Please Can You Make Available A 12 Month Licence Option On Envato/ CodeCanyon Products

Envato Authors CodeCanyon
21

There doesnt need to be another marketplace - despite there is, like Freemius.

The catch is that selling at a marketplace - particularly envato - or setting up your own shop or setting up at another service like Freemius are alternatives. Almost all alternatives outside Envato allow renewal of licenses. That’s the comparison framework. Its not like Envato is not competing with the alternatives like people setting up their own digital stores using plugins etc. For example loss of Pippin’s Plugins is costing envato a sum of ~$700,000 / year (possibly more with restrict content pro) which envato could have received a share from…

That’s not an option. The initial item, the main plugin still doesnt have license renewals. It still needs to be maintained, bugfixed, developed and new features added. Every single addon you publish will also require maintenance and upgrades, and they still dont have license renewals. All that you have done would be to have bought some time, 2-3 years maybe, until whichever addon you published becomes unprofitable. Repeat the cycle some time, and then you would end up with 1 main plugin which is not being funded because it doesnt have license renewals, and 5-10 addons all of whose development is also not being funded because they also dont have license renewals.

As i said, its not sustainable.

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22

Again I don’t disagree with what you are suggesting but if there is not another marketplace that works this easy and does use subscriptions then perhaps there is a reason?

If envato adopted the subscription method like many of the other WP marketplaces, freemiums etc. and a user signed up for a year, then the author removed the item 1 day later or 364 days later, then envato would be liable to refund them for something which is beyond their control.

This is not a sustainable risk, nor is it a problem which owned item marketplaces face.

The alternative could only be to fundamentally alter the business model, agreements, licenses, and expectations with authors which will drive a large % away and result in a negative impact on buyers, authors and envato.

You are not wrong that envato compete with solutions who are, and may often do, support subscriptions but that doesn’t mean that it’s an option to envato without considering a much bigger picture.

I’d be happy to be proven wrong, and I am certain envato would love to hear solutions if anyone can offer a differ comparison with an alternative way to improve things.

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23

For the record, Elements is not the same. I have now checked. I’m sure you are aware that this is an invite only platform so joining it is not optional. And it seems pricing is out of the control of the authors.

And to implement subscription based access is not a massive re-build of the marketplace, you have the API’s made already in place to integrate it.

I have had the same issue with an Envato employee previouisly who kept on referring to the Terms and Condidtions. Envato are responsible for their own terms and conditions, which you seem to gloss over.

You seem to be bending over backwards to disagree with every point and promote Envato’s products, much like you used to do with Envato Studio. I was only making a reasonable point.

24

With respect, I am not going out of my way to disagree with anything. As I have said all along I agree that some kind of model like the subscription would be good if it were feasible.

For what it’s worth, and to avoid confusion Elements is not the same thing, and invite only is not relevant.

Almost all mentions above refer to subscription services to help the author to make updates, maintain access, support the item etc. With Elements, it’s a different model - you get no support, no updates, and no guarantee of an item being available.

Subscriptions may seem like a simple enough technical update, but this disregards the much bigger picture, as the other changes to the business model, license, author agreements and expectation, legal, payment systems etc. mean a considerably big move.

Again I am not preaching T&Cs, I am simply adding a different perspective, and asking for insight to see how it works. If it is such a logical decision, and common practice throughout marketplaces like envato, then surely it’s very easy to provide at least a few examples to demonstrate how it works, and which envato could then look into in more detail?

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25

[quote=“charlie4282, post:22, topic:152045, full:true”]
Again I don’t disagree with what you are suggesting but if there is not another marketplace that works this easy and does use subscriptions then perhaps there is a reason? [/quote]

No other reason that Envato being the first and still having some leeway remaining in making use of being first. If everyone else is doing it and one outlet isnt, its a matter of time before that outlet does it too - or loses business to others.

[quote=“charlie4282, post:22, topic:152045, full:true”]
If envato adopted the subscription method like many of the other WP marketplaces, freemiums etc. and a user signed up for a year, then the author removed the item 1 day later or 364 days later, then envato would be liable to refund them for something which is beyond their control.[/quote]

Its exactly the same now. Worse, actually - because now items are for life, meaning that someone buying an item here is entitled to the item updates forever. With license renewal model, the liability would be limited to one year, because at the end of one year if the user is not able to renew the license, then the rights to update would legally stop.

https://www.google.com/search?q=why+i+moved+away+from+codecanyon&oq=why+i+moved+away+from+codecanyon&aqs=chrome..69i57.5663j0j7&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8

If the only outlet which is still maintaining this ‘forever’ model is envato, and everyone else moved on, and yet you are still not ‘proven wrong’, pardon me but there would be no way of proving you wrong.

[quote=“charlie4282, post:24, topic:152045, full:true”]
Subscriptions may seem like a simple enough technical update, but this disregards the much bigger picture, as the other changes to the business model, license, author agreements and expectation, legal, payment systems etc. mean a considerably big move.[/quote]

Honestly, what you say doesnt make sense at all.

As in the referenced google search which shows how many plugin authors moved off codecanyon and set up their shops, and did it in a flash, demonstrates what kind of legal and infrastructure trouble license renewal method has: none.

And as was told by nativeplugins earlier, indeed, everything that is needed is already there - there is support renewal, which renews periodically. Meaning that all the infrastructure, legal stuff is there already, since they follow the same pattern.

Legally, its much more safe for any party than the current, legally indefensible ‘forever’ model. Thankfully not tested in any court of law, ever, the ‘forever’ model technically binds you as the developer to supply updates and fixes to someone who bought your code all the way back from the times you sold your first item in envato.

No one with any knowledge of law would defend current method being safer.

…

I believe the discussion has passed the point of productivity. Thanks, and have a nice day.

26

Again with respect this is exactly why we are sharing our view in the interests of avoiding confusion.

I don’t know about other things like sound or video (I assume these are different as they don’t require support/updates) but with a plugins/themes marketplaces T.M – owned items, E.T – owned items, C.M – no subscription, MJM – no subscription.

I am sure there are authors in all categories that are moving away. I also doubt this is anything particularly new, and doubt that this is going to spell the end for envato. They will never be able to please everyone and there will always be something which people are not happy with.

Such as who?

No it’s not. The subscription model mentioned gives guaranteed support and updates. The current license does not, beyond initial 6 months support, if the item works as required when released, or if it is removed from the marketplace.

Example please?

As explained Elements may be a building block, but is not the same thing and of course there are several other major consideration is fundamentally altering how a marketplace works.

Sorry but it’s just naive to compare independent authors, or even other smaller marketplaces to someone the size of envato

I am not defending anything. I am merely clarifying facts and suggesting that quite often a % of the beating envato gets from people may be down to misunderstanding or matters beyond their control, more than error.

We can agree to disagree but leave it open to anyone who wants to give an actual example of ‘everyone else doing it’ from which envato may be able to take inspiration and hopefully give you all a solution which you are after?

27

@codebard I can see from your author level that you are just getting started. At this stage, because I was there too, the perimeters of what is good or bad for business are very vague.

Obvious reasoning would be “I want recurring sales from my customers” or “market is doing too little for me and taking a huge cut” or “lets hike up the prices, I know people cannot live without my product which is simply the best”. I don’t think reality is that simple. I’d say first go through the review hurdle and release your product and begin making sales. It is premature to think about recurring sales before releasing your product, isn’t it?

It’s easy to talk about change and innovation at Envato but this is a huge marketplace where even the slightest changes in search or UI affect sales and I don’t mean that in a positive way. Not taking chances, sorry.

You say you want yearly renewals but why don’t you ask customers if they are willing or even capable of sustaining yearly recurring costs.

If this is the only marketplace that functions in this manner, then it’s surely a merit and not a defect. Yearly growth is steady, so I’m having trouble understanding your point of view.

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