I read in a thread on dpreview that DXO customers need to purchase at least every other version in order to remain eligible for upgrade pricing. Is this correct?
In November 2023 I purchased an upgrade to the Nik Collection 6. I’m not ready to upgrade again to v7 at this time, but I wanted to confirm that I will still be eligible for upgrade pricing once v8 comes out. Thanks.
Yes to benefit from preferential tarif for updates you need a minimum a N-2 versions for PL P and NC.
You can check it here by clicking on "Are you Eligible? "
Welcome to the forum @drum
DxO has changed its upgrade policy a while ago and nothing can tell us how long the current one will be left as is. Some let you skip one version, others don’t.
For the Nik Collection, you might find the following page helpful:
https://support.dxo.com/hc/en-us/sections/4870505921693-Upgrading-Purchasing
From said page, you can get this info:
Why is my upgrade price the same as the new license pricing?
This information applies to version 4 and older, and non DxO-Versions
Our upgrade pricing policy is designed to reward customers who regularly upgrade
This needs some interpretation. As of December 2024, Nik Collection is v7 and Nik V4 and before must pay full price, which means that versions 5 and 6 can be upgraded with a discount. Often, there are additional discounts around black Friday and the holidays.
Whether this info is also good in 2025 or even 2026, no-one but DxO can tell - and they certainly won’t do that.
Thanks but that only tells me that I am eligible now. I’m trying to make sure of my eligibility in advance of the introduction of the next version.
As already explained, you can’t know that because no one knows what DxO will do in the future, and DxO will not say what they are going to do in the future.
Thanks. I saw that: “Our upgrade pricing policy is designed to reward customers who regularly upgrade their DxO software. Since you own an older version of our software, the pricing to upgrade to each version you ‘skipped’ would add up to more than the cost of a new license. We, therefore, offer the new license pricing instead.”
But nowhere on the website do they seem to spell out a rule about eligibility, if there is one.
It’s a little frustrating, as I mainly - and only occasionally - use Silver Efex, but I am not getting enough out of the entire package to justify a yearly upgrade. If DXO decides to only offer discounted pricing to those who upgrade every version they don’t want customers like me. (And probably vice versa.)
They can articulate eligibility rules, which is the reason for my post. Saying that DXO won’t say what they will do in the future ignores that they aren’t being clear about what current customers will be entitled to.
If we knew the future, we’d get rich playing Lotto!
As customers, we can only vote with our wallets or propose things, but we just get what DxO gives. If that’s not (good) enough, we’d better look elsewhere.
DxO is fairly proficient in technical areas, but transparent communications are not their main focus.
@Franky , I looked for that link and I’m glad you found it. Small print is sooo outdated!
If DXO clearly stated what purchasers are entitled to, including what versions of software they’re eligible to upgrade to, they’d be in line with many of their competitors, and people wouldn’t have to search in vain for that info then ask about it on user forums.
Lotto is a game of chance. DXO is a business which succeeds based on the quality of its products and the goodwill engendered by its (niche) customer base.
I really thought there was an answer to my question that my googling hadn’t found. I didn’t realize that DXO was being deliberately opaque.
I must admit that what you’re complaining about here isn’t clear to me at all. DxO makes it clear enough who is eligible for buying the current release at the reduced upgrade price. All you have to do to find out is go to store.dxo.com. But it seems to me that you want DxO to tell you right now if the current upgrade policy will apply to the next version of the software, which doesn’t exist and hasn’t been announced in any way. Is that right? Who would do that? Vendors set prices for products through public announcements, and no plans for the next release of Nik Collection have been announced to anyone (and never are).
We can reasonably surmise that if Nik Collection 8 is announced and released around mid-2025, DxO will continue to offer special upgrade pricing for customers who bought Nik Collection 7. As for Nik Collection 6, current policy suggests yes, but as others have said DxO could change that (and has every right to). They will announce this only when the next version of the Nik Collection is announced.
You can always ask support.dxo.com directly about it, but chances are they will tell you that you’ll have to wait for the answer.
Examples from DxO’s competitors would be helpful for any requests you submit to support.dxo.com asking DxO to either clarify their stated policies or publish them somewhere other than on the store pages and in the FAQs that have been linked to in this topic. Please just be aware that you might be comparing apples to oranges. Best wishes.
I asked about my eligibility for upcoming versions since I don’t want to upgrade to the current version. I think you missed that, as well as the fact that DXO only tells me I’m eligible for the current version, today, which is not a question I am asking.
Yes, you are asking about future policies…and again…only DxO can, but will not, tell.
grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.*
No I didn’t. Read it again:
DxO has been moving the cheese and progressing further and further with customer alienation policies. Forcing annual updates or taking away upgrade pricing,
DxO’s major competitor is a VC film (C1, Axcel). They are setting a pretty low bar for ethical behaviour.
Oh, and keep in mind, we sign away any right to resell our licenses. Probably even to pass them onto friends or families. This is likely illegal but it won’t stop DxO.
Oh and for extra good measure, DxO can and do deny license codes for older versions.
While they are at it, for the last few years DxO pocket the VAT of their business customers (against EU policies.
Sometime, somewhere there were some very good people working at DxO, trying to do wonderful things with photography and to enrich their customers lives. Have all those paladins passed away or retired?
In theory it can change at any time but ever since I bought the first DxO version of Nik (and photoLab for that metter) I have upgraded every second release and always been able to get discounted prices. The discounts aren’t always massive so that if you wanted to wait for every 4th release and pay full price you would still break even. That said, the jump in functionality from v6 to v7 made it a no-brainer, so I upgraded even though it was only one version. But I expect v8 to be less compelling.
As far as I know, it depends on the product. PhotoLab, PureRAW and the Nik Collection can skip a version without losing the upgrade discount. ViewPoint and FilmPack lose the upgrade discount when skipping a version.
I recall when those of us using Nik software as plug ins to Photoshop, were stranded when Nik intellectual property was sold to Google and they used it to create Snapseed as a mobile photo editing app.
later DXO acquired desktop rights to the Nik intellectual property, upgraded and sold the Nik plug ins, and started to incorporate the capabilities into PhotoLab.
Many of us immediately upgraded to the DXO Nik plug ins, hoping DXO would stay in business successfully and continue to maintain Nik plug ins.
I could not be happier, and I use Photolab as my main program now.
I hope DXO continues to succeed, stay in business, and support these products. I would be unhappy to be stranded again without these tools on the desktop. So I upgrade regularly.