So, after a long wait, here we are: is the 1st of September! However, I still have a couple of questions and hope to find official answers.
API side: what about customers purchasing multiple licenses? Will the “supported until” info be cumulatively counted?
For example: if I’ve got 2 licenses with expired dupport and purchase a new license, will it be valid also for previous two?
I won’t support a couple of my items. Can I place a banner linking to a page eplaining why I do this?
For example: “why item is not supported”.
What about users having extended licenses? Do their support pack price will be related to the item price?
Envato API devs clarified in the previous API topic that it’s not tied to the purchase code. So technically, the buyers can have a single support pack active for the item and get support for all the copies. It doesn’t really matter because there’s a lack of a licensing system at Envato. If a buyer wishes to be unethical and buy a single support pack to get support for all the copies, you can’t find it out anyways.
A simple licensing system coupling purchase codes with a single domain would solve it, but that’s wishful thinking considering how things work at Envato Market.
With the new support policy coming, I think an important part is to know when an author is online or not.
Or at least display on the author’s profile page, where it says:
"Last sign in: 04:25 Aug, 31st, 2015 (AEST)"
maybe instead, it would be better to display the local time where the author is located, like this:
“Local time: 04:25 a.m., August 31st, 2015 (AEST)”
That way, the buyers will know that when they send a support request at the midnight, let’s say, there is a chance that they will not receive an immediate answer.
Most freelancing websites, where buyers and providers are interacting with each other, show this information, which is very helpful.
One of the negatives in this new support policy is those buyers like my company that routinely used to buy new themes from favorite authors without a plan to actually use them right away. We just wanted to support those authors. Now, we will have no support by the time we actually want to use the theme we purchased. This means that policy comes to an end and we will only buy a theme when we are absolutely sure we will use it. Over $2,000 in past purchased themes that are as yet unused will go to waste. We lost a ton of money due to this policy change.
Not necessarily - if you were promised support prior to the change then that was always between you and the author and nothing to do with envato.
Envato explicitly stated that this has not changed and that the new policy only impact files purchased post Sept 1st.
I can kind of see your point going forward but I guess it really comes down to what support you may be likely to need and also I owuld expect (although we are guilty of impulse buying also) that the majority of users do not have that luxury or approach, and envato have to work to meet the needs of the masses and find the best possible balance for everyone.
Good to know that it only affects files purchased after September 1. Still, it means a change of buying behavior which isn’t always good for authors. I do understand that authors need to be paid properly and have no problem with that. And it’s a tough balance. There’s probably very few who, like us, just purchased everything because we liked certain developers so much.