I realize people need to make a living - but it seems like they could offer discounts for buying more than one. That would be reasonable. I mean, $35 a pop from ThemeHouse is a bit much - when there is no "frequent-buyer" thing.
Do themes cost too much?
- Thread starter Jason76
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Deleted member 8254
I agree, the theme i am looking for cost 30$ and when converted to INR the amount is big. But i respect authors effort in creating the theme and pricing it at 30 or above is decent. But as you said they can give some discounts 😀
So you live in Vermont or India?
It really depends on who's asking. The theme developers usually want remuneration for their hard work, while the webmasters obviously want to secure a bargain whenever possible.
$30 really isn't that expensive, all things considered, especially in contrast to custom themes which can go for over a thousand dollars. And it's not unusual to see many themes going for $80 for Wordpress and people snapping them up without batting an eye.
$30 really isn't that expensive, all things considered, especially in contrast to custom themes which can go for over a thousand dollars. And it's not unusual to see many themes going for $80 for Wordpress and people snapping them up without batting an eye.
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Deleted member 8254
I live in India
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Deleted member 44219
I know people need money to survive but I do agree that they cost a bit much. I'd say a Theme should cost only around £7 - £45
All they really do though is change the look and feel of your site to make it more attractive. They don't add anything new to it other than a cool look.
All they really do though is change the look and feel of your site to make it more attractive. They don't add anything new to it other than a cool look.
£5 basically buys you a sandwich around here. Maybe, a cheap drink too.
My internet bill alone is something on the order of $100 / month.
If it's priced too low, then you won't even be able to break even, let alone make a real living.
It really depends on the number of users though. If you have a million users, then even at $1 per head, you'll live like a king.
Edit: Currency exchange rates are tricky things, so I've tweaked this slightly.
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I think it's all about supply and demand. Themes on envato are overpriced. And often they rely on third party page builder that breaks it. So I think you should stick one company and find out their popularity and choose products accordingly.
I don't mind paying certain prices. I mean, there was a special offer for my theme on Envato and managed to snag it for around $30. It's the Envato fees and stupid "fund account" system that I hate. It makes buying anything from ThemeForest and other partner sites extremely expensive which is annoying because most are exclusively sold on there.
Not all themes aren't costly. Yes any site can pay whatever they want but end of the day each one of us want the best deal. I have an paid theme that cost around $25 for IPB (used to use IPSfocus theme). But like anything else you pay up in full then there is like $10 renew fee every six months or whatever the developers set it up. My old theme was like $28 then ever six months it's $15 for the licence, support and theme updates.
IPB is always updating and so the theme has to be able to be supported and work. Regards themes there is an theme I like that's $40 with $10 renew fee and that's very high detailed theme and heavy. Now that's costly.
What makes theme very costly (meaning over $100) is when you hire the developers to make your own private theme just for you site only. Buying themes of other stores is cheaper option then getting an theme made
IPB is always updating and so the theme has to be able to be supported and work. Regards themes there is an theme I like that's $40 with $10 renew fee and that's very high detailed theme and heavy. Now that's costly.
What makes theme very costly (meaning over $100) is when you hire the developers to make your own private theme just for you site only. Buying themes of other stores is cheaper option then getting an theme made
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Deleted member 44219
One thing I'd like to say is that there are really good themes out there that don't cost anything. One thing you'd have to always do is read reviews for something. If it looks good and has good reviews then get it; even if it costs money. If it doesn't look good but has good reviews then don't even get it; even if it's free.
Again, a lot of free themes are really good. But a lot of the theme creators you're listing will of course make higher quality themes which of course, cost. I've only used SMF whenever I started a forum but there were high quality themes on there. But that doesn't mean that other forum software have really bad themes. It comes down to the creators of these themes to make them look good.
Again, a lot of free themes are really good. But a lot of the theme creators you're listing will of course make higher quality themes which of course, cost. I've only used SMF whenever I started a forum but there were high quality themes on there. But that doesn't mean that other forum software have really bad themes. It comes down to the creators of these themes to make them look good.
Not to mention if your plugins will support the theme, might get an theme and never works an so you have to code and do some tweats yourself. I know allot like myself might get an free theme then edit the theme to there liken
When you consider the number of hours that go into designing and developing web pages—yes, forum themes included—all of the prices listed above are actually very inexpensive. I easily put 40 hours into my custom ProBoards themes, and while I charge $150USD, I'm still only making about $3.75 an hour. If I put just 20 hours into a theme, I'm barely over U.S. minimum wage ($7.25). That's not livable.
If a lesser-known designer spends two full work days (16 hours) building a simple pre-made theme and lists it for $20, selling 30 - 50 downloads, that's pretty good money for one theme. But now consider how many themes they would have to make in a year, averaging the same number of downloads, to make a living wage. (Hint: it's a lot)
ThemeHouse's UI.X 2 sells for $35, and has 5,000+ downloads. To estimate, they've grossed about $175k on that single theme. Now that feels like a lot of money (it is), but take into account that it's responsive, easy to customize, and likely built to work with popular XenForo plugins. $35 is a pretty good price. They put time into their themes, and have earned their money back tenfold.
In conclusion, I believe that these prices are reasonable. In fact, I'd argue that they should be higher.
If a lesser-known designer spends two full work days (16 hours) building a simple pre-made theme and lists it for $20, selling 30 - 50 downloads, that's pretty good money for one theme. But now consider how many themes they would have to make in a year, averaging the same number of downloads, to make a living wage. (Hint: it's a lot)
ThemeHouse's UI.X 2 sells for $35, and has 5,000+ downloads. To estimate, they've grossed about $175k on that single theme. Now that feels like a lot of money (it is), but take into account that it's responsive, easy to customize, and likely built to work with popular XenForo plugins. $35 is a pretty good price. They put time into their themes, and have earned their money back tenfold.
In conclusion, I believe that these prices are reasonable. In fact, I'd argue that they should be higher.
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You have to factor in not only the time spent by the designer but also what your community is worth to you. If you kind of care about the community, you'll kind of get results. Finding or creating the right theme can be a grueling task that takes a sharp eye and understanding of what the community represents. Even after that's accomplished there is constant tuning and reshaping.
Personally, I'd rather work with someone because of their passion, not their price. Go with what you can afford but don't intentionally cheap out if you don't have to. I believe $35 is a very fair rate, the only reason they're able to get away with such low pricing is because of the number of downloads they receive.
Personally, I'd rather work with someone because of their passion, not their price. Go with what you can afford but don't intentionally cheap out if you don't have to. I believe $35 is a very fair rate, the only reason they're able to get away with such low pricing is because of the number of downloads they receive.
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