Transfer license to other account

Hi All,

I figured I’d move up the thread to the new forum about transferable licenses. I don’t see any resolve in this issue hence this post.

It is not uncommon that customers and vendors part, over time. So downloading updates from bought items should be transferable between accounts.

So Envato … How about it?

Envato user and strugling the same problem? … +1 this.

For good measure, the old thread:

Thanks for your time!

Regards,

Gerard (owning a dutch wordpress hosting company).

1 Like

I wouldn’t be too optimistic about this. I’m guessing it’s pretty low priority for Envato (if even on the list of priorities)… Though, it would be a nice option.

There is also no option for authors to transfer products to one another, which should also be built into the Envato ecosystem.

Hi Meta4creations,

Thanks for you response. Yours is a just as important option I’d say. Shouldn’t be that hard to build in though. Running managed hosting for customers I’m always looking for ways that help the customer, in management, license transferal (obviously :), providing transparency in the provided service, etc. … And thus this topic belongs in that category very much so. Envato needs to turn it’s head sooner or later :smile:

Regards,

Gerard.

Genuine curiosity can you name other marketplaces like this allows this?

To my knowledge other mats like envato don’t allow it. iTunes has family sharing but that is not really the same thing as giving access to clients and requires freedom to all sorts of stuff, to my knowledge other markets like this do not allow it either

Dear Charlie,

Thanks for your email. Not a marketplace but a managed wordpress hosting company would do this. Namely mine. Moreover, it’s this market that gives me the problem so I’d prefer not to compare with others.

If a customer of ours should decide to purchase managed wordpress hosting elsewhere and transfer their website I find it not more than reasonable if they purchased a theme and/or support on it (depending on the license) that they can still use this after moving. And with a decent amount of knowledge needed by the customer to pursue, purchase and install a theme we normally do this to make their live easier. That’s what to pay us for.

He or she must re-purchase the theme again because of this issue. Which is sort of ridiculous, because a valid copy is owned by them, whether we made the purchase for them or not is besides the point. I know several domain registrars that even allow domains to be transferred between accounts without the change of ownership.

It’s these situations that can make the internet easier and more transparant for entrepreneurs (or less tech/internet savvy people) that have better things to do then hearing they need to repurchase goods they already owned.

I hope you see my point and can help convince people to think about this.

Thank and kind regards,

Gerard.

I do see your point and while I agree that it would be helpful I think that just like you would not want to compare a manged hosting company with a marketplace, it is the same between, for example a domain with a website template and so on.

There must be a very valid reason why envato, none of their competitors and the other big digital marketplaces do not allow this (most likely fraud).

Unfortunately (As we see already with the license/use challenge envato face) while there may well be many reputable companies using these products there are also a great number of less reputable people who would exploit the ability to move ownership/download access.

Again I see a value in being able to do it but realistically do not think it is logistically likely.

I agree with you on the whole fraud and logistics issue and that hosting is somewhat of poor comparison. It’s just that I feel for the actual owners of the goods, and I am usually the one to tell them, that they need to re-purchase :wink:

Beyond that, you don’t want to know how many domains are owned by marketing agencies (that build websites) instead of the actual owner of the domainname. In the wake of the fraud, there’s another area where I’m relentlessly pursuing clarity for my customers.

A pleasure!

Hi all,

Just my ends on this: I strongly believe that Envato behaves monopolistic and from a legal point of view illegal. Although in the past fought by Microsoft, Adobe, SAP and the like, the transfer of license should be allowed. I would be very surprised if in the future no legal. suit will be filed against Envato to allow the transfer of rights. I might even do it. Would love to hear someone from Envato on this.

Best

The person who transfers his license to another one still knows the license number and has the item files, but how can anyone prove that his license was expired? Fraud possibility is too serious, I think. One buyer purchase an item and he transfers his license to person B, then B transfers it to C, then C to D, D to E … and it might be hundreds of persons who have the same license number and the item. It’s too hard to estimate who IS the real owner of the license. It seems that dynamically changing license number is merely realizable. It’s something to think the reason why digital items are non-refundable.:grinning:

I see your point, But with the digital age … The license keys are sent via mail, which is a pretty ‘sniffable’ (insecure) medium … And regenerating a new license key is not that hard and/or create an access based thingy like in google analytics. And an admin account, transfer ownership, kick the old one. Loads of solutions nowadays.

Hmm, it just hit me. If envato gets commission over the sold item, transferable license will never be possible. More income for them if they dont build it :smirk:

As before I agree with some of what you are saying about fraud (current licensing is probably just a gesture to prevent it at its most basic level) but

I think there is a bigger picture and far more considerations involved here but either way Is this not just common business sense? I don’t think anyone can criticize a business for trying to make profit which long term helps support and improve their products to the benefit of everyone.

If they allowed licenses and software to be passed freely then:

  • The likes of Adobe would end up with less to invest in new software or features

  • (to make it more relevant) Marketplaces like envato would not be able to create the environment or reach that they have - - - authors would also earn less and leave - - - meaning it would come round 360 degrees and bite buyers.

This is especially those (not aimed at you) who seem to forget the fact that much of their business depends on envato’s authors, and who would end up with less choice, poorer quality files and so on.

Let’s not forget what an incredible deal buyers get to pay $50 for a complete WordPress site.

First, please let me state it’s by no means critism, I’m an entrepreneur myself. However, transparancy towards customers is a concern owning a Wordpress hosting company.

It’s just that when they decide to change vendor for hosting or website development it’s always such a ‘afterwards surprise’ they have to buy the theme again. (you and I ofcourse know that a one-of purchase can and should not vouch for a life time support).

There’s two sides to every coin, and this discussion teaches me also by people like you taking the time to expose different takes on the subject.

Thanks for that!

I do appreciate your comments and stance and can see exactly what you mean.

I don’t do ‘client’ work using files from here so am lucky in that respect. I imagine one challenge is to explain that if they want to avoid these issues then pay for custom solutions. That is fine is you are as you say being ‘transparent’ but I would bet that a large % ‘forget to mention it is a template’. (I have actually interviewed someone who showed me a top 5 theme on here as his own custom work!)

I think one of the biggest problems (and what frustrates me the most) is the sometimes narrow-minded comments and sense of entitlement from some people (again I don’t think this is an attitude you come with at all).

On several occasions I have asked that if a process is so wrong or ‘illegal’ then someone should be able to provide examples of alternatives which have never materialized.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and as you said every coin has two sides.

I would never argue that many things could be improved, but I don’t feel it is fair when people attack envato to excess without considering the implications and complexities of making a change in an organization of their size and international status.

This is why I offer up another view on some topics - it’s about playing devil’s advocate and in the interests of impartiality that tends to drive more valuable discussion, like your comments bring.

Asking for alternatives is usually a good way to filter out the people that just complain versus the people that have a valid point about something :wink:

The point with a lot of people, mostly small businesses or individual starting entrepreneurs that are not that web savvy, is that they don’t have a lot of sense (meaning experience or knowledge) on what web development costs. Custom solutions therefore often are avoided because of lack of budget.

I truly hope they aforementioned group gets in touch with the right people that transparently and honestly tell them what is what … Lot of cowboys out there, and with 25 years of ICT (and some fair sized software development projects I did myself) I’ve seen a lot of them … Regretful to say.

Anyway, thanks for the pleasant dialoog. Good luck and happiness to ya! :slight_smile:

Regards,

Gerard.