I think what they offered was too little. The website did not make it easy for patrons to find the interesting projects and you had to bring the followers yourself and then pay 5% to them. If they had a site like Kickstarter or Bandcamp I think it might be worth it, but as it is now I think I will be pulling from Patreon.
The thing you want to make could be done with a simple Paypal widget couldn't it?
RE: The big Patreon blowup