Item Support FAQs

How can I report a comment on my item page?

If someone has left an inappropriate comment on your item page, you can send the comment to be reviewed by clicking the Flag This Comment link at the bottom of the comment. The comment will be sent to staff who will decide whether the comment needs to be edited, removed, or should remain on the page.

A comment will only be edited or removed if it is considered offensive or destructive. Respectful negative criticism of an item will not be removed.

How can I pause support if I am going on vacation?

Follow these steps to set up your vacation notice:

1. Go to your Item Support Vacations settings.
2. Enter the first day of your vacation.
3. Enter the last day of your vacation.
4. Click the Add Vacation button.

Once the author vacation notice is active it will be displayed to customers in the places they’re most likely to ask questions - the comment form, author contact form, item support tab & item comments list.

How do I respond to a rating?

Sometimes a customer might leave a rating that you don't agree with or that you'd like to discuss with the customer, you can do this via your Reviews tab by following these steps:

1. Navigate to your Reviews tab on the applicable item.
2. Once you've located the rating that you'd like to respond to, you'll see an option that says Reply to this review.
3. Once you've typed your response hit Reply.

Note: This will start an email conversation with the customer so you can expect a reply in your inbox rather than on the Ratings page.

From the customer's perspective, they will be advised at the time of leaving the Review that their details will be disclosed to you and that you may want to get in touch to discuss the rating.

What if a buyer's support period has expired when they ask for help?

If a buyer contacts you for support but their support period has already expired, you can use this as an opportunity to reach out to the buyer to give them alternative ways to find the answer they’re looking for or suggest they purchase a support renewal. This can help educate your buyers about the importance of item support and why the item support policy exists.

Here is an example response:

“Hi John, thanks for contacting us about the item you’ve purchased.
The issue you’ve raised requires personalised support and your support period for this item has expired. However, there are other options available to you. Check out our site <FAQs> or our <support forums> as you may find your question has already been answered.

There are also a heap of helpful examples and tips in the documentation you received with the item. If you haven’t got it handy, you can re-download it from http://themeforest.net/downloads.
If you haven’t found what you’re looking for and still need help, then it would be best to renew your support <here>. Item Support is a policy that was recently implemented by Envato. It’s designed to ensure high quality, consistent customer service for you, while providing authors with a sustainable way to support our items and keep them up-to-date.

If you would like to know more about Item Support, please view the policy here.

What do I do if a buyer is asking about plugin conflicts?

If a buyer is contacting with complaints that their theme is not working, but it turns out the problem is due to a plugin conflict running on the user's machine, not one that was advertised with the purchased item, you can explain to the buyer that unfortunately you can’t help as the plugin wasn’t included in your item.

Here is an example response:

“Hi Sam, I’ve looked at the issue you’re describing and unfortunately it looks like there’s a conflict with a plugin you have installed on your computer. As this is not part of the item I’m afraid I can’t help much other than suggesting to uninstall the conflicting plugin if it’s not required.”

What if a buyer is asking about customization?

Customization is not included in the Item Support Policy. If a buyer is requesting a change to the theme which is not an included option or feature. eg: changing the theme layout, this is a customization request.

Here is an example response:

“Hi Julie, What you’re asking for is actually a customization of the item, which unfortunately is not something included in your support purchase. You can read more about the definition of support here or alternatively you may wish to contact a freelance service provider.”

What if a buyer is getting unreasonable with their support demands?

In this case, let’s say a buyer has been relentlessly contacting you, asking for small tweaks and changes but after you have fixed any problems with their site, they still expect you to log in all the time and make every change they need. You feel as though you’ve helped them as much as you can and this is now becoming a burden on your time.

You can explain to the buyer that unfortunately you’ve helped as much as you can and their demands are now outside of the support policy. They may need closer one on one help and you can refer them to Envato Studio or suggest they hire a freelancer. After you have tried this as much as you can, you can let Author Support know over a ticket here that you may need intervention to help explain the Support policy to the buyer.

Here is an example Response:

“Sorry Matthew, I feel I’ve helped you as much as I can. You can make these minor changes yourself. These types of requests are outside the scope of what I’m able to support. If you would like to work with someone more closely to help you through your setup you could consider working with a freelancer”.

How do I identify if a buyer has valid support?

Regardless of how you choose to support your customers there will be a way to see if they have valid support:

if you provide support via a third party system then you can use the Verify Purchase API to see if the buyer has purchased the item and whether or not they have valid support;
if you provide support via email then you can use the link the email to verify the purchase and support; or
if you provide support via comments then we'll identify buyers that have purchased and those with valid support.

How do I identify supported item sales on my statements?

We split the sales from a supported item sale into two lines (license and bundled support) to reflect what is being bought and to help authors more accurately define and describe their earnings for accounting purposes.

You will still earn the exact same money from a sale as you would have previously, it is just split over two lines of the statement.

How does Envato “round up” or “round down” item support sales on my statements?

The rules for rounding are the same as those used for VAT ; if less then 0.5 round down, if greater than or equal to 0.5 then round up.

Because we are splitting a supported item into two (license and support), the author fee and any taxes were being applied separately and therefore rounding can occur twice meaning each sale can be up to 1 cent out (positive or negative).

What categories does the Item Support Policy apply to?

The item support policy applies to all categories on ThemeForest and CodeCanyon except - PSD templates, Sketch templates, TypeEngine themes, Mobile, and Edge Animate templates.