Why such horrible purchasing options?

Now I see many authors just living with that extra $2

I thought authors can understand there is a difference between pricing & charging. You may feel why some buyers give much attention to these things – it is not about price/fairness but consistency.

VF said
Now I see many authors just living with that extra $2

Its not about that.

If customers do not pay it, Authors will.

For a $15 theme, we spend a week or 2 designing, coding, debugging. We then offer support when with some customers can lead in to an hour over time.

Then we only get between $5 – $11.50 depending on the bracket of your author status.

$5 does not even buy a pint in my country.

Considering that alot of the content on these marketplaces would cost hundreds if not thousands of dollars I think it’s a little off that you’re complaining over $2. If this was really an issue then we would see these threads all the time, but we don’t. I think you might actually be the first.

MSFX said
Considering that alot of the content on these marketplaces would cost hundreds if not thousands of dollars I think it’s a little off that you’re complaining over $2. If this was really an issue then we would see these threads all the time, but we don’t. I think you might actually be the first.

Alas! Personally I feel shame for receiving the 70% cut from additional $2 which someone paid with hard feelings – reluctance. I say this because I received some complaints from buyers (probably reached here through 3rd party referral sites – and not converted into buyer too). Just my 2 cents!

It’s all a matter of perception. Why not just stick, $2 on all files, regardless of how they’re paid for and be done with it? Envato makes $2 extra for every sale, buyers don’t feel traumatised by paying a $2 surcharge that they feel is unjustified. There’s a lot to be said for simplicity.

I really think the files could wear it. There has been a huge real-terms drop in prices over the last four years (on Videohive at least). Quality has soared, while prices have stayed the same or fallen… and that’s before you factor in currency inflation.

What’s more, Envato is pretty much the cheapest there is (I’m talking again from a VH perspective). The price differential has lessened, but largely because Envato has driven the prices lower. In that respect, the complaint about the surcharge seems a bit misplaced.

VF said
Alas! Personally I feel shame for receiving the 70% cut from additional $2 which someone paid with hard feelings – reluctance. I say this because I received some complaints from buyers (probably reached here through referral sites). Just my 2 cents!

I don’t understand. the items are damn cheap yet you want them to be cheaper.

Maybe you should check some of the envato competitors, the big one. The prices on envato are 50 to 70% less than those websites. And then envato gives you an additional 2$ discount on every item and you have people who say is horrible.

felt_tips, yeah the ultimate solution is displaying the maximum price and continue being trusted by even anonymous new buyers. There is a need of being “fine-good” for anonymous new buyers – in the long run that is the only solution for business consistency.

Many authors repeatedly point about prices being cheap already. Again, we have another problem of losing buyers just due to the way they see the marketplace. In my dictionary that is actually our problem – not theirs!

This might sound strange but what are you using the template for?

50% of my sales have the +$2 .. that’s around $200 extra each month .. i’m just sayin ..

Anyway in the ocean of 100000…s of buyers being happy with current system, I guess nothing will be solved or given importance. The exact same mentality caused around more than a dozen of simple fixes / basic needs not being done for more than 2-3 years – and being almost everyday’s pain for authors and buyers one way or other way.

I better go back to my work!