The last few days we have seen topic after topic of authors complaining about how little they receive after the buyer fee, author fee and new tax withholding. So we are making this topic to make a petition to Envato, which is to update the author fees.
We think that on top of the already low prices for things like E-Commerce Themes or WP Templates, this new tax is really hurting a big part of Envato authors, not to mention the ones that want to start or have just started. For example, let’s take a newcomer exclusive author that isn’t in a country with a tax treaty. For an HTML template with 6 months support included he is only earning (for US sale)
So in the end they are earning $5.5 per item for a fully functioning responsive HTML template with 6 months support. And sometimes even less given that we know that lots of authors work in partnerships and have to split their earnings, it really is a huge blow having that minus the 30% for US sales.
To make it simpler, we are going to talk with the 50% to 70% cut that we all know instead of the new author/buyer fees percentages. Having this in mind, we are asking Envato to raise the author cut from 50-70% to just 70% for all Exclusive Authors, and make it 70% to 75%/80% for elite authors to super Elite Authors, to keep an incentive to reach higher sales.Keep in mind that there are other big marketplaces who are offering 70% without exclusivity, we think this will really help people keep their items in this marketplace, and help the ones that have no tax treaty to cover their tax withholding.
Envato, just a week ago you celebrated with us that one of the authors had reached the incredible milestone of 10 Million dollars, so please don’t forget that authors are a really big and important part of the marketplaces.
To all authors, what do you think? Do you agree? Do you disagree? Do you have another proposal? Let’s discuss!
I guess some people are even scared of ‘penalties’ to talk.
My country has no tax treaty and I am selling soundtracks for 2$ with all the cuts.
I came here on October 2015 and everyday since than felt great because I was part of the Envato a great, friendly atmosphere, and I sold tracks to great goals (cancer fighting kids, tv, radios) which made me feel sorrow and joy (that I was part of those).
I didn’t really care for money, as I have my own studio and work,
but the feel of being part of this great journey.
Now when I see all the cuts, I somehow feel humiliated selling music broadcast tracks for 4$
I am new here, and that doesn’t give me the ‘right’ to be the picky guy.
But honestly I loved this place for everything in it.
So I am with you @Odin_Design and all others who don’t happen to be privileged of 0% cuts.
Authors are being punished because of their living area.
Authors should be equal, because art is universal.
There is still hope, hopefully.
Envato please keep us in mind.
We’re all a pixel on that logo over there.
I might be a tiny one , but I’m still one.
I was about to point the same but note that the royalty withholding tax applied only to the sales from US and some country authors not affected by this. So this will not impact all the author’s / Items / Categories equally. That’s the problem.
@VF1 You are right, and we thought of that, but at least this would help to the ones that have to pay the different percentages of tax. And regarding the 70%, as we pointed out, other big marketplaces already offer a 70% cut for authors without being exclusive, so we don’t see a reason why not to change. Envato already said that they won’t pay the taxes or transfer them to the buyers (like VAT), so this is another way we thought of helping a little with this new changes.
Although I appreciate the effort; this, as most other critisism regarding Envato decisions, is going to fall on deaf ears. Envato knows what it’s doing, they’re on a mission (we as authors can only guess what this mission is; the official explanations are just sand in the eyes) and we as authors can either take it or leave it.
I guess I am somewhat lucky to be able to get out of these insane taxation rules. As with most western European countries, we have a tax treaty in place. It appears authors from countries in South America and Asia are suffering the most.
Unfortunately, the tax in your example would be $4.08 rather than $2.55. It’s calculated on the item price, not your cut after the author fee has been deducted from the item price.
Unfortunately I have to agree with @chilly_orange, Envato is not going to change anything unless a big part of its authors react strongly … I haven’t made any sale yet with the new tax rules, but when the first one takes place and I see what’s really going on, most probably I will take down all my work and close my account.
My work is not going to help fund the warmongering and control-loving plutocrats … enough is enough! …
PS. If Envato activated the option not to sell in USA I would probably change my mind.
@chilly_orange@phpbits Yeah, sadly we are also waiting for a fix on a search issue in Themeforest (that’s affecting sales) but we haven’t had a response in more than a month! But we are optimist that if a big part of authors ask for it, they at least give us an answer on this matter. I mean, some people in partnerships (designer/developer) are earning $2.25 each for a $17 HTML responsive theme with 6 month support, for us that’s ridiculously low.
Im getting the feeling that we are in a country where our government(envato) is rich but still they are putting so many living,insurance cost taxes to citizens ;). A lot of campaigns going on as protest but Govt is not listening to country people. Probably they are waiting on something radical to happen
I am from a country with no treaty with the US, and my biggest clients is from the US every month, I must say I am little bit disappointing with this tax, I will not get even half of my hard working for the US sales. But I must still thanks envato for helping me spreading my work and my financial for the past 3 years… I just hope envato can help us in some ways…
Or, at least, instead of modified fees, I would be happy even if someone would remove from the market the old items that do not work anymore, those abandoned or those who do not have a working preview. This would increase exposure to relevant items.
Ah well, this is the reason why I stopped selling on Codecanyon.
I’m selling all my new projects on alternatives who DON’T charge that much from their users and keep it fair.
