I am offering support for all of my items and on the statement page, I get 2 rows. 1 for item price and 1 for 6 months - included support.
So my buyers get the theme + 6 months of my support and time.
However, if someone sets their items to unsupported, they still have the same price.
So their buyers get the theme + 0 support (technically, author can still give support).
There is an imbalance here. My buyer should pay more because my item comes with 6 months dedicated support.
Good question! Also why is a supported item much less worth than an unsupported?
(Maybe this is the same question with other words)
@Envato, please answer me this, WHY am I seeing lower value for item price?
Is this what we agreed to when we signed up?
I think it’s a bug. But the best result is not to change the item to high a bit because you/me support our items.
What i mean: If some author support an item, means price will be higher a bit for 6 months (in case is a bug as i said at the beginning) because 6monts pack coming with item.
But with this way, we told to our buyers: Hey we support our item even you don’t need our 6 months support ever.
So, i think the best way is envato to leave item price as is, and to put the 6 months down below… Like extend check box.
So buyer to select what support want, and item price to change automatically. There are buyers with skills so they don’t need any support, why to give more $$$ for an item? My opinion… : -)
I want to know as well.
I believe this is intentional. Just some more accounting voodoo (remember VAT?).
It looks like a supported $55 WordPress themes now only earn $27 (at the 70% rate). But with the addition of the default 6 months support, it equals to the same amount as before.
slow clap.
Why would the price differ? It’s as correctly as it can be right now.
People that don’t advertise support…uhm…well, can’t advertise they offer support, they lose sales because of that.
You, on the other hand, can advertise support, thus you make more sales and get more customers that you can offer support to, plus that you get extra income from any additional support pack your customers buy.
It all makes perfect sense and if it seems unfair, then stop offering support or ask an increase in the price of your item.
Why price to be the same with and without support?
Ok all makes perfect sense. You are the author and i’m a buyer, ok (just an example)?
I buy your item with the same price (as was before new support method) + 6month support, ok?
What new support offer? Let’s see:
Item support includes:
Availability of the author to answer questions
Answering technical questions about item’s features
Assistance with reported bugs and issues
Help with included 3rd party assets
However, item support does not include:
Customization of the item
Installation of the item
Awesome… Ok, for today and for 6 months i will send to you free emails to answer to me. I have 6 months pack right?
Why to increase the item price (as you suggest above)? I have 6months pack, with the same price, and as i can see (i talk as buyer, is an example) you support this item i bought.
So all i wrote above are fair? If yes, i agree with you, no any changes.
P.S: As i see in your portfolio, you don’t support your items… Is unfair all the new support method for you?
Any author can do anything he want with his items, but we add all topics/posts to find the best solution, to solve maybe some bugs, etc
The easy way is someone to post: Do you like this? -Support your items. Don’t like? -Don’t support.
I barely can understand what you meant above, sorry if i make any comment out of line, i don’t intend to.
I don’t support my items for now (but i do offer support to my customers, i just am not allowed to advertise i do so in order to not breach the terms/conditions of this marketplace).
I don’t really like these new changes personally and i also have some other things to take care of nowadays, and this seems like a good timing to do it.
However, this might change but even if i will officially offer support for my items in the near future, i still believe the items should be priced the same because of my above reasons, which are the right ones btw.
Offering/Not offering support have their own pros and cons and keep in mind that even if you see that an author does not offer support for his items, this does not mean you will not get any support from that author.
I had the same idea… I mean, to disable the support, and just to post at each item description (as i have already) “i support this item via email”, and more details for the buyers to know about my support, and what will have after purchase. All good!
But, what buyers think? You know… Maybe some buyer want to have support coverage. I mean, some buyer want the new support, to have 6 or 12 support without problems. And if there are problems to send an email to envato… Who knows after this. Maybe some author not support, or give the answers need. Yes i know, there is the bad rate method… Is there only this?
I don’t know, thoughts…
I don’t think item with support should be more expensive compared to items without support.
Support is your extra, or advantage, which can be an important factor for some buyers. Those who do not support their items will have less sales and lower ratings. So, its problem for those authors, not you.
Also, how many support requests do you have per 100 sales? 10 or 20? So you ask other 80% of people to spent money on something that they probably will not need.
Support is something very essential, often even free products supported by the authors or community very well, we should not ask extra money for it.
That’s why support not need to be with item purchases.
So about you said, for 100 sales (for example) to have 10 or 20 buyers, the 10 or 20 buyers only to check the support box. So for that buyers the item need to change. Why not?
I understand about free products and support you said… but here we have a different method. We don’t talk about 1-2 support questions. We have a pack 6/12 months… Maybe you talk about 2 different supports. I give any time free supports to my buyers/clients, everyone. We are humans, if we can answer, just do.
So i know what support is, and about “extra money” depend support service.
I’m not sure there needs to be an increase in price for the support (there is an extension in case people want it that costs extra). We all used to provide support customarily as a selling point, this just codifies it from the standpoint of the customer.
One thing that irked me a bit is that the new support prices are calculated by percentages and there is a rounding error somewhere. For a $14 item, I should see about $7 (I’m new and starting at the 50% rate). My last sale (when the support policy went live) only made $6.99.
I know it’s only a penny but still.
I think, i will disable the support option to all my items, and i will write at description about support.
I prefer to support my items under my crisis, and maybe to enable the new support at the future, when will be more clearly to me all this.
The main question here is - item end price is different in supported and unsupported items. I mean:
If item is supported, this support pack should be ADDED to the original item price, not included in it. In this case all this stuff must be optional.
The whole system is faaaaar off the completeness, unfortunately.
Don’t forget, some authors will still support their themes even though they check “not supported”.
I am being a GOOD author by supporting my products and abiding by Envato rules.
Yet, I make the same amount.
Yes, a supported product will make more sales, but not all of the authors are in “Top Sellers”.
If you’re making 30 sales / month, you won’t feel the sale difference, yet PROMISING 6 months of your time IN ADVANCE.
Hi everyone, please raise any questions or issues in the main thread: Item Support Policy and Functionality Launched. Thanks!