Comments on: WordPress to Launch Theme Marketplace

By: Ben Cope

Ben Cope — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 15:35:54 +0000

I think the idea of a premium theme marketplace for WordPress is a good idea! More and more premium WordPress themes are popping up all over the place, and having a centralized place to find them is an excellent idea. However, as a premium Wordpress theme designer myself, I'm not so sure I would be willing to part with 50% of the sale, even if it meant selling more themes because of the exposure! I'd rather promote my WordPress Dream Theme myself and find affiliates to help me promote it!

By: Matt

Matt — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 16:07:07 +0000

“I made over $10,000 this year on WordPress themes alone. For this new service it would have cut my profits by 50%.”

Assuming you would sell the same amount of themes yes, and it would be in yours (and everyone else’s) economic self-interest to not participate in the marketplace. We think people will sell not only more themes, but to an audience that never would have considered them before.

Before calling me a douche, why not wait to see how the marketplace does for the dozens of people who have already signed up to have their themes in there? It’s not like adsense where there’s a gag clause, we want people to discuss their experiences because the transparency aids the development of the market in the long-term.

By: sethuhdiah

sethuhdiah — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 03:33:29 +0000

50/50 is too much. Why have 1 centralized place for the best premium themes and lose half of your time? Independent designers can still work together to make sufficient wp themes. Anyway I think its bullcrap, wordpress is supposed to be one of the best open source tools out there. Now their tryin to steal half our money.

You just inspired me to buy a new domain: http://www.buywpthemes.com. I tell you what, ill split profit 25/75 :)

By: Michael Martine

Michael Martine — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 23:52:50 +0000

Leanne has it right: the unbelievable volume means you will make good dough at 50% (sure, a higher cut would be nice, but you will still make good money if your theme is popular). If you put a link to yourself in the footer you will also get backlinks by the thousands.

By: The Web Tools Blog

The Web Tools Blog — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 23:05:17 +0000

This rocks!

Do people not see the opportunity in this? I don’t see it as hypocritical.

I hope to have a theme or two up for sale.

-Thomas

By: Leanne

Leanne — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 19:39:37 +0000

As I understand it now – this is meant for users of wordpress.com only – there are free themes, and then there will be premium themes available for purchase. These will not be unique (buy once, own the original) but the more users select your theme and pay for it, the more cash goes to the designer. The better the design, the more people will select that design to “upgrade” to.

Not such a bad thing.

By: Caroline Middlebrook

Caroline Middlebrook — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 09:59:51 +0000

I think everybody is entitled to profit from the work that they do. However, taking a 50% cut is a bit much imo. I think the designers should get more like 75-80% cut.

By: Alfredo

Alfredo — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 08:05:36 +0000

I for one would love to give away themes for free as long as they dont remove my links.

By: Blogging Experiment

Blogging Experiment — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 02:00:26 +0000

Hmm… We’re actually just getting ready to release our theme for sale. It’s going to be interesting to see how this plays out. I mean are there going to be certain levels of quality that have to be met before it will be placed on the site? What if someone just rips off another person’s work and puts it up for sale?

It’s too early to tell whether this will be good or bad for the community IMO. It does seem a bit hypocritical though given Matt’s previous stance on sponsored themes. Maybe it’s an “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” thing?

By: Jeff Quindlen

Jeff Quindlen — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 01:29:05 +0000

50% profit. You have to be kidding. That’s a slap in the face. You’re telling me that WordPress gets the other 50% for listing it there?

Why not post the theme in a forum full of webmasters like DigitalPoint and keep 100% of the profit? I made over $10,000 this year on WordPress themes alone. For this new service it would have cut my profits by 50%.

Matt is such a douche.

By: Michael Martine

Michael Martine — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 01:14:33 +0000

I’ve had two themes become choices for people who sign up for wordpress.com blogs. They are used in thousands of blogs. Anybody who gets a theme to become popular on Matt’s new gig will make some good coin, I think. I’m sure they will tie this into the wordpress.com service.

By: Steve McGrath

Steve McGrath — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 01:08:21 +0000

Jason: You did not need to paste the whole thing ;)

I have been with WordPress since February and I did not know who Matt was. He might be well known in the design community/bloggers but it’s regular folks like me who might buy a theme.

Like Leanne wrote, some designers may need him to start and are willing to give a cut and it’s ok with me. I’m just offering another choice for the others to showcase their free themes. If they can make money with custom work after that, then good for them.

Many designers make great stuff when then redo a popular bloggers theme.

Thanks Jason showing me that he was THAT important to some :D

By: Lou

Lou — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 00:55:28 +0000

I Don’t think Matt’s being hypocritical.

While I have nothing against hidden links that don’t affect my sites performance, and still use sponsored designs,many of these designs were just plain hard to work with and buggy. The links had misleading titles, and the sites were nothing but spam.

It’s hard to see how these designs helped support WordPress or the designers themselves.

By: Jason

Jason — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 00:48:15 +0000

“I put a Blog theme/plugin category on 1 Cool File. You just announce it there and make 100% of the profit. If it’s free(like now) then it’s no problem. But you can use the click the Buy Now button showing the price and it would go to your purchase site.

Am I missing something here?”

The only difference is everybody’s going to be going to Matt’s site.

By: Leanne

Leanne — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 00:45:53 +0000

I suppose if a designer needs to use Matt’s name in order to get established or known, that’s the price they’re going to pay to do that. Great for premade stuff, but there’s still people looking for completely custom/original work and that wouldn’t be the place to get it.

I wonder how those fees are going to be established, and also how fees for customizations, if any are offered, would be handled.

By: Steve McGrath

Steve McGrath — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 00:36:45 +0000

I put a Blog theme/plugin category on 1 Cool File. You just announce it there and make 100% of the profit. If it's free(like now) then it's no problem. But you can use the click the Buy Now button showing the price and it would go to your purchase site. Am I missing something here?

By: Carlo Selorio

Carlo Selorio — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 00:32:05 +0000

This is awesome!!!

I wanted to know where all the great wordpress designers are. I know a few great blog designers but right now, their price is too high for me.

Thanks for letting us know.

Cheers,
Carlo Selorio

By: Michael Martine

Michael Martine — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 00:23:27 +0000

You know, normally I’d be the first to call foul, but sponsored themes as they’ve been done so far really don’t have anything to with this. Giving a 50% cut to designers from themes sold in a “themes marketplace” (or whatever) is a totally different idea. I don’t see it as hypocritical at all. In fact, it seems perfectly in line with everything Matt’s done so far.