The ThemeForest marketplace consists of independent designers who build their own products. ThemeForest doesn’t actually build the themes. It simply provides a simple way for designers and developers to interact with each other in a secure environment. This often benefits both parties. Designers get to earn extra money selling their templates and themes online. Developers get to take advantage of low-price designers made by professionals.

In some ways, ThemeForest is like many other online markets. Amazon, for instance, has thousands of independent sellers using its site to reach buyers. ThemeForest is similar, but it concentrates on selling website themes and templates. Like other marketplaces, ThemeForest takes a small cut of the purchase price. The rest goes to the designer.

ThemeForest Top Features

Perhaps the best thing about ThemeForest is that it gives buyers access to themes and templates designed to fit a huge range of platforms, including WordPress and Tumblr. You can also purchase items specifically designed for email and HTML. If you need CMS or eCommerce features, you can find them through ThemeForest, too.

ThemeForest makes it pretty easy to browse your options. The website’s search feature will show you options that match your specific request. You can also browse by designer and popularity. The Envato team handpicks a few featured items each month. If you don’t know where to start, you can always trust these features designs.

ThemeForest Prices

ThemeForest has over 19,000 themes and templates, so it’s not surprising that some of them cost more than others. It’s possible to find themes that cost as little as $3. Most of the popular themes and templates cost in the $50 to $60 range.

Having such a wide price range makes it possible for website owners and developers to choose options that match their specific needs. If you just need a basic theme that makes your blog look nice, then you won’t spend much money. If you need a dynamic template that increases your website’s functionality, then you can expect to spend about $50. Of course, you can always spend more if you have the budget.

Criticisms of ThemeForest

The views of ThemeForest swing wildly from people who love it to people who hate it. Those who hate it sometimes complain that Envato is a scam. That’s far from true. The company has nearly a decade of experience and over 250 employees. Still, customers who feel that they haven’t gotten good services have a right to complain. It doesn’t happen often, but it does happen. It’s unfair to call ThemeForest a scam, but the company has obviously failed a few of its customers. Hopefully it will put more effort into developing better customer services that will solve these problems.

ThemeForest Customer Services

ThemeForest could make its customer services a lot easier to use. To some extent, customer support is problematic because ThemeForest can’t guarantee every theme and template will work properly. That’s the downside of letting independent designers sell through the marketplace. At times, it seems that ThemeForest doesn’t want to take responsibility for broken themes. This angers customers for obvious reasons.

Most people don’t have any problems, especially when they stick to items made by popular designers. Still, there is the possibility that you will get an item that doesn’t work well. When that happens, the customer support professionals at ThemeForest are often just as confused as you are. Since they didn’t build the product, they can’t troubleshoot it very well. At that point, your best option is to get your money back.

Frequently Asked Questions About ThemeForest

Pros of Using ThemeForest

• Access to a huge range of designs for your website
• Support for multiple platforms
• Varying prices to match your budget
• Independent designers give you more variety than companies that only hire a handful of professionals
• Free courses teach beginners how to make the most of the items they purchase from ThemeForest’s independent designers
• The ThemeForest Community and Forums offer additional support

Cons of Using ThemeForest

• Since the marketplace includes so many designers, some of them will fall short of your quality expectations
• Company can’t guarantee that themes will work as their designers advertise
• Some customers report difficulty getting their money back after purchasing broken themes

Conclusion

These days, it seems like everyone has a website. If your site doesn’t look contemporary, it’s nearly impossible to attract reliable traffic. An ugly site cannot make money. You may even have a hard time getting your friends to check out your blog.

ThemeForest makes it easy for people to build useful websites, even when they don’t have much experience with website design or code. Beginners will like that they can use the marketplace to find attractive templates that they can use to immediately build functional websites. Advanced Web developers will like that they can save hours of time by having an independent designer do some of the work for them. Considering the low price of most themes and templates, it just doesn’t make sense for developers to dedicate their own time to these projects.

Like any marketplace, you have to know what you’re shopping for. Some of the designs are amazing. Some of them are terrible. That’s the nature of buying products from a market that sells items from so many independent designers.

This may make ThemeForest sound risky. Really, though, it isn’t. The number of unsatisfied customers is very low. Anyone who has used ThemeForest a few times knows that the market has some great options. Nearly all of them work well. Unfortunately, customers who have negative experiences tend to have very loud voices. Don’t let that dissuade you from trying ThemeForest. Envato will help you save money and time without compromising your site’s integrity.