Buying - Selling licenses Info

[JuanP]

Starting January 1, 2023, monthly and annual subscriptions will be the only purchasing option for licenses of Vectorworks in the US, UK, Australia, and Canada. December 30, 2022 will be the last day to purchase perpetual licenses or new Service Select agreements in these markets. For all other markets, this change will go into effect by January 1, 2025; please reach out to your local Vectorworks distributor to learn more about the timeline in your market. 

This means that after January 1, 2023, any perpetual licenses sold or bought between end users will not be eligible for upgrade and will not be able to be added to a Service Select contract. If you choose to buy an older version of Vectorworks from another user, the license is yours and will continue to work as long as you have a compatible operating system, but can’t be transferred into your existing Service Select agreement and you will not be able to assume or transfer their agreement.
 
If you are buying or selling a license with another user, you can reach out to the Vectorworks customer service team at customerservice@vectorworks.net and we will provide a Transfer of Ownership Form which will notify us of the new owner of the license for our records and to provide technical support if the license is still within its support window.

If you own any perpetual licenses without a Service Select agreement in place, you should consider adding a Service Select agreement before the end of 2022. Without the Service Select agreement, you will not be eligible for enhanced benefits, including access to the latest versions when they become available.

 

[Will Glenn]

Am I understanding correctly that you will no longer be offering perpetual licenses of vectorworks for sale after December 30th of this year, and that the only way to purchase vectorworks after that will be via subscription?

 

Why is this? I want to be able to use the software, but close to $2,000 a year as the only option is too much for a private, freelance lighting designer.

[KIT KOLLMEYER]

New info about this topic confirmed by my VW rep today. Service select memberships are not transferrable! So if you are selling a license and you currently have a service select membership, the buyer of the license will not be able to upgrade, even if you have paid for a current service select membership. Not cool VW, not cool.

[Jeff Prince]

2 hours ago, KIT KOLLMEYER said:

New info about this topic confirmed by my VW rep today. Service select memberships are not transferrable! So if you are selling a license and you currently have a service select membership, the buyer of the license will not be able to upgrade, even if you have paid for a current service select membership. Not cool VW, not cool.

 

I was told I could sell my perpetual license and the buyer could start their own VSS before the end of the year and be entitled to upgrades.

Are you saying you were told different?

[zoomer]

I understood it the way that you can now until 1.1.2023.

 

After beginning of 2023, I am not sure if you can sell your license at all or if it just

will just not be very valuable as it can't be upgraded.

[JuanP]

As of January 1, 2023 perpetual licenses are not upgradeable and cannot be added to an existing Vectorworks Service Select agreement. Any associated Service Select agreement is not transferable. I hope that helps. 

[shorter]

19 hours ago, zoomer said:

I understood it the way that you can now until 1.1.2023.

 

After beginning of 2023, I am not sure if you can sell your license at all or if it just

will just not be very valuable as it can't be upgraded.

 

I think their values remains to be detemined.  The option of buying a secondhand perpetual license you can use for as long as you like without further payment (until it stops working) will be quite appealing to some.  When I am asked if I know anyone selling it is usually because the buyer wants to reduce costs, not because they think it's a cheap upgrade path.

 

However, if you can buy now under the current 30% off promotion, and add VSS, it will give you a bit of cost certainty for a few years still, we hope, whether by renewing the VSS each year or by sticking and seeing how long your license will last for.

Edited November 30, 2022 by shorter

[KIT KOLLMEYER]

@jeff prince My rep gave a definitive NO. Service select agreements are non-transferrable. If she was incorrect I would like to know.

[Jeff Prince]

13 minutes ago, KIT KOLLMEYER said:

@jeff prince My rep gave a definitive NO. Service select agreements are non-transferrable. If she was incorrect I would like to know.

VWX license = transferable
VSS = non transferable 

 

That’s been the way it works forever I believe.

[Terry H]

This is such a bad move by Vectorworks.  It'll hit's their users hard, especially at the price they are asking.  A nail in the coffin.

 

[smv]

I am based in Australia and it seems the perpetual license purchase option is no longer available already - what the hell is going on here?

The distributor office is closed until the 6th of Jan but the license purchase cut off is the 1st of January. How am I meant to purchase prior to lapsing!

[JuanP]

@smv The Australian office is open, you can reach them out via info@vectorworks.net.au

[Catharine]

On 11/29/2022 at 9:06 PM, JuanP said:

As of January 1, 2023 perpetual licenses are not upgradeable and cannot be added to an existing Vectorworks Service Select agreement. Any associated Service Select agreement is not transferable. I hope that helps. 

If I purchase a student2pro perpetual licence + service select today with service select - will this be upgradeable? Also if I want to sell it in a year, can I do this?

 

[JuanP]

44 minutes ago, Catharine said:

f I purchase a student2pro perpetual licence + service select today with service select - will this be upgradeable?

@Catharine yes, it will upgradeable as long as you keep an active Service select.

 

 

1 hour ago, Catharine said:

Also if I want to sell it in a year, can I do this?

yes, you will be able to sell the license. However, any associated Service Select agreement is not transferable. I hope that helps. For additional questions, please refer to our https://www.vectorworks.net/en-US/company/purchasing-policy

[Terry H]

@JuanP Could you please confirm exactly how long it takes to get the license transferred.  I'd imagine that it shouldn't take longer than 7 days.  I'd like to be able to get back to work effectively.  Thank you.

 

[JuanP]

@Terry HIt depends on the workload of our Sales ops team - please reach out directly to me at jalmansa@vectorworks.net with all transfer paperwork if you still need assistance. I appreciate your patience. 

[Amorphous - Julian]

On 12/1/2022 at 12:06 AM, shorter said:

 

I think their values remains to be detemined.  The option of buying a secondhand perpetual license you can use for as long as you like without further payment (until it stops working) will be quite appealing to some.  When I am asked if I know anyone selling it is usually because the buyer wants to reduce costs, not because they think it's a cheap upgrade path.

 

However, if you can buy now under the current 30% off promotion, and add VSS, it will give you a bit of cost certainty for a few years still, we hope, whether by renewing the VSS each year or by sticking and seeing how long your license will last for.

 

In the past, transferred perpetual licenses were upgradable. 

That is why I subsequently invested in several perpetual licences- they had resell value. 

In a single stroke, Vectorworks devalued all perpetual licences- by removing the VSS subscription rights of transferred perpetual licenses. 

As someone who forked out money to support this software... of course, I am not happy to see my investment in devalued that way.... but what can I do. The decision was unilateral. 

 

[_c_]

This path of licensing scheme began long ago. You are where you are, people, because you accepted this and still do.

"But what can I do". Sell now, that's what you can do. Better now than later.

 

Vectorworks is not developing for us, it develops exclusively for its own marketing.

"Features" tailored to show off on a list, never really working. Decades of complaints ignored.

 

My warning to potential new users, the problem is not the licence system, as ugly and exploitative as it is.

The problem is that the application doesn't actually develop for our needs and, but with major workarounds, nothing really works as you need.

 

_c_

User since Minicad who sold and moved on. Never looked back.

 

Edited January 12, 2023 by _c_

[Tom W.]

13 minutes ago, _c_ said:

User since Minicad who sold and moved on. Never looked back.

 

Moved on to what? I never seem to learn what the superior software is (when people list the faults of VW) but am genuinely interested to know what the options are.

[_c_]

I worked with Microstation, Allplan, Revit, Vectorworks and am now on Archicad.

Ask me which one I would suggest you to invest your money on.

[Tom W.]

I should have a look at the Archicad forum + compare the comments with those here 🙂

[shorter]

2 hours ago, _c_ said:

I worked with Microstation, Allplan, Revit, Vectorworks and am now on Archicad.

Ask me which one I would suggest you to invest your money on.

…and the winner is….?

[zoomer]

5 hours ago, shorter said:

…and the winner is….?

 

Allplan of course 🙂

 

Just that it does not run on Mac.

 

 

But I bet @_c_ is happy with Archicad now.

[MaWi]

User since Minicad. Ever looked forwards...
 

It's a wonderful world. You can't go backwards. You're always moving forward. It's the wonderful part about life. And that's terrific.

Harvey Fierstein

 

[Helm]

On 1/12/2023 at 7:14 AM, _c_ said:

This path of licensing scheme began long ago. You are where you are, people, because you accepted this and still do.

"But what can I do". Sell now, that's what you can do. Better now than later.

 

Vectorworks is not developing for us, it develops exclusively for its own marketing.

"Features" tailored to show off on a list, never really working. Decades of complaints ignored.

 

My warning to potential new users, the problem is not the licence system, as ugly and exploitative as it is.

The problem is that the application doesn't actually develop for our needs and, but with major workarounds, nothing really works as you need.

 

_c_

User since Minicad who sold and moved on. Never looked back.

 

Why don't you tell us what you really think, 😁