So, it has been some time since I posted here.
Just want to ask some authors what kind of a deal did you make with for example Shutterstock to include those premium images. We recently contacted them and deposit photos and subscriptions for including those images are sky-high expensive in most cases you cannot even get them because of the cross-platform licensing issues.
And now I see some authors including them. Is this all legit? As if it’s not it is really not fair to the rest of us.
Cheers
No it’s not - Envato are very actively encouraging the use of placeholders in the download versions
Well, we are getting more and more support like “All other themes have included premium images, why don’t you” Now either they lie or there is very little control over this.
I can tell you this much a while ago this kind of support tickets rarely rose up.
It’s a total mess regarding this issue.
You can always ask Envato Authors Help and Support and I am sure there are people doing it, but I know that envato have rejected people for it too.
I imagine there will be some inaccurate information, themes where perhaps the author might be using images that they have permission/licenses for assets etc. but I would strongly suggest you keep using placeholders and make sure that you signpost the asset source in your description and documentation
It is much more likely those other themes are not including premium images and the buyer is simply wrong.
Just add the disclaimer to the item page that demo images are not included and if you want to go the extra mile, put links to original images somewhere as well. We are selling themes, not images, buyers have to deal with it.
Forget premium - Unsplash and RawPixel have some seriously great stock photos that are royalty-free and/or CC0 licensed.
can we include them in the download files?
No you cannot