Plugin Alliance new transfer policy caused concerns and is corrected...

[daily patcher]

Why don't they just do the simple thing and make vouchers usable only by the account that they were distributed to?

They tried asking nicely ... nobody took any notice. TBH I think this is probably because of people regularly selling their vouchers. You cant move for them in the Buy Sell forum ...

Instead of 'asking users nicely' why not implement a solution that provides your desired outcome without having to put the onus on your clients...

[thecontrolcentre]

Why don't they just do the simple thing and make vouchers usable only by the account that they were distributed to?

They tried asking nicely ... nobody took any notice. TBH I think this is probably because of people regularly selling their vouchers. You cant move for them in the Buy Sell forum ...

Instead of 'asking users nicely' why not implement a solution that provides your desired outcome without having to put the onus on your clients...

Seems to be what they're doing ...

[cptgone]

Last night I used my monthly voucher. In the past, I always made sure to spend a little - ever since Dirk's PR kamikaze started, I've made sure to spend €0 real money anymore. I had a chuckle when I got the 'surprise voucher' mail, another one when I read about the new spending requirement, which prompted me to use my other voucher, then woke up to the worst corporate email I ever received - I would prolly find it insulting if it wasn't for the laugh it afforded me at Dirk's expense.

I feel sorry for the devs caught up in this crazy scheme. It may keep running, but how can anyone take Dirk seriously anymore?

[vitocorleone123]

Last night I used my monthly voucher. In the past, I always made sure to spend a little - ever since Dirk's PR kamikaze started, I've made sure to spend €0 real money anymore. I had a chuckle when I got the 'surprise voucher' mail, another one when I read about the new spending requirement, which prompted me to use my other voucher, then woke up to the worst corporate email I ever received - I would prolly find it insulting if it wasn't for the laugh it afforded me at Dirk's expense.

I feel sorry for the devs caught up in this crazy scheme. It may keep running, but how can anyone take Dirk seriously anymore?

Same. I spent my $25 voucher on a plugin and figured that'd prob be the last. Then the email came, putting the nail in the coffin.

[daily patcher]

Why don't they just do the simple thing and make vouchers usable only by the account that they were distributed to?

They tried asking nicely ... nobody took any notice. TBH I think this is probably because of people regularly selling their vouchers. You cant move for them in the Buy Sell forum ...

Instead of 'asking users nicely' why not implement a solution that provides your desired outcome without having to put the onus on your clients...

Seems to be what they're doing ...

You missed my point but yes, we shall see.

[thecontrolcentre]

Why don't they just do the simple thing and make vouchers usable only by the account that they were distributed to?

They tried asking nicely ... nobody took any notice. TBH I think this is probably because of people regularly selling their vouchers. You cant move for them in the Buy Sell forum ...

Instead of 'asking users nicely' why not implement a solution that provides your desired outcome without having to put the onus on your clients...

Seems to be what they're doing ...

You missed my point but yes, we shall see.

No I didn't ... but yes, we shall see

[daily patcher]

Why don't they just do the simple thing and make vouchers usable only by the account that they were distributed to?

They tried asking nicely ... nobody took any notice. TBH I think this is probably because of people regularly selling their vouchers. You cant move for them in the Buy Sell forum ...

Instead of 'asking users nicely' why not implement a solution that provides your desired outcome without having to put the onus on your clients...

Seems to be what they're doing ...

You missed my point but yes, we shall see.

No I didn't ... but yes, we shall see

Dirk, is that you?

[sin night]

Why don't they just do the simple thing and make vouchers usable only by the account that they were distributed to?

They tried asking nicely ... nobody took any notice. TBH I think this is probably because of people regularly selling their vouchers. You cant move for them in the Buy Sell forum ...

Instead of 'asking users nicely' why not implement a solution that provides your desired outcome without having to put the onus on your clients...

I think PA's goal is to make everybody aware that they are not ok with people selling their vouchers or using multiple loyalty vouchers. If they just said "we are going to tie the loyalty voucher to their respective account, so it won't be possible to misuse them anymore", most of us would have thought "ok" and just ignored the message (you know, you don't really care for warnings about things you wouldn't do anyway).
So, they found this way (the new voucher policy) to make people talk about it, so the message is louder and may reach their actual recipients (those misusing the vouchers).

Imagine the reactions among people misusing the vouchers if PA activates some additional controls without a serious warning ahead. Some people may even "buy a voucher in good faith" and then find it doesn't work. I think PA wants to avoid such PR nightmare; the new voucher policy is probably the lesser damaging way to warn everybody (and maybe it even reduces the misuses before any actual enforcement).

They could have just raised the minimum price of their deals to $39,99; instead they wrote about the voucher policy to encourage people to speak about it. It's social engineering, if you want to call it so.

I totally get PA point.

[Kongru]

I can completely see why they did this - the marketplace here is just full of people making a quick buck from their free Plugin Alliance vouchers at the moment. PA are probably losing money hand over fist while others are profiting from their generosity, it's clear that something had to change.

Still, I find their new solution overly complicated and confusing. They must have seen that there was an easier solution but opted for the more convoluted one.

In the end I guess it's better than them pulling the vouchers entirely.

[ATS]

I can completely see why they did this - the marketplace here is just full of people making a quick buck from their free Plugin Alliance vouchers at the moment. PA are probably losing money hand over fist while others are profiting from their generosity, it's clear that something had to change.

Still, I find their new solution overly complicated and confusing. They must have seen that there was an easier solution but opted for the more convoluted one.

In the end I guess it's better than them pulling the vouchers entirely.

do you really think they are doing it to be "generous"?

[Kongru]

I can completely see why they did this - the marketplace here is just full of people making a quick buck from their free Plugin Alliance vouchers at the moment. PA are probably losing money hand over fist while others are profiting from their generosity, it's clear that something had to change.

Still, I find their new solution overly complicated and confusing. They must have seen that there was an easier solution but opted for the more convoluted one.

In the end I guess it's better than them pulling the vouchers entirely.

do you really think they are doing it to be "generous"?

Yes. While it might tempt some to make a purchase they might not have - it allows people to get quality plugins for free or very very cheap. Imagine if Fabfilter did a similar thing.

[Teksonik]

Just offer quality products at a fair price and you don't need silly gimmicks like Vouchers.

But I guess when your business model is to offer mediocre plugins at insane list prices you eventually have to come up with some scheme to sucker the consumer into doing business with you.

[mrj1nx]

It would be relatively trivial for them to make sure people can only use their own vouchers, so they could have easily put a lid on voucher selling/sharing years ago if it was seen as a problem.

[Digivolt]

I don't mind them doing it, it's the way they've done it which kinda irks me

By adding minimum spend it means they make more money from every voucher, they could have just tied vouchers to the account and it would solve the problem they're trying to fix, but now it means those of us who used our vouchers, now have to spend more money to use them on plugs we're probably not really interested in, but buy because they're cheap at $4 (with $25 voucher) or free with $50 voucher, minimum spend means those cheap plugs aren't as cheap especially for us Euro's with that 20% extra VAT added on top

This isn't about PA stopping vouchers being sold/traded it's a way for them to make more money from a situation they might not like but could quite easily stop if they really wanted

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

I don't mind them doing it, it's the way they've done it which kinda irks me

By adding minimum spend it means they make more money from every voucher, they could have just tied vouchers to the account and it would solve the problem they're trying to fix, but now it means those of us who used our vouchers, now have to spend more money to use them on plugs we're probably not really interested in, but buy because they're cheap at $4 (with $25 voucher) or free with $50 voucher, minimum spend means those cheap plugs aren't as cheap especially for us Euro's with that 20% extra VAT added on top

This isn't about PA stopping vouchers being sold/traded it's a way for them to make more money from a situation they might not like but could quite easily stop if they really wanted

As is the PA way, they could've handled this better. However, are you really complaining that you can no longer get plugins for $4, or free? f**k!