my subscription over too. Definitely money well spent.
Posted by: Euan Forrester | Thursday, 09 February 2017 at 03:06 AM
Happy to support via Patreon (which supports me in a minor way). I was never too keen on PayPal for this kind of subscription.
Posted by: Jeremy Cherfas | Thursday, 09 February 2017 at 04:43 AM
Now up to 248, now I've signed up to Patreon. You are getting the same amount as when I subscribed via Paypal.
Posted by: Roger Bradbury | Thursday, 09 February 2017 at 04:55 AM
Mike, your set is worth supporting for all that it has given over the years but my Paypal subscription stopped for some reason. Of course I'd meant to go to Patreon since you started it but just never quite did, until now. So, a useful prompt, I think, and perhaps something you need to do every 6 month or so.
Posted by: Barry Reid | Thursday, 09 February 2017 at 05:10 AM
Is there a way to make one-time payments, once per year, say, or whenever? I'd rather contribute that way that set up subscriptions.
Posted by: Robert Roaldi | Thursday, 09 February 2017 at 08:06 AM
Mike,
I followed your link to the Patreon page but the orange button says let me in rather than become a Patreon. and then the next window shows the default 1.00 rewards page. I would think this page should be the choices between monthly and per creation pay? Did I do something wrong? Like to help...
-Bob G.
Posted by: Bob gary | Thursday, 09 February 2017 at 08:30 AM
I'm with Nick, happy to be paying my (only 20% in the UK) VAT. My wonderful late father said 'pay your taxes promptly, no more than you should, and pay them gladly'.
Posted by: John Ironside | Thursday, 09 February 2017 at 09:48 AM
Just done the switch as well and noticed Patreon offers the option of paying through... PayPal. Would that end up causing the same headache as direct PayPal contribution?
[No. That works fine.
And thank you. --Mike]
Posted by: Cyril | Thursday, 09 February 2017 at 10:13 AM
Monthly income is erratic. So how may I make the occasional one-time contribution?
Posted by: Andrea Blum | Thursday, 09 February 2017 at 11:23 AM
Hope that went ok. What is Patreon ....how does it work differently to paypal
Posted by: Tom Bell | Thursday, 09 February 2017 at 05:02 PM
Hi Mike, I did the switch. Discovered I've been a Paypal subscriber to TOP since 2012! My how time flies. Anyway, here's to another five years (at least). Hope you reach your goal of 1,000 patrons.
Posted by: John Holland | Friday, 10 February 2017 at 11:35 AM
I went to Patreon but there was no "Become a Patron" button. Instead, it had a button reading "Pay to Pledge". Is this the same thing?
Posted by: Gordon Keating-Brown | Friday, 10 February 2017 at 05:37 PM