So I posted some info about this in another thread but thought I’d dedicate one to the cause.
I’ve had quite a few buyers express issues to me about tracking updates to my themes. I try to post information in the description, but often it clutters things and becomes more confusing than anything. Sure, I could create an rss feed and post it in the description, but its a bit clunky and they’d have to maintain a reader of some kind – not to mention managing the feed might be a but of a pain.
I have been working on an interim solution until Envato chooses to implement this…
A webapp that will do a number of things when it goes live in the next week or so:
1. Provide a public view of any changes to your projects/themes
2. Allow users to subscribe to a project for notifications of updates made
3. Provide an embed link and/or a simple url so you can add your list of changes right into your item description on TF (or whatever site you use).
4…more to come – if you have suggestions of functionality you’d like included send me an email @ chrisfay[at]chrisfay.net
Free plan provides one project with unlimited updates/changes and for $5 /mo you get unlimited projects. I released the EnvatoTracker for free/open source and figured I might try getting a bit $ in return for the work and hosting on this one…
Feel free to browse over there and add your email address to be notified once it goes live shortly and curious of any feedback or suggestions – or if you think it’s stupid that’s fine too :)…
- Envato Staff
- Reviewer
- Community Moderator
- Venezuela
- Has been a member for 4-5 years
- Repeatedly Helped protect Envato Marketplaces against copyright violations
- Microlancer Beta Tester
- Sold between 10 000 and 50 000 dollars
- Exclusive Author
This is awesome, I’ll consider it!
- Attended a Community Meetup
- Author had a File in an Envato Bundle
- Author had a Free File of the Month
- Author was Featured
- Beta Tester
- Bought between 1 and 9 items
- Contributed a Blog Post
- Contributed a Tutorial to a Tuts+ Site
- Envato Staff
Now we see something interesting 
- Lead Reviewer
- Envato Staff
- Has been a member for 6-7 years
- Forum Moderator
- Won a Competition
- Author was Featured
- Item was Featured
- Repeatedly Helped protect Envato Marketplaces against copyright violations
- Canada
Hi Chris that is definitely a proactive endeavor you’ve pursued, looks quite promising 
That being said, I’ll definitely make sure HQ is well aware of your intentions here and I think we’d all like to know what everyone thinks. Have you relayed with staff at all concerning this project of yours?
- Lead Reviewer
- Envato Staff
- United States
- Exclusive Author
- Has been a member for 5-6 years
- Sold between 5 000 and 10 000 dollars
- Author was Featured
- Item was Featured
- Attended a Community Meetup
I really like the concept, but in my honest opinion, I don’t think the information thats being provided is worth the price of $5 a month. I totally understand your concept behind making money off of your efforts. But I think you may see far fewer actual subscribers at that rate.
Just my 2 cents.
I really like the concept, but in my honest opinion, I don’t think the information thats being provided is worth the price of $5 a month. I totally understand your concept behind making money off of your efforts. But I think you may see far fewer actual subscribers at that rate. Just my 2 cents.
What’s fair? $2, $3? Just thinking of hosting and time spent that’s all 
That being said, I’ll definitely make sure HQ is well aware of your intentions here and I think we’d all like to know what everyone thinks. Have you relayed with staff at all concerning this project of yours?
Nope – wasn’t planning to, but if you think it’s something I should discuss with them I certainly would 
- Lead Reviewer
- Envato Staff
- United States
- Exclusive Author
- Has been a member for 5-6 years
- Sold between 5 000 and 10 000 dollars
- Author was Featured
- Item was Featured
- Attended a Community Meetup
What’s fair? $2, $3? Just thinking of hosting and time spent that’s all![]()
Couldn’t really say off hand, I just know I personally wouldn’t pay that much monthly for the features when I can just go down the line checking the files in my downloads list. If it were most along the lines of $2 – $3 monthly, or maybe a one time $30 price, I’d be more inclined to consider using it. Once again though this is just my personal opinion. Others that have more need for being informed about updates may find this more valuable than me. 
Thanks for your feedback – I’m certainly open to suggestions. I am contacted quite frequently with buyers frustrated they missed an update and would like information on what was changed. I was thinking of making a changelog and posting a link, but figured it might be handy to have something that made the logging process easier, was searchable, linked right into my description, notified my buyers, etc… etc….
Half the time its hard for me to dig back through older themes to dig up the exact changes made at some point – figured it would be nice to have have the title, description, and list of files changed for reference in the future – which is what this tool will also provide in html and markdown for plaintext (as well as any other formats requested).
I’ll probably push it out for free to everyone for a month or so to test and to improve. Of course, that is if nothing is officially posted that makes it obsolete 
I really like the concept, but in my honest opinion, I don’t think the information thats being provided is worth the price of $5 a month. I totally understand your concept behind making money off of your efforts. But I think you may see far fewer actual subscribers at that rate. Just my 2 cents.
+1 Mark. Maybe this app is a little pricey….
I haven’t checked it out yet in full but is there a way to perhaps have different price levels with different services attached to each? Perhaps a quota on how many items you can track for, like 3-5 for a free service, 10 for a paid service and go higher for more money?
