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VOD Seller FAQs

Melissa Borup
  • Updated

This feature requires a Standard, Advanced, Pro, Business, Premium, or Enterprise plan.

We’ve compiled a list of the most frequently asked questions and answers about ZenVideo On Demand here to help you make the most of your VOD experience.

In this article:

How do I get started?

ZenVideo On Demand lets you sell videos individually, or in a series. You’ll be prompted to select one of these two options when you’re setting up your ZenVideo On Demand page. That means that you'll be able to sell your film and your series on separate pages, and customize each page. You’re also able to designate your video as a rental, purchase, or subscription. 

Before you get going, you'll want to have a few things on hand:

  • Title & description
  • Pricing
  • Trailer video
  • Promotional poster
  • The video(s) you want to sell

When you’re ready to get started, we have a step-by-step guide to getting set up here that will walk you through the process:

Start selling with ZenVideo On Demand

Are there any fees to use VOD?

When you sell a video on VOD, you keep 90% of the revenue after transaction costs have been deducted. These transaction costs include:

  • Transaction fees from the buyer's payment method
  • VAT/GST & US sales tax (where applicable)

Fees and taxes on ZenVideo on Demand

How many videos can I add to a VOD title?

A single VOD title can contain up to 600 videos.

When will I get paid?

You will receive each payout approximately 30 days after the month’s end. For example, a payment for all sales made in the month of June will be transferred from ZenVideo to your PayPal account on or around July 30. You will receive a detailed statement when the payment is processed, and the funds will appear in your PayPal account soon thereafter.

Why did my payout fail?

There are a number of factors that could contribute to a payout failing.  These issues most commonly stem from your PayPal account information.

To begin troubleshooting a failed payout, you’ll first want to head to your Payments settings page and make sure your PayPal account is connected. If it is not, click ‘Connect’ to connect your PayPal account on that page. 

Note: ZenVideo does not support Business PayPal accounts so you must use your Personal PayPal account for payments. 

You’ll want to make sure that you’ve also verified your PayPal account as well (you can read about PayPal’s verification process in PayPal's help center.).

Next, you’ll want to check your PayPal account to make sure that it's set up to receive payments. If it already is, head to your Payments settings and click “Edit your PayPal connection,” and make sure the name and email address spelling match the exact info on your PayPal account.

​Keep in mind: Any missed payments will get added to the next month's payment.

Can you re-issue a failed payment before the end of the month?

Unfortunately, it takes PayPal's system 30 days for the failed payment notice to bounce back. Because we can't make payments until the previous ones have gone through that process, we won't be able to make a successful revenue payment to you until the end of the following month. Any missed payments will get added to the following month’s payment once the issue that caused the payment to fail has been resolved. 

How can I contact my customers?

For legal reasons, we are not able to provide sellers with the names or contact information of those who buy their work.

That said, ZenVideo On Demand gives viewers the option to opt in to receive updates from any VOD seller. A “Receive Updates” button is displayed on all VOD pages, and this button is also presented once someone has made a ZenVideo On Demand purchase (right after they complete the checkout process).

In the Audience tab of your VOD page’s Settings, you’ll see an "Export email addresses" button. This lets you download a .CSV file of email addresses from anyone who opted in to receive updates from you.

You’ll want to be sure to review the "Acceptable Use Email Policy" in your VOD Settings before updating your viewers.

Can I offer my VOD for free?

If you’re looking to grant free access to a ZenVideo On Demand title, the best way to do so for one or more viewers is to create and distribute promo codes. There's several different ways you can go about that, depending on whether you want just one code or several. You can find more information about promo codes at ZenVideo On Demand promo codes.

That said, sellers also have the option to grant free streaming access to one or more episodes of a series VOD title. This can be done from the Videos section of a VOD’s settings by clicking on the price listed under an episode’s title. That brings up a lightbox where you can select the “Streamed for free” option from the dropdown menu under the “This video can be” heading. Keep in mind that this will make the episode free to stream for everyone. If you’d like to offer access to just some viewers, you’re better off issuing a promo code. 

Can my buyers download my VOD to watch offline?

If you’re looking to grant your buyers an option to download your VOD to watch offline, you can enable downloading under the 'Pricing' tab on your VOD settings page. As a note, if you haven't enabled the 'download' option for videos purchased using the 'Buy' option when your buyer purchases the VOD, enabling that after a purchase has been made won't retroactively grant that kind of access for buyers.

Can I have more VIP Promo Codes?

At this time, the total number of redemptions across all codes associated with a single ZenVideo On Demand page cannot exceed 5,000. That means you can create a batch of 5,000 individual, single-use codes (or 5 codes that can be redeemed 1,000 times each, or 50 codes that can each be redeemed 100 times, etc).

Unused codes may be edited or deleted. Once a code has been used, it can be disabled but not deleted. When a code’s limit is hit, it will be disabled automatically.

What happens if I want to switch my purchase type (Rent/Buy to Subscription VOD)?

Unfortunately, the only way to change your VOD's distribution method is to create a new VOD page and select the desired option and delete the current VOD.

If you set up your VOD as a Subscription Video On Demand and ever want to sell it without a subscription option, you would need to make a new page and vice versa.

Can I sell 360 videos with ZenVideo on Demand? 

You can use ZenVideo On Demand to sell 360 video—upload 360 trailers, episodes, features, and even bonus material.

How do comments, likes, and recommendations work for VODs?

Anyone can like and comment on a video. Most viewers leave positive comments, but if someone leaves a bad comment on your VOD title, you can remove it. Hover your cursor over the comment you'd like to delete, and a red Delete link should appear. Click that, and confirm your decision. If you feel that someone’s comment violates our Community Guidelines, please contact us so that we can take a look.

A recommendation is a little bit sweeter than a comment or like, because only those who have purchased a ZenVideo On Demand title are able to recommend it. Buyers are prompted to make their recommendation during their viewing, so you know they’ve actually watched it.

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