CanCars saidWOW! so you are saying that anyone who builds a website with a theme from here, then charges people to join that site needs an extended lic?
It looks that way, unless I, and the author of the theme I’m interested in are mistaken.
I’ve always wondered why there were so few paid membership/ad based themes on here - I guess this is the reason why.
For the record I appreciate the extra work that goes into such a theme, so I’d be prepared to pay extra. But not 50x extra.
squaredWeb said@Typps, this thread is not about a plugin or script, its about a whole website theme from themeforest, so while what you said makes kinda sense for codecanyon, i dont think its correct for themeforest.
@squaredWeb, your right, the licensing FAQ states this:
I have a paid service where users can customize their own web pages. I am purchasing an admin template to use in this service, which is accessed by my users. Which license do I need?You need the extended license, because your users are charged to access your service.
source: http://themeforest.net/licenses/faq#i-have-a-paid-service-where-users-can-customize
The end user does not receive the admin template, but because they have interacted with it and this interaction was behind a paywall, an extended license is required. It appears my interpretation is simply wrong, going to shutup now 
Makes one wonder, how do you control your “clients” from doing such with a site you built for them using a theme from here?
Do you have to babysit every client for the rest of your life? crazzzy
Thanks for starting this thread familychoice, twas VERY enlightening…now how do we let the other 1 million newb users know? LOL… YT here we come!!!
CanCars saidMakes one wonder, how do you control your “clients” from doing such with a site you built for them using a theme from here?
Do you have to babysit every client for the rest of your life? crazzzy
This is one of the queries I’ve posted - since it’s possible to add a non-Envato plugin to a theme that changes the nature of the site into a paid service, particularly with BuddyPress based themes, then the whole nature of that site has changed and could potentially require a different license.
If this is the case then I guess we’d have to put something in our agreements with clients similar to that of Envatos about site usage, so we weren’t stung with having to pay $2450 for the clients changes to their site after it had been signed off.
CanCars saidThanks for starting this thread familychoice, twas VERY enlightening…now how do we let the other 1 million newb users know?
No problem, I flagged the original post for a staff reply yesterday so hopefully they can shed some light on the matter.
familychoice saidNo problem, I flagged the original post for a staff reply yesterday so hopefully they can shed some light on the matter.
If you really want a response you should either open a ticket or tweet them… Talking from experience 
Thanks for starting this familychoice. I’ve been wondering the exact same thing about the 2 themes you’re referring to, and it unfortunately sounds like we’d have to pay for the extended license to be able to charge for membership sites. I don’t mind paying more than the regular license amount, but can’t pay the $2,500.
Not sure why these developers wouldn’t just offer these themes outside of Themeforest.
Know of any similar themes/plugins sold outside of Themeforest?
RubenBristian saidfamilychoice saidNo problem, I flagged the original post for a staff reply yesterday so hopefully they can shed some light on the matter.
If you really want a response you should either open a ticket or tweet them… Talking from experience
Are you talking about automated response? Anyway even on forums we get automated response from community ambassadors. 
On topic: The moment when Envato decided to make paid subscription utilization through Extended License route, most probably everything is unchangeable for at least 3-4 years. We are all just talking to our self. Don’t spoil these talking-towards-self threads!
VF saidRubenBristian saidfamilychoice saidNo problem, I flagged the original post for a staff reply yesterday so hopefully they can shed some light on the matter.
If you really want a response you should either open a ticket or tweet them… Talking from experience
Are you talking about automated response? Anyway even on forums we get automated response from community ambassadors.
What?! There are automated responses?!
RubenBristian saidIf you really want a response you should either open a ticket or tweet them… Talking from experience
Yeah you’re probably right, though it seems like it’s an issue for quite a few customers so maybe weight in numbers might get things moving a bit rather than the usual email ‘yeah right, whatever’ response.
dcg627 saidKnow of any similar themes/plugins sold outside of Themeforest?
There’s nothing similar available Wordpress theme wise, but there are other .php based solutions offering a similar service for around $100 - $200 (don’t panic moderators, I’m not posting any links or calling out). For other Wordpress service themes such as directories the general price is about $100 which to me seems fair enough, and updates and support are generally better than they are on here as I’ve just discovered yet another theme we’ve purchased here has been abandoned.
You could put together something very similar to at least one of the themes I think we’re both talking about using plug-ins. The theme itself though is very nicely styled and will save a lot of work, which is why we’re interested in it. It won’t save us $2500’s worth of work though.
VF saidOn topic: The moment when Envato decided to make paid subscription utilization through Extended License route, most probably everything is unchangeable for at least 3-4 years.
Why is it unchangeable? I doubt they’re going to make any money from customers buying extended licenses for single use service websites, most customers either won’t bother or just purchase the standard license and hope they don’t get caught.
For the small number of themes that would be affected, it should be a relatively simple task to introduce a new license for paid services, or to be more fair treat them the same as shopping cart and business themes.
familychoice saidVF saidOn topic: The moment when Envato decided to make paid subscription utilization through Extended License route, most probably everything is unchangeable for at least 3-4 years.
Why is it unchangeable? I doubt they’re going to make any money from customers buying extended licenses for single use service websites, most customers either won’t bother or just purchase the standard license and hope they don’t get caught.
Common sense says: To avoid fragmentation and maintain consistency in licensing (for atleast couple of years) even if it lacks usability. Who cares usability when they are already successful in the industry.
One more serious pain-point with this is, even authors themselves may not aware what is actually going on with Extended License. For example, almost every author who disables Extended License are doing it to avoid distribution of work. But what actually happens is those authors doesn’t aware they closed the door for even non-distributing, paid subscription focused buyers. No one gains. This is why different license types are inevitable.
VF saidCommon sense says: To avoid fragmentation and maintain consistency in licensing (for atleast couple of years) even if it lacks usability. Who cares usability when they are already successful in the industry.
A paid subscription theme costs $2500, a shopping cart theme around $50. A business theme promoting paid services from $40. The licensing system is not consistent in it’s current state.
VF saidOne more serious pain-point with this is, even authors themselves may not aware what is actually going on with Extended License. For example, almost every author who disables Extended License are doing it to avoid distribution of work. But what actually happens is those authors doesn’t aware they closed the door for even non-distributing, paid subscription focused buyers. No one gains. This is why different license types are inevitable.
The author of one of the themes I’m interested in doesn’t even have the Extended License available, yet the sole purpose of that theme is to make money selling subscriptions via it’s built-in payment system. Customer comments are being asked about setting up payment systems ad the author is answering them, seemingly unaware their purchasers are breaking Envatos licensing T&C’s.
I’ve just had a look at the above authors portfolio and they have other themes available that offer subscriptions/services with built in payment options, and again no Extended License option.
If some authors don’t know how the licensing system works, what hope is there for customers?
We must keep in mind that every author has the choice to provide their item under the GPL license which covers a much broader use-case. Perhaps in time this will pick up momentum. For now it seems only a handful of authors are taking advantage of this.
I might take the GPL route as well in light of the recent revelations. The standard license makes little to no sense at all on the majority of codecanyon and themeforest items. As for the extended license, it simply doesn’t sell at all. I’ve had very few of these sold.
@familychoice, Recently I noticed certain items missing purchase button; as the author didn’t opt-in matching license. I think the same should be applied to your example case - if the item’s core feature is paid subscription. Better inform this particular point through support ticket or atleast some staff should get attention on this through forum.
@Staff if any: Whenever an author opts-out Extended License, better show a warning something like this:
VF said@familychoice, Recently I noticed certain items missing purchase button; as the author didn’t opt-in matching license. I think the same should be applied to your example case - if the item’s core feature is paid subscription. Better inform this particular point through support ticket or atleast some staff should get attention on this through forum.
I queried what license was required a few days ago on their comment section before I started this thread, and this has now been picked up by a few other potential and existing customers who are also asking the author to confirm what is required. No response from the author yet though.
VF said@Staff if any: Whenever an author opts-out Extended License, better show a warning something like this:
- Your items can’t be purchased for distribution purposes.
- Your items can’t be purchased for paid subscription based end products.
- If one or more of your item is based on above purposes, those items will now loss purchase button
I think that’s a good idea, though in this case the author could argue that purchasers of the theme could offer free subscriptions and therefore not require an upgraded license.
To be honest I feel sorry for the authors, there aren’t many subscription/service type themes on here, and they aren’t going to make many sales if purchasers are expected to pay $2500 for a license. I guess this is the reason why many authors don’t build them. A shame as this type of extra functionality is exactly what we’re interested in purchasing.
Hi everyone,
I’ve been reading through this thread and it seems there are a few different issues being raised. Although our licenses have been put in place to protect authors and buyers, we also understand that some cases can be extremely confusing for both parties. I’ve forwarded this issue through to management to get a response from one of our license specialists. Unfortunately it is the weekend in Australia, so they may take some time to respond. In the meantime, please feel free to include any other related queries you would like answered.
Carmen saidHi everyone,
I’ve been reading through this thread and it seems there are a few different issues being raised. Although our licenses have been put in place to protect authors and buyers, we also understand that some cases can be extremely confusing for both parties. I’ve forwarded this issue through to management to get a response from one of our license specialists. Unfortunately it is the weekend in Australia, so they may take some time to respond. In the meantime, please feel free to include any other related queries you would like answered.
Thanks Carmen, it’s the weekend here too so there’s no rush
For me I’d just like to know whether an advertising/subscription/booking/service type website - such as a dating, estate agency or hotel theme with a built-in payment option, requires a Standard, or an Extended License. And whether would this depend on whether the customer charges members to use it’s service.
If this is the case then the extra cost (50x more) seems to be out of proportion with what standard promotional and shopping cart themes are priced at.
Thanks.
Thanks for taking the time to clarify your question for us familychoice
familychoice saidCarmen saidHi everyone,
I’ve been reading through this thread and it seems there are a few different issues being raised. Although our licenses have been put in place to protect authors and buyers, we also understand that some cases can be extremely confusing for both parties. I’ve forwarded this issue through to management to get a response from one of our license specialists. Unfortunately it is the weekend in Australia, so they may take some time to respond. In the meantime, please feel free to include any other related queries you would like answered.
Thanks Carmen, it’s the weekend here too so there’s no rush
For me I’d just like to know whether an advertising/subscription/booking/service type website - such as a dating, estate agency or hotel theme with a built-in payment option, requires a Standard, or an Extended License. And whether would this depend on whether the customer charges members to use it’s service.
If this is the case then the extra cost (50x more) seems to be out of proportion with what standard promotional and shopping cart themes are priced at.
Thanks.
Hi familychoice,
If the site offers paid products or services (one time or subscription based) but access to the site itself if free then a Regular License is appropriate. The examples you’ve given would fall into this.
Hope that helps! Let me know if not
kdubdent saidIf the site offers paid products or services (one time or subscription based) but access to the site itself if free then a Regular License is appropriate. The examples you’ve given would fall into this.
Hope that helps! Let me know if not
ahh a voice of reason. Thank you kdubdent for the confirmation. Correct me if I am wrong but it appears what the license clause tries to protect against is people purchasing an item and then monetizing it without actually doing any work. For instance, purchasing a video, image or audio element and then placing this behind a paywall with the expectation to cash in on the same goes beyond the standard license.
On the other hand if purchasing a theme that provided dating functionality, the content is user generated. It takes time to generate this type of content and the site owner owns the content. They are not charging access to use the theme purchased but rather the content.
Charging access to this content is within the customers right.
If this is correct, then I guess I wasn’t so wrong in my interpretation after all. The standard license is popular for good reason
It would still be nice though if this was clarified in the licensing FAQ using a clear example instead of the single admin template example that is not representative of the majority of items sold in these marketplaces.
kdubdent saidIf the site offers paid products or services (one time or subscription based) but access to the site itself if free then a Regular License is appropriate. The examples you’ve given would fall into this.
Thanks for the clarification, that sounds great - would this still apply to a dating or ‘hidden content’ type website though, where certain areas of the website are hidden to non-subscribers? As access to parts of the website would not be free.
Typps saidIt would still be nice though if this was clarified in the licensing FAQ using a clear example instead of the single admin template example that is not representative of the majority of items sold in these marketplaces.
Definitely, as it seems authors are just as confused. In the two examples I’m looking at one states you need the Extended License whereas the other doesn’t make this license available.
It sounds good though, and if staff could just confirm that ‘hidden content’ type websites are also covered by the Standard License then we can look into purchasing one of the themes.