I’m currently developing a web application that gives out rewards automatically to pledging Patrons once a month. I’m using the Webhook functionality to track on new, updated and deleted pledges.
However, I can’t find any information about Webhooks concerning pausing and resuming pledges.
I have tested out pausig and resuming pledges and it doesn’t seem to trigger Webhooks.
Understandably I can’t give out rewards to paused pledges. So, if I’m not mistaken, this requires an extra API call for every time I give out a reward to check up on the users is_paused value via fields[pledge]=is_paused?
Is there any way to track this activity via Webhooks?
And if not is it planned to built this in Webhooks?
I can’t comment on the webhook issue as I’m just a consumer like you but have you considered payment success/failure, and how that will determine reward eligibility, and Patreon’s new billing model? For the reliable determination of reward eligibility, you would need to consider payment status.
The first few payment attempts at renewal time could fail, and then eventually succeed or fail permanently (which will end the pledge), but this can happen days after the renewal time, at which point your service may have already granted their reward for that month. Your service should only grant the reward for this month once the pledge for this month has been paid for – and this process can take paused pledges into account.
Furthermore, Patreon’s announced switch from the current model where every renewal happens on the 1st to renewals happening all through the month means you won’t be able to run your process once a month for existing pledges: it will need to run every day minimum.
To do that, we need to move our payments system to treat your pledges like any other subscription service. In other words, we need a system that charges patrons at the time of their initial pledge, and on the anniversary of their pledge each month thereafter.
Yes this is a planned feature but is not available yet. In the near-ish future paused pledges will be triggering webhook updates and the paused status will be included as a meta attribute. We’ll keep the forum updated with these changes.
Thank you for your extensive response. I’m aware now that another API call must be done anyway before giving out rewards. I fully agree with you that the current system is a bit clumsy as it would be much better if a patron is charged up front and then exactly one month later again (as you described). The current charge up front system can lead to patrons getting charged two times only a few days apart which is confusing for developers and patrons.
As for the Webhooks I would also welcome the option for a trigger when a patrons payment succeeded. I think this would make life for developers easyer.