One of the benefits of becoming a creator’s patron is getting access to exclusive content via posts. If you’re a patron but don’t have access to posts, there are a few things you can check to troubleshoot potential problems.
In this article, we’ll go over the following:
- Checking which tiers have access to a post
- Verifying your payment status
- Confirming your membership details
- Accessing content outside of Patreon
- Frequently asked questions
Check which tiers have access to a post
If a post is locked, click on the Locked icon to check which tiers have access. This is a quick and easy way to confirm whether or not you should be able to access a post. If your tier isn’t listed, the creator didn’t include your tier when publishing the post.
If your tier is listed, but you still don’t have access, please keep reading for other possible fixes.
Verify your payment status
By default, we lock a creator’s posts when a patron’s payment declines. You can check your payment history to ensure everything is up to date.
Here’s how to verify your payment status:
- Hover over your profile avatar and click on Manage memberships
- Then click on the Billing History tab
- Scroll through your past payment history — if you notice any declined bills, you can click the Retry button and go through the necessary steps to reattempt the charge
If you need any support with retrying a declined payment, please refer to this help guide: Retry my payment (decline)
Confirm your membership details
Creators can segment post access based on their tiers. That means you could be in a creator’s highest tier and come across a post you won’t have access to. You can check your membership details to confirm your tier and access level.
How to check your membership details:
- Hover over your profile avatar and click on Manage Memberships
- Locate the creator and click the Edit link
- Your tier name will be listed in the Summary section
- From here, you can click the Edit link if (oops!) you’re in the wrong tier
- If you find that your membership is listed as a Custom pledge, it means that you are not currently in a tier — click Edit to join one of the creator’s tiers and unlock access
If you’re moving to a tier with the same cost as what you’ve already paid this month, don’t worry, your current pledge will credit toward the pledge at no additional charge.
Have you recently canceled?
If your membership was charged upfront and you recently canceled, you’ll have post access for the remainder of the current month (e.g., if you cancel on Jan 15th, you’ll have access through Jan 31st).
If your membership was monthly (non-charge upfront), or per creation, you’d lose access to posts when you cancel. You can learn more about what to expect when canceling here: What happens when I cancel?
Accessing content outside of Patreon
We offer a variety of posting options for creators to share their podcasts, videos, and images with patrons. Even so, we understand that many creators prefer keeping their exclusive content on a site they manage outside of Patreon.
If you find yourself locked out of content that your membership should give you access to, and you’ve gone through the checklist in this article, reach out to the creator for the next steps in regaining access.
FAQ
What if I still can’t access posts?
If a post is locked for your tier, but you believe you should have access, please let your creator know. They’ll know more about what posts you should be able to access and can fix post access issues if there’s a mistake.
Why doesn’t my payment amount unlock everything?
Each creator has a unique approach to how they run their membership. Creators can set post access in the following ways:
- Public: A gift to the world from your creator! These posts are available to everyone.
- All patrons: Every one of a creator’s patrons will be able to view the post's content — even folks with a custom pledge
- Select tiers: Creators can select specific tiers with access to the post. This means that even if you’re in a higher tier, you may not have access to the post's content. Read through your tier description for more information on expected access to posts. If you’re unsure, sending your creator a quick note asking for clarification could clear things up.
I thought that the higher tiers got access to everything the lower tiers got?
Check in with your creator if your tier mentions access to benefits from all lower tiers. The post locked to you may not be benefit-related (like a call to upgrade). It could be an easily fixed mix-up or a change to tier structure.
How is it possible that I’m paying the payment amount, but I’m not in that tier?
We give patrons the option to Choose what you pay at every tier level. You can always give more than your tier cost even if you don’t want to join a higher tier.
We recommend upgrading the tier and not just the payment amount when increasing your membership. Increasing your payment amount will not unlock new post content if you don’t select the higher tier.