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J
johnd59898678
Inspiring
February 19, 2021
Answered

Why do asset credits expire after 12 months?

  • February 19, 2021
  • 3 replies
  • 1798 views

I am confused on how this works and trying to figure out the logic behind this policy?

 

Let's say on the 10 images/month plan I accumulate 70 assets. If I then started consistently using say 5 assets per month, I am assuming at some point I would start "losing" credits? And in no case could I ever exceed 120 credits in my subscription... is that right? I also am guessing if I had 120 assets and never used any assets that each month moving forward I would gain 10 new assets and lost 10 assets... is that right?

 

I am curious because a few months ago my account showed that I had over 200 assets (not sure how that would be possible if I am capped at 120?), then overnight it dropped to like 50 assets as I recall.

 

I realize that there are rules that are agreed to, but the logic escapes me. If Adobe's fear is that someone will cancel their subscription and continue to used their unused assets, that can be debated I suppose, but why if someone maintains their subscription with no gaps, do their accumulated assets ever expire or get capped??? Seems like that would be more of an incentive for a subscriber to stay subscribed (and in all probability would never use all their stockpiled assets anyway in a case like that) if their assets never expired? I would be less likely to cancel a subscription if I had 500 assets that I stood to lose vs 120 max - and it would cost Adobe nothing to allow that?

 

As it is now, Adobe has redefined what a monthly subscription is. I have had subscriptions in the past like magazines where if I cancel the subscription I still retain all the magazines and information accumulated and paid for over time - just nothing moving forward. The Adobe CC subscription is not really a "subscription", but rather a "rental agreement" because if you cancel it, you have nothing left useable that is linked to Adobe - it is more like a gym membership - you use it this month or you got nothing. 

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Correct answer Test Screen Name

I think the "minutes" analogy is good. I also like an "all you can eat buffet". If you go to an all you can eat buffet and pay the agreed price, you cannot expect a refund because there are dishes still on the table. Also, you do not get to take away cartons full of the food you didn't eat today, so you can it it tomorrow.

 

The subscription level is not set on the assumption that everyone would get all of the assets they are allowed. It would probably need to cost twice as much in that case. Rather it is set so you choose your typical maximum requirement, and you then have a convenient and amazingly cheap source of pictures on tap. Unused pictures run forward a while. 

 

In fact, it would cost Adobe a huge amount to allow you to keep the extra assets, rather than letting them roll away after a year. This is because the photographer is paid when you pick the asset.

3 replies

D
defaultb6t3gqrmbmu8
Participant
January 9, 2023

I agree that this policy makes absolutely no sense. I paid for assets - whether I download them now or in 2 years should not matter to the business providing them. It's not an actual inventory - it's a reiterative digital inventory. It's not like I'm paying a subscription to a grocery store for flour and then in 2 years I buy up all of their flour.

 

I paid for rights to digital assets, and it is not made perfectly clear that they expire in 12 months. Also, if you move plan tiers, I should be able to get the assets I paid for on the higher tier. I still paid for them. 

 

Why and how does this make sense? Can I talk to someone who understands why this make sense? A database person like myself? Adobe, how are you touting that you support small businesses when mine just lost nearly $1000 because of you?

Abambo
Community Expert
AbamboCommunity Expert
Community Expert
January 9, 2023

You are paying for the service to maintain the database. If it makes sense or not, that is a question that I won't answer. But it is clearly stated in the conditions.

 

ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer
T
Test Screen NameCorrect answer
Legend
March 5, 2021

I think the "minutes" analogy is good. I also like an "all you can eat buffet". If you go to an all you can eat buffet and pay the agreed price, you cannot expect a refund because there are dishes still on the table. Also, you do not get to take away cartons full of the food you didn't eat today, so you can it it tomorrow.

 

The subscription level is not set on the assumption that everyone would get all of the assets they are allowed. It would probably need to cost twice as much in that case. Rather it is set so you choose your typical maximum requirement, and you then have a convenient and amazingly cheap source of pictures on tap. Unused pictures run forward a while. 

 

In fact, it would cost Adobe a huge amount to allow you to keep the extra assets, rather than letting them roll away after a year. This is because the photographer is paid when you pick the asset.

J
johnd59898678Author
Inspiring
March 5, 2021

OK, so their business model is based on people paying for things they probably may never use. Just like gyms make most of their money by the people that pay month after month thinking they will start next month but never show up and actually put any wear on the equipment. Got it... I understand now.

Abambo
Community Expert
AbamboCommunity Expert
Community Expert
March 6, 2021

No, there are people having a need for 750 assets a month... even that I doubt that there are a lot of one person businesses doing this. I have  3000 free minutes in my mobile subscription, I have 5gb of free mobile data. No carry over from month to month. I just reached the mobile limit once, because I did not tell my laptop that it was on a metered connection and should not update the OS now. 

 

When I was on a 1Gb limit, I did hit the limit regularily. 

 

My parents are on a pay per use subscription. My father uses his phone practically never. 

 

Adobe offers the subscription on a month to month basis for 3 images/month at lowest. You can buy credit packs, no subscription attached and you can buy subscriptions for 10, 40 and 750 assets/month on a yearly contract.

You can buy those credit packs, so it's really up to you to choose according your needs. If you take a gym subscription, you need to go to the gym and many do. Those who don't should not take the subscription. 

ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer
Abambo
Community Expert
AbamboCommunity Expert
Community Expert
March 5, 2021

It's simple, like your phone subscription with free minutes. The minutes you don't use will expire. So, it is with your subscription here: you accumulate asset points for up to a year. If you don't use them, the assets from the 13th month will expire. So with a subscription of 10 assets per month, you will stop accumulating assets at 120.

 

If you end your subscription, you will lose the remaining unused assets, but anything that you have licensed will stay at your disposal to be used according to the licensing conditions. So, it's not like a gym membership!

 

As for the logic behind: You pay Adobe for having access to the data not for the data. It's (stock) industry standard. And yes, they want to avoid that you accumulate 1000 or more assets and then cancel and drain the database. Running the database is a cost factor and someone needs to pay that...

 

If you need only assets from time to time, you may buy asset packs, but they too expire after a year.

 

And there is finally a possibility to subscribe for the month, so you will not have an early cancellation fee if you don't want a yearly subscription.

 

 

ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer
J
johnd59898678Author
Inspiring
March 5, 2021

"They want me to avoid accumulating 1000 or more assets and then cancel and drain the database"?

 

Don't understand. If I accumulated over 1000 assets by paying Adobe $30/month for over 8 years (or about $3,000), and I downloaded 1,000 assets all in one month (before cancelling OR continuing), how would that cost Adobe any more than if I had gone ahead and downloaded 10 assets/month?

 

That said, your suggestion makes sense for me to cancel my annual plan since this is the way it is. With my rate of usage the assets are costing me about twice as much right now than they would if I used up the entire 10 allowed per month each month.

Abambo
Community Expert
AbamboCommunity Expert
Community Expert
March 6, 2021

You can take subscriptions with more that 10 pictures a month. the highest option is 750 pictures which would give you exacly 2 months for accumulating 1500 assets. But the 1000 assets accumulated was only a number I was throwing in the room to make it big... I could also have used 200...

 

BTW: operating the database costs money, if you use itor not...

ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer
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