Important update on payment system rollout for Elements Authors

Envato Announcements
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Hi all. This is an update on the rollout of our new payment system for Elements Authors, and the impact this rollout will have on those Authors currently residing in Russia and Belarus.

Thousands of Elements Authors have already transitioned to the new system and have been providing valuable feedback along the way - thank you to all those who’ve provided feedback over the last few months. We’re very positive about the new system, which provides more payout methods, more control over how you are paid, and the option to receive payment in your local currency.

As we prepare to onboard more Authors to our new payment system, we thought it timely to let our community know that if you haven’t already transitioned to the new system, please expect an email from us shortly with more information. We will be in contact as we continue a phased rollout over the next three months.

We also need to advise that as part of changing to the new system, and due to the evolving nature of international payment policies for e-commerce businesses, we must now operate under tighter restrictions for payments to some countries. In particular, this means that as Authors are moved onto the new platform, we will no longer have the ability to pay any Authors if they reside in Russia or Belarus.

We appreciate that this is not good news for authors located in these countries. As payment providers continue to restrict services to these countries, it has become increasingly difficult for us to facilitate payments to these areas.

Please be aware that this transition to a new payment partner and system currently applies only to Elements Authors. We expect to transition Market Authors to the new payment system later this year, but until that happens those Authors will continue to use the existing payment system. Please be advised that we cannot facilitate Elements payments through the existing Market system.

Update: From June 2023, our new payment provider is also unable to pay Authors based in Afghanistan, Sudan, or Libya.

If you have questions about the payment system rollout, please post them here. I’ll try to answer questions in this thread where possible, but we may need to provide some information in private Author Support tickets - if that’s the case, we’ll let you know.

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Hi. Payoneer already do not transfer money to Russian banks. How to identify who will be blocked and who will not? Many already moved to other countries. What you plan to do to preserve earnings and how you will identify whose payments will be blocked? SWIFT to Russian banks do not work already.

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Can you clarify the situation regarding payments to Russian authors? You will not send payments to Russian banks or authors who have a Russian account? If I moved to another country and have a bank account in another country and Payoneer account of another country, will I be able to receive payments?

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Please tell me if I understand correctly, that in the future all existing payment methods (PayPal, Payoneer and SWIFT) will be disconnected on the Market and only one method will be left?

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Never mind. Found the answer to my question in the FAQ. :slight_smile:

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Hi @BenLeong,

I wanted to inquire if the bug that prevented some of us from linking our Element account to the new payment system has been resolved?

Thank you for your time.

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Why are you going to block payments to residents of Belarus? Payoneer works with us, Skrill works, Swift is limited, but it also works. Why are you innovating that hurts your suppliers?

Will I be able to receive payments if I open a bank account in another country?
Or should I definitely move to live in another country?

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What will happen to the money from Elements for authors from Belarus and Russia? Will they be saved and accumulated somewhere?

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Hi all - thanks for the questions. I’ll try to address all the topics raised so far, starting with the Belarus and Russia ones:

How does this change from Envato’s previous position, and why are you changing?
We have previously attempted monthly payments when an Author has accounts with financial institutions outside of Russia. We will not be able to attempt these once your account moves to the new system: as our payment provider has restricted operations in both Russia and Belarus, you will not be able to set a payout method in the new system.

If I’m in Belarus or Russia, can I just open a bank account in another country?
No - the new restriction applies to accounts where the account holder’s address is in Russia or Belarus. If your address is in either country, you will not be able to set up a payout method.

Can I still receive payments if I have moved out of Russia or Belarus?
Yes - if your address is no longer in Russia or Belarus, you should be fine. When setting up your payout details in the new system, you’ll first be asked for your address under General Information, and then you will be able to select PayPal or Bank Transfer under the Payout Method section - following the instructions in this Help Centre article.

What happens to Author Earnings for accounts in Belarus and Russia?
If we can’t pay you, your earnings will continue to accumulate in your Envato Author account. Once we have a valid way of paying authors who are affected by this, we’ll resume paying any backlog of earnings in the regular monthly Elements Earnings cycle. Note that we’ve already been doing this for many authors in Russia since March 2022, and this policy has not changed.

@zendcrew Yes, that has now been resolved. We now have around half of all Elements Author accounts being paid via the new system, and will be continuing to move the remaining Elements accounts across to it.

@MargJohnsonVA We’re adding authors to the new system in stages, and emails will go out to the next batch soon.

If you need more information about any of these, please let me know!

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Hello! Where can I see tax rates for other countries for VideoHive and Elements?

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Thanks for clarification

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If the author from Belarus has a Payoneer account, will you be able to continue payments on Payoneer?
In Belarus we still can use Payoneer cards as well as we can withdraw funds from Payoneer to bank account with SWIFT not blocked.

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As I understand it, you are going to keep paying with Paypal… If your payment provider restricts you, why don’t you keep paying with Payoneer and Skrill? These payment providers currently do not limit users from Belarus.
It would actually “provides more payout methods.” Now, you’re cutting them back. Nothing to be proud of.

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@Promak For VideoHive (Envato Market), you’ll need to check whether a country has tax treaties in place with the USA. You can use this link to see a full list - the relevant number is the fifth one (the tax treaty rate for “copyright royalties”) in the Royalties column.

If you’re looking at tax rates as a factor in deciding where to base your business, I highly recommend getting specialist tax advice from your accountant - they’ll be able to give far more specific recommendations.

@Merlinus74 & @boomeart - we won’t be able to continue those payments once accounts are moved across to the new payment system.

At a risk of oversimplifying things, the new system involves money from Envato going to a payment partner, and that partner handles all the outbound transactions (either to PayPal, or through the banking system) to get them into your hands. This means that we’re finally able to pay into more ‘virtual wallet’ receiving accounts, expanding the available options beyond just Payoneer. It also makes it possible to pay via Bank Transfer in local currencies, which can significantly reduces the fees and charges associated with receiving each payment. It’s a significant improvement over the older system, which was reliant on two specific payout methods being coded directly into Elements.

However, getting set up in the new system involves two parts. Step 1 is setting your business address under General Information. Step 2 is selecting a Payout Method from the options that are available for your location. As the payment provider has restricted all operations in Russia and Belarus, neither of those countries will have payment options available until that restriction is lifted.

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Okay, let’s try to analyse the situation: your new payment provider has restrictions to transfer money to Belarus. But sanctions applied on specific people and companies not to all people. As I said earlier Belarusians can have a Payoneer account, can use Payoneer Mactercards and can transfer money from Payoneer to Belasusian banks.
So the question is why doesn’t Envato leave the old payment system for authors from Belarus and introduce a new system for other authors? Why Envato doesn’t want to keep its authors from Belarus and can’t get into their situation? While other microstocks continue to pay on Payoneer and even looking for new methods which allow authors from Belarus and Russia receive their money.

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When you pay to my Payoneer account, the money goes to a US bank account that is located in the US and not inside Belarus. The address of my personal residence does not matter. Envato knows this, because now the money for Belarussian users of Payoneer is coming in successfully. It would be nice if Envato explained this to your new payment provider. This payment provider is not acting in accordance with the law and this situation is also damaging to Envato’s reputation.

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Hi! Other stocks have no problems with Belarusians. All payments go to Payoneer. Your new payment system will not work with Payoneer if the account is registered to a resident of Belarus?

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Hi @BenLeong!

Today I received an email about the need to set up a payment method.
When I try to set up a payment method, I see the following message:

Your next payout will still be actioned through the methods set in the [Elements Contributors App]. We will update you when the methods entered below take effect.

What are my next steps?

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If at this point you have a division of people on payments between the old system and the new system, why not leave it that way until the political situation calms down, For a small number of authors, so as not to limit their payments?

Payoneer works for residents of Belarus, the cards work and there are no sanctions and restrictions. And this is an American organization, that is, you transfer money to the USA, and then we receive it in our country.

While other stocks are looking for new ways to pay in such difficult times - Envato just limits more and more of their authors… It’s unfortunate

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can you write with screenshots instruction how to do payoneer method through bank account please