I’m furious and disgusted with Envato Market. I have an $8 credit on my account. In order to use that credit, this scam of a company is requiring that I add “credits” to my account in increments of $10 with a minimum of $20. Therefore, in order to use that $8 credit to purchase a $40 item, I have to add another $40 to my account. If I add $30 it’s not enough. So… after I add $40 I have $48 on my account. After purchasing a $40 item I will STILL have an $8 credit. And yes I realize this isn’t a lot of money but that’s not the point. If you think about it, it’s astounding how much money they’re making by demanding people purchase credits that so many of them will never use.
This is completely unacceptable. This is horrible way to do business and amounts to a total scam… practically theft. I’ve never once had to add “credits” to an account to purchase anything online. It wouldn’t be half bad if we could add exactly the amount that we wish to purchase but your demand that we add a minimum of $20 is completely outrageous… a total con job. I will never purchase one thing from Envato Market again and will be reporting this company to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. I advise everyone to stop doing business with Envato Market. Unbelievable scam.
4 Likes
Hi,
You are wrong. All services based on credits work in this way (freelancer.com, amazon, alphabay…)
With Envato you have always the option to pay directly without credits so Envato actually is better of other similar service.
If you not want credits simply not buy credits. I really not understand from where come your frustration.
Thank you
I have been a customer of Amazon for years and YOU are wrong. It absolutely
does not work that way, I can use any “credits” to my account and pay the
balance for what I wish to buy. They do not require me to "buy credits"
into my account in order to use any credits. THAT is the issue I have with
Envato Market. I know i can pay directly on your site with VISA in full but
I can’t use credits with VISA. How can you not see how unprofessional and
shady that is? It makes no sense whatsoever. Why am I frustrated? Because
the only way to use the credit on my account is to ADD credits in large
increments of money instead of just being able to add exactly what i need
to purchase something. It makes no sense at all. Your company, and all
companies that employ this method, do this purposefully so that people have
to add more credits than they need and always have a balance on their
account.
My situation is a perfect example: I have an $8 credit on my account. In
order to use that credit, you are requiring that I add “credits” to my
account in increments of $10 with a minimum of $20. Therefore, in order to
use that $8 credit to purchase a $40 item, I have to add another $40 to my
account. If I add $30 it’s not enough. So… after I add $40 I have $48 on
my account. After purchasing a $40 item I will STILL have an $8 credit.
That benefits only you and your companies bank account. There is no reason
whatsoever for you to require me to put more money into my account than I
need to purchase something just to use a credit on my account.
1 Like
It sure is odd that the other company you site that uses this credit
method, freelancer.com, is also based in Australia and no doubt is owned by
your same company. Amazon doesn’t do this, eBay doesn’t do this, Etsy
doesn’t do this, Alibaba doesn’t do this, Overstock doesn’t do this… I
can go on and on. My point has been made. You do this purposefully so many
customers constantly have a balance on their accounts which benefits only
you profits.
Sorry to hear you’re not a fan of one of our payment systems. The majority of stock sites use a credit system similar to us, but as mentioned, we also offer options to purchase the item directly. Sites like Amazon, eBay and Etsy deal primarily in one-off purchases of individual goods so they would not use a credit system like stock sites do. While I realize this probably won’t change your mind about this one method of purchasing stock items, I did want to add a little more clarity to the differences and the other options available.
Thanks!
I also think it’s totally unacceptable. If the author of the plugin that I bought, was selling also on another website, I would have definitely bought it somewhere else. (his plugin was sold on those “gpl thiefs” stores, but this is not acceptable for me)
I say what is wrong:
-
Mandatory registration before telling about envato credits
-
Credits expire!!!
-
credit cards fee for $14 is absolutely not $2!!! we all have an ecommerce, for $14 even with paypal (the most expensive processor) you don’t pay $2 for fees!
Genuine question (and I am not disputing you or trying to argue) but we see these type of complaints from time to time so I am genuinely trying to understand …
Checking out as a guest or registering we all still need to agree to terms and conditions that explain all about credits, fees and expiry etc.
If it’s that much of an issue then why agree to the terms and pursue the purchase?
Again I’m not looking for an argument. I am simply trying to gauge why (several) people reject the way things work yet choose to continue to shop under those terms?
why (several) people […] choose to continue to shop under those terms?
in my case, because the plugin author sold his stuff only here, so I had no choice, if I didn’t agreed the terms, I would have been forced to pirate his work. Agreeing this ridiculous terms was the only choice.
not to mention that paypal, in their contract say this:
4.3 No Surcharges. You, Receiving User, agree that you will not impose a surcharge or any other fee for accepting PayPal as a payment method. You may charge a handling fee in connection with the sale of goods and/or services, as long as the handling fee does not operate as a surcharge and is not higher than the handling fee you charge for payment transactions made with other payment methods.
In a plugin comment i wrote
Hi, do you sell this plugin somewhere else? I disagree with Envato TOS, so I have no way to pay for it
Now my comment has been replaced by:
This comment is currently being reviewed.
See @charlie4282 ? This is why people buy your stuff even if they disagree your TOS. Not to mention that, if plugin authors sell somewhere else, you take a huge 55% profit share, which strongly discourages the practice.
I feel ridiculous that, when someone pays $14+$2 to a non-exclusive coder, only $6 goes to him, $10 goes in your pocket.
1 Like
First off I don’t work for envato so the TOS have nothing to do with me.
Your comment being reviewed is only when the author flags the comment.
Just to be clear the % varies and is influenced by the choice of the author and tax implications beyond envato’s control. This doesn’t impact you as a buyer - in fact, envato is cheaper than many alternatives and with a much better quality and quantity of files.
No one forces anyone to buy here or to sell here - If the file is only available here forcing you to pay under terms you don’t agree with then that is down to the author, not envato.
I think you would find that it’s not that different elsewhere - yes there are other marketplaces that offer bigger % but don’t have the flexibility that authors do here and certainly don’t benefit from the scale and credibility of here.
Apologies for reviving an old thread but I’m in a similar situation as OP, I also have an $8 credit and would like to put it towards a $49 purchase.
My options are:
- Direct payment $49 plus $2 fee = pay $51 total, $8 credit balance
- Add $50 credit = pay $49, $9 credit balance
I can understand requiring a minimum credit amount to help cover Envato’s transaction fees, however above that why are we limited to adding $10 increments? If I were allowed to add arbitrary credit amounts from $20-$100, I’d no longer be sitting here contemplating how I got myself into this payment game where the goal posts are constantly moving.
I thought (wrongly) I could later add necessary credits to make a purchase or even mix and match payment methods. The only way I can use my credit balance is if I happen to win Envato bingo, meaning I need something in the amount of my balance or the purchase amount requires a top up of exactly $20 or $20 plus $10 increments equaling less than $100. Add to this the 12-month expiry rule and it feels like the odds are stacked heavily against getting out without a loss.
Thanks for reading.
This $2 credit card fee seems like a scam.
Trying to buy a $28 theme. Add Australian GST at $2.80 = $30.80
$2 fee to pay by credit card and that’s a 6.5% charge. Is that even legal in Australia?
There is no way it costs Envato 6.5% of the price to process a credit card payment. No way on Earth.
Avoid the fee, load up with $40 credit, then the effective fee is $9.20!
A 30% fee!
It is neither here nor there that “other sites charge fees” or “other sites use credit systems”.
It is a rort. Where does Envato stand on the legality of their credit card processing fees in Australia?
It seems to be illegal:
Hello!
If you have any concerns about fees or purchasing, please open a Help Ticket at Envato Help and Support. They will be happy to assist since we are not able to help with account issues here on the forums.
Thanks!