Refund for plugins, add-ons, etc. Should be mandatory!

Lately it is really a problem to decide to buy plugins or addons on Envato because almost all sales goes to the way “seen-bought” without any protection for the buyer.

This of course does not apply to graphics and similar things.

We know very well that everything can be nicely presented and explained, but when you get a hands on product, then everything doesn’t look so great.

Imagine a cake that looks beautiful but is inedible. That’s the same.

Such a policy leads to a conflict between the author and the buyer. Buyer with experience like that loosing trust instantly.

I think a policy of at least “5 days no question asked refund” would be fair to both the seller and the buyer. I believe this should be mandatory.

I don’t know what the seller’s arguments are but a hard reference to Envato rules where the buyer has no protection leads to a loss of trust not only towards the author but also towards the Envato market place.

Can you elaborate on what you see as being a reason to refund here?

(Speaking as a buyer) Buyers are protected - if an item is faulty then you would be entitled to a refund anyway?

This sounds like this would be if the buyer got the plugin tried it and then realised that it doesn’t fit the purpose, if they don’t have the technical ability to use it etc. Regardless of if it does what it is meant to?

Again, would be good to understand the context more but this sounds like it would need to apply at very least to themes, web templates and then probably AE type projects etc too?

Hi Charlie, ok let me try to make this easier to understand.

The reason actually doesn’t matter, it matters whether the seller is behind his product or not.

If seller stand behind the product then the reason will not matter at all. If seller is not standing behind his product then he will act as ice cream seller - I can not take it back because I cannot sell it to other people. I don’t know where do you leave but where I’m leaving even Ice cream you can test before you buy it.

You say if the item is faulty. What does that mean at all? If the plugin is clashing with some other plugin or plugins is it faulty or not? There is countless situations where developers threw users (buyers) like a ball between each other blaming each other.

So what’s the position of buyer here? He needs to stop project and wait for developer to develop his plugin or simply ask for refund and move on with some other solution? Can the customer and his client wait for the developer to solve problems that might have been solved long before? I guess this is also not important, right?

We have situations where sellers laugh at as being sarcastic. Their plugin doesn’t work nor can they can make it work but they can give statements they are trying. Or particular one, sorry we were at vacation (for a mont) but if you give us login credentials we will fix it. (Even they tried several times before). Why you just don’t give me my money back? Result is I never got my money back, they were laughing at me and everyone was happy except me. This was also my experience from Envato.

Again to make it easier to understand:

“If plugin where pants” that looks great on an internet shop. You decide to buy them because it says they are your size. When you get you realize that they are too small for you. You decide to contact customer service and they tell you that it is not their problem because you have actually gained weight and that it is not their business. Then you try to explain that you thought the size was by EU standards or by US standards (which differ btw.) etc etc. And they answered you, is there something wrong with the pants? If they have all the pockets, etc. etc. what do you want for us? Keep your pants because they have everything what is written. Maybe color is a little bit different on photo but that’s photographer fault. Are you gonna go back to buy in that shop?

This is what the experience of buying plugins on Envato turns into.

Conclusion from my experience, if the seller is not behind their product I am not buying it. I had a lot of bad experiences.

Sellers are overprotected and Buyers are not protected at all.

This is just one well-intentioned remark and suggestion.

I have no intention to spend more time on this, on the end of the day we are choosing where our money goes. Ho need to understand will understand. Right?

Have a good one.

Sellers are not protected either all the time in such situations (refunds).

Some buyers often abuse the refund process. That is why many sellers here are very cautious when refunds are requested.

Digital goods are different than physical goods.

When you buy pants, after returning them, after receiving the money back, you cannot use the pants anymore.

When someone buys a (digital) plugin, then makes a refund request: he receives the money back, but if he already downloaded the plugin, he can still use the plugin…

As a plugin developer here since 2013, I can give you examples when, after I updated a plugin, a buyer bought the plugin and, 5-10 minutes after that, he requested a refund (without any reason mentioned and without asking for technical help). After 5-10 minutes! I approved the refund request, but then, in less than an hour, I found the plugin update version on sharing websites. Where is my protection then?

Fortunately, this rarely happens . Envato has honest and loyal customers.