Changes to how we collect Billing Details

Envato Announcements
63

Both “hide” option checked and unchecked, to see the difference between the two from the Buyers’ perspective.

64

Hi Adam,

Thanks for clarification. May I have email to show how buyers see my details as well?

Thank you!

65

Hi @daext,

We’ve fixed this issue today. Now, even if you’ve submitted a W form, you can update your VAT Number from the Checkout or Personal Information contexts and your Company Number from the Personal Information context.

Thanks and sorry for any inconvenience here.

Ben

66

Thank for the update @guicookie,

is there any way to update the “Company Name”?

As I said in a previous reply a “sole proprietorship” like mine has to submit the W8-BEN
form as an Individual ( because a “sole proprietorship” isn’t a “Legal Entity”, and
the W8-BEN-E is only for legal entities ) but might have a company name different from the actual name of the owner.

For example in my case would be more appropriate to have the invoices generated with the actual name of the company instead of my name.

67

@Danga12
Hi I notice this text in the Hide your personal Identity text box.

“Be aware that some buyers may require your full author details on their invoices for tax or other purposes.”

That means that there is no way to be absolute safe from spreading personal contact information around I guess?
In what circumstances would Envato give such details to buyers?
What are the criterias? What information will be given?
Will authors be notified when Envato pass all this information to buyers?

Privacy is something to be dealt with seriously when operating on web, so I think we as authors has the right to know these things so we can make the appropriate decisions.

Thanks!

2 Likes
68

very interesting question and your way of thinking makes good sense indeed :wink:

69

And then there was silence…

@Danga12 I really think you should answer this!! I am not suggesting that you do anything wrong or harmful and need to change anything. There might be perfectly good reasons for you to do what you do.

But I think it’s our right to know how, why and when you will give out our personal contact information to customers.

70

I was under the impression that it was saying…

Some buyers may require your full author details on their invoices… so they might get in touch and ask you for those details.

Rather than…

Some buyers may require your full author details on their invoices… so we’ll give them those details if they ask us for them.

Would be good to get clarification though, just to be sure.

1 Like
71

You could be right, and that would be nice!

It says that they might need this information on their invoices. We are not able to make such invoices for them.

But as you stated, a clarification here would be good. The important thing is that we are in control of our personal information, and at least has knowledge about what is going on.

1 Like
72

Agree with @MTrooms and @SpaceStockFootage
A clarification would be much appreciated.

73

Kind of worrying that nobody from Envato staff takes 5 mins of their time to chime in here and confirm for us that our personal information is safe!

If customers need full details and contact information. Do you give it to them without our knowledge, or do they need to ask us to get it?

1 Like
74

Hi MTRooms,

My apologies for the delay, I have been on leave per my post here prior.
Re the comment:
“Be aware that some buyers may require your full author details on their invoices for tax or other purposes.”

This was added because in business invoices typically show the sellers billing address. We were concerned that in some countries this may be required in order to deduct the expense of the purchase on their tax return.

We thought a buyer may contact us to request the billing details address of the author.
If this happens, we would do the following:

  • Contact the author to advise whether they wish to release their details to that buyer.

  • Where the author declines, then we may need to refund the sale to protect the interests of the buyer, in this case we would need to share the refund with the author. ie the transaction would be fully reversed and envato and the author and taxes would be returned to the buyers account.

  • Where the author agrees to release their billing details to the buyer, then we would provide them to that buyer only.

I hope this makes sense and seems reasonable to you, and gives you confidence you are in control of whether your data is exposed to buyers or not.
I can appreciate your frustration with the delayed response to your question MTrooms, please accept my apologies for the delay.

Cheers,
Adam

3 Likes
75

Hi,

Appoligies accepted right away, and thanks for chiming in here to clarify this. Envato’s approach to this issue seems well thought out and reasonable in every way.

Thanks

1 Like
76

This is a complete mess created by Envato. What they should have done is to invoice the buyers directly and then sort out authors payments in themselves. This way all sales would be made and invoiced by Envato and then Envato simply pays authors directly after deducting their own fees, without exposing any author’s information. This is how it should be, but it seems Envato decided to shift all the burden onto buyers & authors. As a buyer, I buy way less now because I simply hate receiving bunch of invoices. Whereas a year ago I might spot something that I like and buy instantly, now I would not, as I’m being sent tons of invoices that need to be accounted for. For example, if I buy 4 items now, I would receive 9 invoices instead of one single invoice. Also, could @staff please clarify what buyers information do authors see on the invoices and who is the actual supplier when the item is sold: Author or Envato? Thank you.

UPDATE I just purchased 6 items. Previously, I would have received 1 invoice & now I have 18 invoices to deal with. Crazy.

3 Likes
77

Hi, quick question. I just noticed the option to hide my author details. I have turned it on now. However, my question is about sales information that may have been shown in the past. When I click to view older invoice details, it shows my full address with the Street Name, however on the details of the person who purchased my footage it only shows their name, state and area code. No street address. Have Videohive invoices been showing my street address to purchasers in the past? Or does it leave that part of my address off when they see it on their end? Just curious. I don’t mind if they see my state and zip code, but my mailing address with street name seems a bit much considering it doesn’t show their street address to me.

Thanks!!

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78

No. Details are different on your invoices to what the customer gets. Not to worry

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79

@Danga12 Can you provide me screenshot of my billing details I dont want show my full details.

80

Hi there,
I’m sorry, I’m not sure to be in the right topic…

As a buyer, I’ve fill the billing detail form, but after purchasing my item, I was expected to get a bill (as a proof of buying)… maybe by email or anywhere in my account, or profil.

Is there a way to get it ?

Thank you
…
I’ve found it just in the statement page… sorry…