WordPress Category Pricing Changes

epicera said
We can argue all day about whether this is good or not… but for me, the proof will be in the pudding. If sales volume stays constant, it proves that the market will bear the price increase; If sales volume decreases significantly (to the extent where total sales revenue actually decreases), the market will essentially be saying that it doesn’t tolerate the increase. Naturally, this will take time to really get a good read on this though… power buyers might be pissed off at first, sellers might be ecstatic (or in some cases, irritated), but only time and statistics will tell.

So, I’d personally love to see some rough percentage statistics of ‘before’ and ‘after’ in a month or two. Any chance we can get something like that (I know the marketplace has done this in the past… they are remarkably transparent with this stuff from time to time).

I’d gladly share my own numbers as well! It’s always fun to see how the marketplace as a whole is doing though. Just percentages would be cool – ie: 18% increase in total sales. 10% increase in units sold.

PS – on the note of power buyers… what if we had a sort of “power buyer” perk where once you cross over a certain threshold of dollars spent here, you get a permanent discount?

Yes do it please… I would fall in that category surely.. +333 purchases and counting. Is that power buying?

Hi everyone,

Have been reading your thoughts and there is some great feedback. In regards to letting buyers know pre-pricing change, I think this is a good idea and something we can look into doing in future.

Most of the feedback we get here is from authors, as they are often the most vocal. So if you are a frequent buyer and you have some good ideas about how we can make the Marketplaces better for you (or if you are an author with some good customer insight) please contact me with your ideas through my profile page.

As Jonathan01 knows, your ideas are what help us change and shape the Marketplaces and these price increases are a direct result of your opinions and ideas being shared. So hit me up with your ideas!

I really wish you guys would have given buyers a heads up regarding the pricing changes.

I literally had one theme I was planning on purchasing this morning (since I was away for the weekend) but a $10 increase is too big a pill to swallow. So you lost a sale. There were a few other items I had been considering too, but I guess now I’ll either be waiting for a sale/promotion and looking elsewhere.

Where exactly, if you don’t mind me asking? Is there another marketplace with such quality items at such low prices?

PS – on the note of power buyers… what if we had a sort of “power buyer” perk where once you cross over a certain threshold of dollars spent here, you get a permanent discount?

A loyalty program is a terrific Idea. Although it should be a “rewards program” as opposed to permanent discounts. With different tiers offering different levels of rewards.

Carmen said
Most of the feedback we get here is from authors, as they are often the most vocal. So if you are a frequent buyer and you have some good ideas about how we can make the Marketplaces better for you (or if you are an author with some good customer insight) please contact me with your ideas through my profile page.

You’re right about this being mostly authors… I’m a buyer… If I was an author I’d be looking carefully at the stats over the next few weeks or more. I understand their voice… I think most of us feel underpaid in the business (except for the high volume authors)... but there is a bigger picture. And I still believe that you can capitalize on this current move by creating something of a buyer-related program here as mentioned by several folks.

I think I’ve been pretty rational in my discussion on this, but I can tell you that I saw one tweet from a well-known author here (you may know who I’m referring to) that was absolutely hideous and arrogant toward buyers who even simply raised a question about the increase… not good, folks.

That all being said… this is by far the best marketplace… and we should all keep in mind who the customers are and what makes a win-win.

It seems people are in agreement that notifying buyers is a good idea. I think this can still be done, whether it be via a newsletter or site banner (maybe that’s already in the works, not sure). And agent314’s idea of combining it with some type of customer rewards program, even if it’s just a teaser of things to come, could really help turn a negative into a positive

CodingJack said

PS – on the note of power buyers… what if we had a sort of “power buyer” perk where once you cross over a certain threshold of dollars spent here, you get a permanent discount?

A loyalty program is a terrific Idea. Although it should be a “rewards program” as opposed to permanent discounts. With different tiers offering different levels of rewards.

Totally agree – something similar to the author-side perks might be pretty cool as a way to incentivize and thank loyal buyers and generate a little extra ThemeForest buzz around the WP theme community… We already have a badge for units bought, would a ”$100-$1000 spent” badge be really weird for people?

Anyways, we’re off topic now I suppose… If anyone is interested, fire up a new thread for discussion

I start a thread for you guys to talk about the Power Buyers features – http://themeforest.net/forums/thread/power-buyers-discussion/66743

otggamer said
a $10 increase is too big a pill to swallow.

Come on, man… lol

I can’t imagine your reaction, then, if you hired a developer for custom work and was quoted $1000+