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It’s hard to believe there was a time when the Envato Marketplaces existed without a WordPress category, and yet that is the case when the site was launched over 3 years ago. The complexity and quality of themes available have continued to march forward at an ever faster pace over the years. Our community has lovingly created some absolute masterpieces, with capabilities that would put the Google AI self-driving car to shame!
Earlier this year we planned on a price increase and began work analysing the data we had available. However, after considerable analysis we noted that not only was a price increase needed, but also a general improvement to our classification of themes and price points. In essence we felt we required a new pricing structure starting from scratch. After much discussion we’ve developed a new pricing guideline that captures the varying theme complexity and functionality and will help our review team apply a more consistent set of pricing criteria to the category.
The new WordPress pricing structure is based on the following 4 bands:
- $25-30 – Simple or single page themes. For example mobile themes
- $35-40 – Standard themes
- $45-50 – Themes with advanced functionality. Includes flexible themes or niche applications.
- $55-60 – Highly complex themes. Typically this would be eCommerce, BuddyPress, job board or payment gateway integration.
The bands provide some discretion for minor variations in complexity and feature set based on the reviewer’s judgement.
With the new pricing structure in place over 1700 items were reviewed for price by three different ThemeForest reviewers. That is a lot of reviewing and a lot of data generated by the team. In a limited subset of the more controversial cases the review team went back and reviewed the price a further 3 times!
No item fell in price and most items saw a price increase on the order of $5.00. There was an extremely limited number of items that we removed on the basis that these items no longer meet the requirements for the WordPress category. Similarly a small group of items see their prices jump a more significant amount in the new classification structure.
Overall, we’re rather pleased with the outcome. We think the new prices and pricing structure better represents the range of amazing themes that our authors have to offer. And while the prices have increased, we still feel very strongly that themes from ThemeForest represent outstanding value for money and judging by the huge volume of sales through ThemeForest, we know that our buyers feel the same way too!
AAAAAAWEEEESSSSOMMMEEE!
Wow, a nice end to my night
Thanks for continuing to provide outstanding market wherewithal, Envato!
You should do something about multisite licence issue.
3000$ for 1 theme is just unacceptable.
I think it’s pretty cheap. You can hire a designer and get PSDs for only $1.5k-ish. And you get it coded. AND YOU GET AN EXTENDED LICENSE? What more do you want?
I agree. Too much.
I agree too $3000 – def way way to much!
good news for authors
bad news for super buyers like yourself =P
Just 2 days ago I deposited $90 with the intention to purchase 2 themes at $45. I bought the first license. And was testing the whole night.
Then before I can put in the order for the remaining $45, the price of the theme went up to $55.
This observation from marketing/PR:
A better PR strategy by Envato would be to inform potential buyers of the impending increase, so it would be felt like short-changed, while also generating a timeline for people sitting on the edge to buy/inform their company/project budget to push thru and purchase before the deadline. (which might have generated good sales)
Sadly for Buyers
Just amazing guys, this will increase my earnings
Thank you for the update.
Cheers, RDever
Whoa! Thanks so much.
I feel cheated. Why you don’t announce that in advance and give your customers at least 1 day time to purchase at the old price? I was deciding between two themes and they now cost 10 usd more. just from yesterday to today. not a nice move. I was very close to the purchase-button and now I feel very stupid. the price was actually the big advantage of envato-themes. now you come closer to competitors …
just quote a $10 extra in the estimation of the site
It’s just $10…
Yes some feeling with Doreen. I already deposited $90 with the intention of buying two themes. I placed the order for 1 theme while testing it. Now my other $45 deposited is kind of in limbo. The theme that I wanted to buy (same theme but to be installed on another site) is now increased to $55.
There is no option to deposit another $10. Minimum is $20.
So users/potential buyers on the fence now feel short-changed.
I also agree with Doreen!
I had 2 themes that I was deciding on and was about to buy one actually today. I’ve already deposited more money last week and now I’ll have to deposit even more money. I was given no notice of these price changes
Wow thanks
My items price increased
Thanks So Much Envato
Good News for WP authors
As a WP themes buyer, I think these new prices are fair. Specially considering the quality of the themes and the support and license you get with them.
I am a buyer and I totally agree about the higher Prices.The Quality of the themes is really outstanding and many people pay a lot more for the designing the new layout on their websites.
I do not have a problem to give $50 for a professional and responsive design… Still supporting you Envato! Keep on the good work
Looks fair for the WP authors taking into account the efforts to create a theme. As a buyer I do not find any big difference. The more advanced themes which are well explained by the authors save me a lot of time when deleloping a website. So, why not to pay a slightly higher price.
Great News !!!
Woot! *happy dance*
Long overdue. Awesome guys !!
Great news. Thank you.
Wow! amazing news from envato!
Yeah, finally we got it
Thanks.
Niceeeee!!!
Soo… What new stuff comes along with the price increase? Or is supply low and the demand is high? No? Nothing? So it’s a price increase to just increase income, if so, that’s really cool! You guys are the best. I was actually hoping to pay more and not get anything extra, but who wasn’t?
Or it could be that the prices were unreasonably low before, and they’ve now been brought nearer to a competitive market value to keep authors contributing to the site?
Only maybe though, ya know, cause we all like unnecessary sarcasm don’t we?
Are you kidding me? They saw a way to try and make more money and leaped on it. It’s not about the authors, it’s about themselves. If you think for a second it’s actually meant to help everyone else, your crazy. Saying “it’s for the authors” is a gimic just to sell the idea.
Unnecessary sarcasm? Yeah, that’s me.
awesome
As a BUYER on ThemeForest I can’t be more happier! There are some themes there that were heavily under priced! $5 extra are less than one coffee, but this means happier designers, and happier designers create better stuff and offer better support! Congratulations guys (and by guys I mean WP creators), you deserved this!
Just a note to other buyers. Please consider that in order to have one of these themes custom made you need to pay $3000+, maybe a bit less if you do your research right (that’s a big maybe). This kind of puts a $5 increase in perspective, doesn’t it?
+1
WTF?? How much cost a coffee in your country?
I agree with new prices, really, but this cannot be done without announce that in advance, sorry.
Agree.
if you hire someone to do that, it’ll cost at least 3k.
The quality will increase (happier designers/coders = better themes) and 5 bucks won’t kill nobody.
It amazes me that people complain about a $10 increase. A theme from here even at $60 is a bargain.
Probably coming from the same people that think a fully functioning ecommerce site should not cost more than $200.
Seriously, what do you want?
I like the move. Long overdue.
as a buyer I think it’s ok. You have to increase prices from time to time and the quality in general is amazing. Fair enough!
Thank you. This is fantastic news.
Need to get into theming. Is it really complicated? I do custom theme development for clients, but I don’t know how granular themes need to be.
Loving this. Thank you so much for making ThemeForest THE place to build WP themes for!
Great news
. thank u so much Envato!
1 day notice would have been excellent
I think it’s just courteous to make a announcement about a price increase before the fact.
Excellent news for the authors and to be honest, like Damon mentioned above, a fully-functional theme for 60$ is indeed a bargain, so complaints are pointless at this time.
You need to see the full picture. As a buyer I do save time and effort by buying themes.
But I still need to set it up, which most of the times is really messy. Only few themes was in good quality to “plug-and-play”.
All others needed sometimes more than a day of “attention”. And believe me I’m not new to WordPress.
Above all that you need to remember I get a design that many other sites have.
And last point- there is a high competition out there. More and more independent sellers and new market places.
I think this price change is actually in it’s worth timing. and a really bad desicion. It’s a good new for many other theme developers though.
This is good news !
I don’t know if it’s that good for authors. Imho this increase was just too steep.
I predict more and more people will just download themes from filesharing sites. We see it already often enough in the comment sections. People ask for support for themes they didn’t buy and without any intention of buying. That amount of people will most likely increase.
Many decent people download illegal copies and buy the real thing if they like the product, except if they simply can’t afford the product (see Adobe).
So $50 for a wordpress blog page???
I say times have never been better to start your own filesharing business
HI Jason, in a similar vein to the old-school music CD business, a price increase of $10 to $20 in music CD album will drive users to filesharing download instead of purchasing. Ya good analogy.
But how so for the filesharing of the WordPress themes? Isn’t there a license key that is supposed to protect the installation?
This sucks. Quality is bad as it is already at ThemeForest and now we have to pay even more. Why not apply a subscription plan or something instead? Have spent to many $ on bad templates already. If one buy 10 items perhaps 2 of them is qualified as premium or even usable.
Agreed. Every theme I’ve bought so far was a complete disappointment.
I vote pro but more freedom in theme pricing for authors is needed. Why am I not allowed to lower the price of my theme(s)?
Global economy is in deep sh.. and $10 for someone without a job might be a lot.
I dont think its ok… 35$ was a nice price for a normal wordpress theme, now 40/45$ is to much for me…
Great there is other maketplaces to choose from…
Which marketplaces, I’ve been through them all and there’s nothing as good as this one, but am always open to checking out new ones.
…and the prices of the other marketplace? i see that the price for a wordpress theme in the other marketplace is 70-75$.
And are themes with 1 slider (not 8 sliders), 1 portfolio page (not 10 different layouts) and so on..
Hi,
I don’t complain about prices increase but I’d prefer if this was coming with some improvement in Envato services like:
1) notify when an items has been upgraded
2) a more reliable support system (at least allow searching inside comments, if not a mini forum)
3) rating for item support from developer
so, please, don’t only increase prices but parallel also increase services
I agree with all 3 of your improvement ideas, but keep in mind that prices haven’t gone up in the 3+ years I’ve been a member and the improvements to the functioning of the marketplace have gone up a lot.
Hi Jamie,
as I said, even if I think that this is a counterproductive choice, I don’t complain about price.
But regarding services, I used Envato and Themeforest for 3+ years too and the only improvement that I have seen is the increasing in variety of offer, not in services.
The comment system is still the same (inadequate for support),
if you buy some items need to continuously check if it’s updated (and if you are buyer know what I mean)
and still no way to rate support, that isn’t obligatory (but in other marketplaces it’s granted) but that it’s the real measure of developer’ success.
In forum there are a lot of requests about these but still no light at the end of the tunnel.
So, I think that prices was competitive and good before but, at least, if increase them, increase clients assistance too.
I totally agree!
Increase in prices must go hand in hand with increase in service.
As a loyal buyer I find these prices too high.
The main advantage of this marketplace is to get themes for very attractive price so we don’t have to think twice before buying and not to look for themes in other places.
Developers – don’t think this new prices serve you better, you are on the same boat with envato, and the sales ain’t growing or staying at the same level, you will be affected of it.
I truely believe there is no good reason to raise the prices like that. $55-$60 is of course worth the time of the design and development but is not attractive compared to other marketplaces. Why to change things when everyone is happy? Envato seems to be happy, developers seems to be happy and buyers (at least me) was very happy. Why you had to change this balance ?
Which other marketplace has the selection and quality like ThemeForest for WordPress themes?
Perfect analyze Mr. I agree with you. Now envato doesn’t rocks.. anymore.. High Prices!!
I’ve purchased 11 WP themes from TF and only one was a little disappointing, the rest were great.
I would’ve easily paid $5 to $10 more per theme. I see worse themes on other websites sell for much more.
The argument that people are saying some of the themes aren’t good, is not a valid argument, if you buy a theme and it isn’t good you should ask for a refund. No matter what the price is, if a theme is no good it’s no good, it has nothing to do with the price.
I’m going to second Jamie here.
I’ve used ThemeForest themes for most of my client work for 2 years now and I can sincerely say, the quality of themes has only gone up, not down. Sure, you can find themes here that are not as good as the ones most elite authors produce but like Jamie said – if you’re not 100% satisfied, it’s always ok to ask for a refund.
Jason said: “So $50 for a wordpress blog page???”
I’m sorry Jason, but I have to ask: Are you for real? Seriously.
For one, it’s a bit hard for me to understand how a $5-10 raise in one theme’s price could be a complete turnoff if the theme is otherwise excellent? Second: The “average theme” sold here today allows us to do a heck of a more than the most top of the line themes here did just a year ago. I think it’s more than fair that this shows in the item price. A wordpress blog page? Come on man.. if you buy a $50 theme here, it most definitely allows you to do a LOT more than just throw together a simple “blog page”.
Don’t get me wrong. I too agree that Envato should have made a better announcement about the price change (especially, if you just deposited money for theme shopping a day before the raise). But I also think that it’s very disrespectful for most of the great authors here to just come and say that most of their work here is rubbish. I could not disagree more on that and I’m not even a theme author here yet!
Holodigit: Great suggestions. Better service is always very welcome.
Have you guys implemented the Envato WordPress Toolkit for your themes (http://notes.envato.com/general/envato-wordpress-toolkit/)? I recall this allows theme update notifications & upgrade straight from the theme? I think that would be a great start!
Cheers!
- Juha
Hi Juha,
“Have you guys implemented the Envato WordPress Toolkit for your themes (http://notes.envato.com/general/envato-wordpress-toolkit/)? ”
Actually no, because I was not aware about it, even if I subscribed on Envato newsletter, nothing about this has been communicated but instead I receive regularly news about offers
The system seems good even if a bit complicate, but no need this, was enough a newsletter that client can subscribe if interested in updates and a button that changes colour in “Download” item page so if your item is upgraded the button change and say “Upgrade available” with a green colour.
This is easy to implement and works with all items, not only on WP themes.
Some people are just going to complain.
As someone who frequently delivers WP sites, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this marketplace and the great designers.
Out of all the themes I’ve bought, I think one was a little disappointing. But, damn, it cost $35, so no big loss.
If raising the price of a theme $10 causes your business plan to implode, it wasn’t that good to start with.
Hi Juha,
Just wanted to say a huge THANK YOU for mentioning the Envato WordPress Toolkit. I had no idea that that existed and had previously set up various page monitors to detect changes on envato for all my themes. The toolkit is by far a better solution, so thank you for bringing it to my attention.
In regards to the price rises, I agree and think it’s a good thing for the long term. It should hopefully make a greater difference to the authors than the inconvenience to the buyers, which will eventually lead to better design and support for the buyers. Win win.
I do however agree that Envato should absolutely have given us all a grace period, perhaps one week where they said via mass email: prices will rise by $5-10 on Friday.
One thing I would like to see Envato introduce is a discount for buying the same theme twice. That way you could run it on an additional site and know all of it’s quirks. Every theme takes a bit to get your head around the way the designer has set it up. This would encourage me to stop wasting time on a new theme every time I build an additional site, that may perfectly suit the last theme I purchased. Anyone else agree?
Cheers,
Damian
As a buyer of a fairly large number of themes, I have to agree that the price increase is fair and you get a great product, most of the time.
However, I have had a few disappointments. I would actually be willing to pay more if there were some way to evaluate more details about how the theme is constructed before buying. In a few cases I ended up buying three and even four different themes for a single website because the first two proved too convoluted or limited in functionality, and there was no way to evaluate such things ahead of time. In those cases I spent as much as $160 for what was essentially a single theme, which starts to get a bit uncomfortable. I’ve seen people talk about refunds but I didn’t think that was possible. Is it true that you can get a refund in cases like that?
But having built websites since 2003 and knowing how much work is involved in not only the initial design but writing the increasingly complex CSS and JQuery we need these days for good WordPress design, I have no problem at all with the pricing itself. It’s still a bargain, and most ThemeForest authors go out of their way to provide more than required in terms of documentation and support.
Well, I quit. Time to go to gaaks
There is a courtesy to notify people about the price increase. I was unable to decide between two themes and then postponed my decision. Now I see an increase of $10. I feel like cheated.
And people who are saying its JUST $10 and themes at $60 are a bargain, please do rememeber that not everyone earns and spend in dollars. For you it a cup of coffee may cost $5 but for several others like us we can buy 50 cups in the same price.
An unfair decision.
+1 With you on this.
Some folks have to remember that it’s a global marketplace.
North American or European price differential may be small, but that increase means a significant reduction in margins for me, and many others around the world.
As a buyer of themes I am very happy to hear this – ThemeForest templates are of much better quality than competitors so hopefully this encourages a bit more quantity.
Still the best deal out there.
Lovely move! and great decision. Wishing a good luck for all the buyers and the sellers as well. As @gabriela said that is true. A better price means better design and better support from the theme authors
Whilst I agree that some of the themes are still good value at $55, some are not.
I think it should be mandatory that the theme developers have their own dedicated forum for support. Trawling through 20 pages of comments is not adequate.
Also, some theme developers never update their themes, even after the same bugs are mentioned quite a few times in the comments.
For me personally, I only buy themes that have a support forum and a few updates in the change log.
That being said, there are some theme authors that are extremely good, and I tend to purchase their new releases without question.
Totally agree – the price increase could be justified if there was a standardised level of support required, but unfortunately Envato has certainly viewed the sale as being ‘as is’ with no guarantee that the author has to provide any form of support.
Also agree that there are some theme authors who are doing a great job with support. If only they were all the same!
Please make the WP themes at least $ 500, I will be very happy to see the people around here to stop selling templates as their own work and making me low down my custom coded work
Bad news for buyers like me
Won’t be using themeforest anymore. Chalk one more off to supply/demand.
I bought my first WP theme 3 years ago for 50 bucks (not at Envato) with much less functionality than what you can buy now for less. So $45-50 is really affordable. 10 bucks make or break your website budget? Really? How many of you are sipping a $4 latte complaining about the price increase? And no, I have not a single item on sale at Envato.
If quality and details deserve a certain price – i totally agree. Prices are too low anyway, aren’t they
A better differentiation is long overdued, IMHO.
But I am curious, why it is changed for WordPress category only? That should apply to all theme categories!
Not sure why the complaining. As a developer (wordpress) I charge over 100.00/hour. Let me assure you I cannot develop an entire theme in an hour.
It’s really embarassing to read certain comments about how a bump of 5 or even 10 $ can be considered unfair at any level. It’s one of the biggest downside of the internet era, where many people got accustomed to the fact that “electronic” or creative works have no value.
None ever complains about his new bike if the price goes up because it has a new frame design or some carbon components. But about the hours of work, the dedication people put into developing a WP theme or supporting customers, adding new features or experimenting with news standards, latest browser requirements, mobile compatibility, etc…all this must be just rubbish, since is not even worth 5 $.
Am I one of the few that realized how much WP themes are evolved in the last 5 years? By the way the solution is pretty simple, people complaining about new pricings should simply keep on buying old themes, the once wich very likely didn’t had any price bump. Then if you think, for various reasons, that those old themes don’t fit your needs because they seem old and a bit primitive, well then you’ll get what your paying for with those 5 dollars more…
No one in your part of the world maybe, but the rest of us don’t have access to $1000 bicycles. $50 is a new bike here, and close on a weeks salary for many.
I don`t know why people are complaining about a 5-10$ increase? i`ve been buying themes and items here for over 2 years and most of the themes i bought deserved more than 35$.
of course, there were 2-3 themes in the course of 2 years which were crap; i never requested a refund, i just never buy from that author again.
as many others said before me: the value of the price increase is the equal to a coffee, or 2 packs of cigarettes. if your business fails because of 5-10$ you have to pay extra, then start looking for work in an other field.
Hmm, I’m not so sure about this price increase. To get a web designer would cost more, that’s not in question.. But the prices are creeping ever closer to the competition. And the huge difference is you get guaranteed support.
For example, woothemes – one theme costs $70 but it comes with a reasonable level of support. (For the record, I’m not a fan of woothemes in the slightest!)
Too many themes on ThemeForest don’t have sufficient support to justify the price increase (there are notable exceptions and some theme developers do a brilliant job). Envato view themes as being sold ‘as is’ so it’s suddenly only value for money if the theme works as expected.
I’m mindful of purchasing a theme last year that simply didn’t work.. Eventually received a full refund and the theme was removed but without the guarantee of quality, its hard to take this price increase.
Bad news
A few points seem to have been expressed:
1. Providers love the price increase
2. Some buyers dislike the price increase, which means, providers will get fewer sales. (Not so much whaheeying now huh!)
3. The increase should have been reported in advance.
I would guess that not many would disagree with the third point.
But what happens with the next $10 price hike, and the next and the next.
From what I know the themes are still good value for money, but with every increase I become less happy.
For the moment everyone is still a winner.
Whilst the price increases are arguably fair there is a price threshold which may be being crossed in some instances which make otherwise ‘casual’ purchases ‘considered’ones.
At the old price point I would possibly buy up to 3 themes from a shortlist and trying them out to find the best solution/functionality for a client. For me this makes a $10 general price increase on a deployment $30. It’s frankly impossible to establish how a theme might function without installing it and frequently issues arise that stunning layouts can be achieved with a given theme but only by using multiples of nested shortcodes which are way beyond a clients capabilities whilst bumping up the price.
So now I’ll be buying one theme from an author I’m familiar with rather than trying out 3 from authors previously unknown to me. The argument saying ‘where could you get a website to ‘this’ standard for under $3000′ is nonsense.
Firstly, it’s not unique, secondly this is a market place – as a developer you take your chances and also have the potential to earn much more than a single site development. If you can’t stand the heat …
Splitting customer ratings into more detailed categories would be very helpful, particularly as mentioned regarding quality of support. If a forum is used for support, there should be a compulsory email notification of responses as I often have 3 or 4 outstanding queries and have to jump between the same amount of forums checking for responses. Very inconvenient.
To conclude, I feel new authors will feel a squeeze, there will be far less ‘oh sod it, lets buy it and try it’ sales.
I was hoping that while these changes were implemented you would also add search filters for ‘Responsive’ themes?
why the change was made in this class only; It is a matter of merchantability or …
I don’t know who did the research but it’s clear it’s not from this Earth or it’s not a marketing and sales specialist.
Any price that is going up will affect sales in a bad way. You will notice after 1 year when you will decide to go back to old price table.
And I’m not telling you this from the buyer’s perspective, but from a developer and marketing specialist one.
Good luck
Its good for Authors and bad for buyers.
At least there should be a future date for prices to be affective.
So that buyers could make their current buying decisions.
Envato is no thinking from the buyers perspective. (Sorry for being rude)
If prices are increased based on extended functionality and support then $5-10 is not a big ask as long as quality is good. An author should get extra for the extra effort he/she put in its product.
But the main point is the manner in which the prices are increased.
First the announcement should be made about future date for prices to be effective, then prices could be increased.
It is not the way that you do it out of the blue.
How about plugins? Any price revisions?
I can understand the price increase, as many of the themes here are of excellent quality and my experience of support has also been pretty good.
But, I think the biggest complaint from buyers, and being one myself, is that of no notice in advance of the price increase. Hopefully, Envato will learn from this if / when they implment any other changes that affect their users.
I can also agree with the comments regarding specific forums / mini forums to offer support for the various themes available. This is something that will make the existing issue of trawling through potentially hundreds of comments on popular themses much less of a chore.
Will the price increase stop me buying themes? No, as there are some fantastic ones available that make the process of lower cost website development a much easier prospect.
As has been mentioned before, if your business model can’t sustain a raise in cost this small then the model wasn’t built on a solid foundation.
Just my 2p worth on the topic :0)
+1 on that Paul, except the last para where you say the rise in cost is small. I work in a part of the world where we are trying to get small local enterprises online to sell their products to a wider audience. I have lived in the US and the UK and can fully understand why many are shocked at folks complaining about a “measly” $10 increase. However, here when a group of baobab harvesters has no more than $250 budget to get online, it makes a difference.
Really cross about the lack of notice though, it’s really made a mess of several proposals…
It’s not the price increase that bothers me, but how Envato did it without any regards or respect for buyers and the community.
Buyers should have been warned before hand.
You ask me why? I will tell you…
I had sent quotations to a couple of customers and now I cannot go back them and say something else…
When we make a quotation we make a commitment with the customer.
For some irresponsible people that is not a great deal, but to a responsable and professional business it is…
I could present you other arguments… But I arrest my case.
Bad move from Envato, bad news for other people’s business but I do agree some authors deserve it.
LOL, I used ThemeForest (and the other sites) from the beginning, and I didn’t even know the prices were set by Envato. I thought they were set by the authors, and often wondered why they were so low.
To be honest, I think a small price increase like this shouldn’t matter a bit for any person who creates sites for a living. And if it does, there are thousands free templates around, some of them even from Envato themselves. So stop whining, go to work and feel blessed you can buy a professional template to work with, for a relatively tiny fee.
I have agree with some of the other comments concerning the sudden price hike,a warning would have been nice and respectful after all you need us as much as we need you.
But my main beef with this is that I’ve bought themes @ $35 now that same theme is $50 and we all know it’s one license per site.
So at the moment i see it as win for Envato win for Authors and tough titty for Buyers.We should be given the option to purchase themes at the original price the ones that we’ve bought before,i think if you don’t even things up a bit your encouraging people to not play by the rules.
Because to pay more money for the same thing is pretty dumb in my book if it’s for clients you just add it to the bill there none the wiser but i buy for me and on principle alone there’s no way am i gonna pay $35 for one site and $50 for the same theme on another as i said that’s dumb.
Authors applaud while buyers weep. I like for authors to make money but the hike is steep. Going from $35 to $50 is a 42% increase — what’s the rationale?
Were you seeking more profits? Were you having trouble keeping up with expenses?
This is what drives people to the torrent sites to post and look for themes. Bad move envato — I used to really like you guys. I don’t believe you studied this situation adequately and you hurt quite a few of your devoted buyers… I guess all good things eventually come to an end.
Many of these themes look redundant to me. Anyone else has the same opinion? Box on top then 3 little icon boxes or photo boxes below…..there u go.
And $10 difference is a lot to the poster above. I totally understand him. Why pay $10 more for something he saw yesterday for $5.
In next price adjustment, at least give people 2-3 days notice before just going and changing prices out of the blue
Seems that Envato started messing up a core differentiating feature which was awesome pricing. You could learn from Netflix a thing or two! No doubt that designers deserve every penny but you are only pushing super low budgeted customers out and looking into ripped themes 80% of envato’s marketplace !
I buy an average of 8 themes per week. This is about $400/mo or approx 3K/year extra cost for me!
Thanks Envato, just don’t starting monthly membership fee now!
This is what happens when companies become greedy. They mess up a perfectly working pricing scheme.
It was working perfectly for customers but not for theme developers.
From the $35 a theme was worth, the theme developer was getting $16 – $25. Considering the work involved in design and development of a theme, that is not a lot. Then there are updates for themes as well. And when you count in the time it takes for support as well, then $16 – $25 is really low.
There are a lot of customers who buy a theme for $35, do minor customization, add content and charge their client $1000 – $2000. For them paying $5 – $10 more (in very very rare occasions $15 – $20) is not a lot.
Then, there are those who buy a theme for their own use, no client. They can set up a website in few days and they’ll pay for the theme less then they pay annually for hosting (cheapest). I don’t see why they should be revolted about this pricing adjustment.
Just my thoughts on this…
Although $5-10 is not a big deal, but please don’t compare marketplace theme with a bespoke solution.
Agreed it takes a lot of effort, skills and time to create it but In a marketplace theme, a buyer gets the COPY of a theme which is sold to multiple people (some time thousands of people).
In this way, the author has to potential to get hundreds of thousands of dollar e.g U-design WP theme.
Simple Sociology Challenge – those who proclaim it is not a big deal, then please put that $10 needed for me to complete my purchase. The one who accepts this challenge will be immortalized in a totally radical thank-you page.
The majority of you seem to say the rise is no big deal.
This obviously depends upon how many you are buying though.
For the larger buyers it certainly is a big deal and as someone else said it does add an incentive for the buyer to shop around rather than just come here and click buy.
At the new prices it doesn’t take many purchases for some of the other subscription based ones to seem like the best value.
There are some great value ones out there especially as we are in economically tough times there are deals to grab.
I honestly see the volume of sells for each theme now going down.
Bought my first theme at http://www.mojo-themes.com in pure protest. But i bought one theme and got satisfied. At ThemeForest i had to buy several themes to get what i wanted. Yes, i can read, but most of the times the theme declarations does not ad up, or the quality is bad overall. And this is what we now days will pay more money for. So the issue is more a quality vs. money thing. Please increase the price, but at the same tine increase you quality check.
It’s been two weeks and not a single person who claims “nah ten bucks is nothing” came forward. What a sham.
Will the price increase stop me buying themes? No, as there are some fantastic ones available that make the process of lower cost website development a much easier prospect.