Companies with Ridiculous Transfer Fees (Edited title)

[LeVzi]

I think a better approach for companies would be to have fees (if they charge fees) proportional to the value of the plugin sold. I see people in the marketplace trying to sell a plugin for a few dollars, but then PA or iLok are charging $20 for transfer fees, which is non negotiable. So, PA and iLok and other high fees should be less for those plugins, on the other hand a $400 plugin would cost $20 to transfer. And fees should be capped to make plugins sellable, otherwise there are virutally NFR.

[BONES]

I doubt too many cheap plugins use iLok, the fees iLok charge the dev would make that prohibitive, surely?

[LeVzi]

True, seems more to be Plugin Alliance with the cheaper plugs and $20 transfer fee PER plugin, max capped at $50 which I think is riduculous for say 3 $10 plugins

[Kongru]

True, seems more to be Plugin Alliance with the cheaper plugs and $20 transfer fee PER plugin, max capped at $50 which I think is riduculous for say 3 $10 plugins

The cap isn't in place any more, the transfer fee is dynamically discounted by the number of transfers in the basket now.

[BONES]

OK, last night I got a perfect example of what concerns me with removing transfer fees. It's about kebabs and Uber Eats. There is a new kebab shop up the road which opened a few months ago, a couple of years after Uber Eats started delivering food. Kebabs typically cost between $9 (chicken) and $11 (lamb) here, but these guys charge $12.50 to $14 for theirs. I went in to grab one for dinner last night. I was talking to the guy who runs it and he said the reason their prices were so high is that half their business comes through Uber Eats, who take 32% of the value of the order but don't allow businesses to charge a delivery fee to recover that expense. So, basically, when I paid $14 for my lamb kebab last night, $3 of that was to subsidise Uber Eats. That seems grossly unfair to me. And that's my concern with this campaign to end transfer fees. Companies will just put prices up so those of us who don't on-sell our licenses will end up subsidising those who do. Sure, it may only be a few bucks but that's a few bucks I'd rather was in my pocket than someone else's.

[Obsolete236871]

...Kebabs typically cost between $9 (chicken) and $11 (lamb) here, but these guys charge $12.50 to $14 for theirs....

Wow, what country is that? I'm in the hometown of the original Döner Kebab, Berlin Germany, and even though prices have increased massively during the last two decades, you can still find many Döner Kebab stores selling it for 2 - 4 € bucks (good Döner Kebab typically begins at 3,50 €)

[BONES]

4 euros is about Au$6.50. Berlin is something of an exception, My nephew lives in Neukölln and I've never seen kebabs so cheap anywhere else, nor have I ever seen so many kebab shops. He goes to a place that sells a breakfast kebab and coffee for 2 euros.

[plexuss]

OK, last night I got a perfect example of what concerns me with removing transfer fees. It's about kebabs and Uber Eats. There is a new kebab shop up the road which opened a few months ago, a couple of years after Uber Eats started delivering food. Kebabs typically cost between $9 (chicken) and $11 (lamb) here, but these guys charge $12.50 to $14 for theirs. I went in to grab one for dinner last night. I was talking to the guy who runs it and he said the reason their prices were so high is that half their business comes through Uber Eats, who take 32% of the value of the order but don't allow businesses to charge a delivery fee to recover that expense. So, basically, when I paid $14 for my lamb kebab last night, $3 of that was to subsidise Uber Eats. That seems grossly unfair to me. And that's my concern with this campaign to end transfer fees. Companies will just put prices up so those of us who don't on-sell our licenses will end up subsidising those who do. Sure, it may only be a few bucks but that's a few bucks I'd rather was in my pocket than someone else's.

Yes. This happens here is Toronto Canada with a lot of food places that accept online orders through 3rd party delivery companies. I noticed all their prices have gone up for in-shop purchasing presumably for the reasons you cite.

I am ok with paying a small transfer fee, ideally, say around the $10 or less mark for 1 or more transfer in one transaction. But fees like what Melda, 2caudio etc charge are just unreasonably high. These days I just not purchase from companies with high fees and just do without. I'm fine with that. I barely have GAS anymore and it feels great. Less bloat.

[BONES]

That's the way to deal with the issue - if you are not happy with a company's terms and conditions, don't buy from them.

[fairlyclose]

I am ok with paying a small transfer fee, ideally, say around the $10 or less mark for 1 or more transfer in one transaction. But fees like what Melda, 2caudio etc charge are just unreasonably high. These days I just not purchase from companies with high fees and just do without. I'm fine with that. I barely have GAS anymore and it feels great. Less bloat.

same - has to be something particularly special for me to buy now if there is no easy transfer. Still happens though eg https://www.noiseguild.com/24tonegongs-iii-1

but for a reverb - gotta be kidding when there are so many great reverbs already from companies that allow transfers

If anything I have plenty I would like to get rid of and will be trying to do so for a while

[fairlyclose]

4 euros is about Au$6.50. Berlin is something of an exception, My nephew lives in Neukölln and I've never seen kebabs so cheap anywhere else, nor have I ever seen so many kebab shops. He goes to a place that sells a breakfast kebab and coffee for 2 euros.

Australian retail (and business generally) pay way more for rent than almost every other country. That's relative to turnover as well - Retail Traders Association did big study / submission on it a few years back. Effectively legislative bias has the average Australian paying a subsidy to commercial property owners.

[BONES]

same - has to be something particularly special for me to buy now if there is no easy transfer.

It never even enters my mind, much less my decision making process.

If anything I have plenty I would like to get rid of and will be trying to do so for a while

If I wanted to get rid of anything, I'd uninstall it and that's all. I've given a few things away over the years but I'd never try and sell a plugin second-hand. Once I've spent the money, it's a write-off and that's that. If I chose poorly I will wear the consequences. I did sell my copy of Bitwig but that was a lot more money, a boxed product (not just a download) and I sold it for half what I paid for it, not the slight discounts I often see things being sold for around here.

That's another big part of the problem - what's a used software license worth? It's easy with physical products because their condition varies but software doesn't deteriorate at all, so what's a fair price for a used license? I'd say no more than the full price minus the cost of an upgrade. e.g. If a synth cost $50 and the upgrade price is $49, then $50 is the most it should be worth. My rationale is that when you buy a synth that's just come out, you know you'll be using it for a while before there is an update but if you buy it used, the next version might come out tomorrow so you don't want to be worse off than you would have been if you bought it new two weeks later.

Which, of course, is justification for higher transfer fees, to discourage people buying something without doing their due diligence. If you have to pay a $50 transfer fee, it means you are not going to pay a lot for the plugin itself, which discourages people from selling, as they won't get a good price, which protects the developer's business.

[LeVzi]

tbh for me, it isn't about selling, it's about buying.

I won't be selling stuff now, but I have wanted to buy a few decent deals in the marketplace here, plugin's priced around 5-10$ but then there's a $20 fee for them. So instead of getting a bargain, i'm paying more for the transfer fee than the plugin itself.

That I simply cannot accept, I think the fee should be relative to what you charge for it, but then that opens a whole new can of worms with proof of purchase etc.

[fairlyclose]

same - has to be something particularly special for me to buy now if there is no easy transfer.

It never even enters my mind, much less my decision making process.

If anything I have plenty I would like to get rid of and will be trying to do so for a while

If I wanted to get rid of anything, I'd uninstall it and that's all. I've given a few things away over the years but I'd never try and sell a plugin second-hand. Once I've spent the money, it's a write-off and that's that. If I chose poorly I will wear the consequences. I did sell my copy of Bitwig but that was a lot more money, a boxed product (not just a download) and I sold it for half what I paid for it, not the slight discounts I often see things being sold for around here.

That's another big part of the problem - what's a used software license worth? It's easy with physical products because their condition varies but software doesn't deteriorate at all, so what's a fair price for a used license? I'd say no more than the full price minus the cost of an upgrade. e.g. If a synth cost $50 and the upgrade price is $49, then $50 is the most it should be worth. My rationale is that when you buy a synth that's just come out, you know you'll be using it for a while before there is an update but if you buy it used, the next version might come out tomorrow so you don't want to be worse off than you would have been if you bought it new two weeks later.

Which, of course, is justification for higher transfer fees, to discourage people buying something without doing their due diligence. If you have to pay a $50 transfer fee, it means you are not going to pay a lot for the plugin itself, which discourages people from selling, as they won't get a good price, which protects the developer's business.

man, you are like the dream customer

[money-wise software, new or secondhand, is worth what it can sell for - like every other commodity. But "value" has many applications and meaning, $value being only one of them]

[J4R1O]

You realize that if you sign up to PA's newsletter, you get a monthly $25 voucher that you can you use to pay the $20 transfer fee, thus making the transfer fee cost $0.

Just subscribed to PA newsletter. Have they already sent this months' $25 voucher to newsletter subscribers? I just bought bx_digital V3 (second hand) and I'd like to activate it by using the voucher to pay the transfer fee.