Envato Studio: Disputes 101
Learn about Envato Studio's dispute process that aims to assist both parties to reach a positive resolution.
By Envato
No matter what you try, sometimes a job just doesn’t go as planned. Envato Studio has a dispute process in place to assist both parties in such an instance to try and reach a positive resolution.
While disputes on our platform are relatively rare, it is worth understanding when to dispute a job and how the dispute process works.
When to Dispute a Job on Envato Studio
Okay, so you’re working on a job (or have ordered a job) and things just aren’t going to plan, or there are quality concerns or one party has become unresponsive. Either way, something isn’t working and the job isn’t progressing as planned and you have concerns.
First thing to do is talk to the other party and try and work through the issues. The best way to do this is to ask them what they require in order to finish the job. Have them list out the points of concern so that you are both clear on the issue. If either party doesn’t understand a point, you should request further detail on this point.
If you find after discussing the issue/s that you haven’t resolved it to a point of being able to work further on the job, you have two options.
Option One:
Mutually cancel the job. When you mutually cancel a job on Envato Studio, both parties need to agree to the cancellation. If accepted, the job will be canceled and the payment refunded to the buyer in full. If the other party does not accept/or is unsure how to accept, please contact support.
Option Two:
Dispute the job and have the Envato Studio team investigate the job. When disputing a job, you will be required to provide information as to why the job has been disputed. To assist our team in handling your dispute as quickly as possible, please ensure you are very specific and clear as to what the issues are, what you have discussed in regards on the job timeline already and what solution you would like to see come out of this dispute.
Once a dispute is submitted, the non-submitting party will be notified and is able to respond on the job timeline. They can also request that you reopen the job, which if agreed upon, would cancel out the dispute.
Our team will handle your request ASAP and your patience and understand during this time is appreciated.
Things to Know About Disputes on Envato Studio
- Disputes should be considered a last resort.
Disputes should only be raised after other methods of communication have been exhausted. That is, before your job reaches the dispute stage we expect both parties to have discussed the issue and attempted to resolve the issue within the job timeline. Both parties should remain calm and be clear and precise about the issue as they see it. If our team receives a dispute where this has not happened, it is highly likely we will simply reopen the job and encourage you both to discuss the issue further. - With all disputes, our first priority is to reopen the job in order to get it finished.
At the end of the day, both parties want the job to be finished successfully. The buyer needs the work and the freelancer wishes to be paid. As such, we will always try and handle the dispute in a way that has both parties back working together towards finalization of the job. As such, often we will view a dispute and decide to reopen the job. Note: If we do reopen a job, we will contact both parties to indicate our reasons for doing so. - We can not split payments.
Keep in mind when disputing a job that we can not currently split payments. At present, if we cancel a job as part of a dispute then the freelancer will not be paid (no matter how much work was completed) and the buyer will be refunded in full. Alternatively, if we side with the freelancer, the buyer will not receive a refund and the freelancer will be paid in full. - If a job is canceled as part of a dispute, a buyer does not own the rights to anything created.
As a buyer on Envato Studio, if a job is disputed and subsequently canceled, the buyer will be refunded and anything created (creative/code etc) within the job timeline to date is owned by the freelancer and can not be used. - The Envato Studio Ops Team handles all disputes.
Our Ops Team handle all disputes on a first come, first served basis. At times, disputes can take quite an amount of time due to the length of time the job has been opened and the amount of information on the job timeline. We also do not handle disputes over weekends, so your patience during this time is appreciated.
Keep in mind that our Ops Team are trying to assist both parties in coming to a positive solution. They take an unbiased look at the job and make a decision based upon what is seen on the job timeline. If any off site communication has taken place, you should copy this to the job timeline once disputed.