We’ve compiled a list of the most frequently asked questions and answers about Vimeo On Demand here to help you make the most of your VOD experience.
Seller questions
How do I get started?
Vimeo 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 Vimeo 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 Vimeo 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)
The transaction fees range from 4% to 17%, depending on factors such as the price you set for your work, the purchaser's payment method, and the currency that the purchaser uses to purchase the VOD.
VAT rates are available online by searching for the buyer’s country's name and VAT.
In cases where a VOD purchase occurs in a VAT-applicable country, we are required to collect VAT on it because Vimeo is the merchant of record for all VOD transactions.
As such, we bear the responsibility of collecting VAT. In other words, because a sale itself is technically performed by Vimeo, VOD sellers aren’t selling directly to other countries - we are. In order to remain in compliance with VAT regulations, we therefore charge VAT on all sales made to purchasers in VAT-collecting countries.
It’s important to note that for these reasons mentioned, we collect VAT regardless of whether you've submitted a tax form. Please note that we are not able to return any of the taxes collected on sales of your VODs to you, even if you are a member of a tax exempt organization.
Any VAT that we collect is then remitted back to the appropriate tax authority in each country or region in a combined amount, along with all the other VAT collected during a given period (e.g. a quarterly remittance for the EU).
You’re welcome to adjust your current prices for currencies of VAT-collecting countries (currencies besides USD and CAD), since VAT will be taken out of the prices you charge viewers in those countries.
Vimeo charges a 10% VOD fee after transaction costs and any applicable taxes have been deducted, and you are paid out 90% of the remaining revenue.
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 Vimeo 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.
You’ll want to make sure that you’ve also verified your PayPal account as well (you can learn more 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, Vimeo 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 Vimeo 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. Also, keep in mind that people can opt in without having pre-ordered your title — and conversely, can pre-order without opting in.
Can I offer my VOD for free?
If you’re looking to grant free access to a Vimeo 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 here.
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 Vimeo 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.
I made a test purchase on my VOD. How can I return it to a coming soon/pre-order state?
It is not currently possible to return your VOD to “Coming Soon” or Pre-Order” status if you have purchases on the VOD—even if the purchases are your own. You’ll definitely want to keep this in mind before making any test purchases on your VOD.
What happens if I delete my VOD?
In general, we don’t recommend fully deleting a title from Vimeo On Demand. In most cases, you can simply unpublish a title, which will prevent future purchases and ensure that those who have already bought your title can still access it. Deleting a title will permanently clear all of your VOD Stats for that title and may cause a disruptive experience for your viewers, especially those who may have purchased the title outright.
That said, if you are sure you want to delete your VOD page, you must first unpublish the page. Once your title is unpublished, you can click “Delete this page” on the left hand side of your VOD page’s Settings.
If you have active rentals and purchases on your title, your VOD page will be deleted 30 days after your last rental expires. (This is because the people who paid the “Buy” price are guaranteed a 30-day window to back up their purchases.)
Then, once the deletion process is completed and all purchases have been honored, any videos associated with your title will be released back to your account with the “Only me” privacy setting. From there, you can make them public, delete them, or add them to a new VOD page.
What happens if I switch my purchase type (Rent/Buy to Subscription VOD)?
If you switch your VOD type to SVOD, Rent All & Buy All will be disabled, and your entire series will be available for Subscription only. This will allow you to set a recurring monthly price for access to your series and any videos you add to it. You may continue to offer individual episodes for Rent or Buy, and any past purchases will still be honored.
If we convert your title to subscription, we will not be able to switch it back! If you ever want to sell it without a subscription option, you would need to make a new page.
Viewer questions
What happens if I switch my purchase type (Rent to Buy)?
If you rent a title and like it so much that you want to buy it, that’s great! Just contact us and we'll be happy to help you get that taken care of.
If you need to cancel a recurring VOD subscription, log in to your Vimeo account, then go to your Billing Settings and choose the Purchases tab.
How can I get a refund for a VOD I purchased?
For security reasons, we require approval from VOD sellers before granting refunds for VOD purchases. If you'd like to request a refund directly from the seller, you can do the following:
- Send the seller a message from the VOD page. The "Message" button is located on the right hand side of the page, below the poster image.
- Explain that you were not satisfied with your purchase, and that you'd like to request a refund. Let them know that if they wish to grant a refund, we need them to send an email to support@vimeo.com with a) a link to your Vimeo profile, and b) a request to refund your purchase.
Can I use the VOD I purchased for public screenings?
The license issued to you when you rent or buy VOD work is for personal viewing only. It does not allow you to redistribute the work or show it publicly. You can find more information about this in our Payment Addendum.
With that said, you are welcome to reach out to the VOD seller directly to request their permission to share their work in this way. You can contact them by sending a private message through their profile page (please note that you must be following another Vimeo member to use the messaging feature, even if it's just the seller).
I am part of a tax exempt organization; can you refund the tax on my VOD purchase?
We are unable to refund any taxes included in your VOD purchase because tax exemption on Vimeo's site is only applicable to subscription and stock video purchases.
These exemptions are not extended to VOD purchases as additional tax is not added onto the purchase price.
How can I watch the VOD title that I purchased?
You can view the VODs you’ve bought at any time from the Purchases section of your account. You can get there by first logging in to Vimeo (you can go to this link to log in: https://vimeo.com/log_in). You’ll also want to make sure you're logging in with the correct email address! Hover over your profile picture in the top right corner of the page, then click “Purchases."
Next, select the ‘On-Demand’ tab, which will lead you to this page: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/purchases
There you'll find a list of your purchased and rented VOD titles.
You can also use our app to watch your VOD purchases and rentals on a mobile device by logging in and going to your Library (the middle “Bookmark” icon). Any videos you’ve bought will appear in both the Watch Later and Purchases sections there.
If you’re using a mobile device, you’re able to make those purchases available for offline viewing. To do so, just tap the three dots next to a video (or episode, if it’s a series) and select the “Make available offline” option to start the download. Once the download is finished, you’ll be able to find it in the Offline section of your Library.
Please note that you'll need to be logged in to the same Vimeo account you used to purchase the title originally. If you're not finding your purchases, you’ll want to log out, then back in, to ensure that you’re signed in to the correct account.
As a note, if the VOD seller hasn't enabled the 'download' option for videos purchased using the 'Buy' option when you purchase the VOD, enabling that after a purchase has been made won't retroactively grant that kind of access for buyers.