I was hoping someone could provide insight into, what seems like a potentially bad idea, on purchasing marketplace items before they are added to the official marketplace. Is it recommended to wait until an item is for sale in the marketplace, or am I safe to pre-order directly from the developer? Are there any “buyer protections” when purchasing items through the marketplace versus directly paying the developer?
There are some developers currently selling content outside of the marketplace. There’s always a risk of a lack of future support and updates in this case, that is for certain. I do not, however, believe there is any “buyer protection” in regards to marketplace content that becomes outdated in the future, after release.
From my understanding, if an asset, blueprint or any additional content released on the marketplace becomes outdated and the creator no longer wishes to update it, then it will eventually be discontinued. In this case, I do not believe that Epic will be required to process refunds, or anything similar.
Presumably, Epic is solely acting as a “go-between”, connecting the vendor with a wider community, allowing them to sell content. They don’t take responsibility for the content in the long-term. However, they do make checks before allowing content to be sold on the marketplace to ensure it is up to scratch. Outside of that, I am unsure as to how much more they could do.
Hope that helps. Feel free to ask anything else and I’ll do my best to help out with additional queries.
To follow up on this, I did some additional research. It appears, that in fact, there is a refund policy offered by Epic, in the event of an issue with a marketplace item. This is explained below:
When we receive a refund request, our immediate response is to examine the issue to determine if it’s something Epic or the seller can fix. If there’s a technical issue, the screenshots or video are misleading, or if the seller isn’t responding to requests for support, we’ll gather all the information we can about the issue you’re having and contact the seller directly to address. If they’re unable to resolve the issue promptly, we’ll grant the refund, and request that the seller update their content with the feedback we receive.
This can be found on the official FAQ, of which is located here: Häufig gestellte Fragen - Unreal Engine
Thanks for digging into this. That helps!
No problem! I’m happy to be of some assistance. I’ll mark this as resolved, now. Though, if there’s something else you need to know, do reach out =)