As I’m posting this, the marketplace websites that Envato runs (ThemeForest, GraphicRiver, etc) have been redesigned. It’s a pretty big overhaul… new logos, loads of new features for both buyers and sellers, the iconic “switcher” to change between marketplaces is integrated right into the site identity. Collis himself breaks it all down in this launch post.
The #1 thing I was secretly hoping for is better (and less buried) search. They really came through on that, with a prominent search bar on all sites. You can even target your search into specific categories or areas of the site.
I’m giving away $25 in marketplace credit to eight people. Just leave a comment on this post with either A) Your experience using an Envato marketplace in the past (as a buyer or seller) or B) Why you have never tried using an Envato marketplace (as a buyer or seller). Personally, I’ve been using GraphicRiver lately when I need to pick up a graphic quick that I think it’s likely they will have, since it’s guaranteed to be cheaper and a better experience than using something like iStockPhoto. Use your real email address so you can be contacted about the credit if you win, and I’ll choose winners next Monday sometime (I probably won’t make a big post about it I’ll just update this article).
UPDATE: Congrats to George, Thomas Offinga, Conrad, Branson, Noam Smadja, Michael, Grimur, Jeff Kes. You’ll all be getting emails soon about your credit.
I also got a chance to interview Jeffrey Way, the site manager for ThemeForest as well as Nettuts+. Read on!
Chris: There are tons of places to find free templates and web resources online. So I imagine ThemeForest’s biggest hurdle is convincing people to try paying for a theme instead. Is that true? What do you think is the key advantage to using ThemeForest instead of scavenging for freebies?
Jeffrey: Actually, that’s not really the case. While many similar marketplaces choose to list site templates at prices far too high for the average buyer, we’ve instead focused on providing high quality templates at low prices. Where else can you purchase a beautiful site template for your new site for ten dollars? Truthfully, maybe nowhere. Though our prices are very buyer friendly, we’re still able to offer templates of an extremely high quality. In addition, most authors on ThemeForest offer support for each of their templates, providing yet more value for the buyer.
So what’s the advantage to using ThemeForest over scavenging for freebies? You can rest assured that every template that makes its way into our marketplace has been rigorously tested by our reviewers and meets the highest quality standards. With a freebie, you’re potentially downloading a file that renders inconsistently from browser to browser, doesn’t follow the latest standards in web development, isn’t as flexible, doesn’t include the source PSDs, etc. Perhaps the question should be rephrased as – why take a chance downloading a free theme from, possibly, an unknown source when you can simply spend ten or fifteen dollars – the cost of a pizza – and rest assured that you’re receiving a wonderful product.
Chris: If you had to pick one, what single quality in a ThemeForest template is the biggest factor for generating sales?
Jeffrey: That’s a tough one. Truthfully, it all comes down to the complete package. Though if I had to choose only one reason why a template sells extremely well – and I’ve spoken about this before – it’s because the template solves problems. For example, I’m currently in the process of building a CMS with CodeIgniter. Now, I could spend hours upon hours working on the design for the back-end, or I could instead jump over to ThemeForest and download one of the many beautiful admin skins that are available. A quick twelve dollars later, and my problems are solved!
On the other hand, we also offer a handful of grunge templates on ThemeForest. Though these types of templates definitely have their place, and still sell relatively well, they don’t solve as many problems for the buyer. As a result, they rarely perform, in terms of sales, as well as a polished business template or an admin skin could.
When designing for ThemeForest, you should first ask yourself, “Will somebody have a specific need for a template like this?” If the answer is yes…get coding!
Chris: What are your duties as the site manager of ThemeForest? You also are the site manager for Nettuts+ (another Envato site), which of those jobs takes the most of your time?
Jeffrey: To some extent, my primary duty at ThemeForest is to be the “go-to” guy for all matters and concerns. If an author is upset about why his template was rejected, he can come directly to me. If, on the forum, the community is confused about the uses for one of our licenses, I’m the guy who will answer them. But in addition to that, I also manage the business. This includes hiring and overseeing reviewers for each category, running the blog, analyzing the sales of each category, promoting the site when possible, researching new categories (incidentally, this includes the upcoming “Email Templates” category!), handling support requests, listening to the community so that I may better make recommendations to the Envato directors, etc.
In reference to Nettuts+, it’s really a half-and-half gig. For instance, I don’t necessarily work the first half of the day at Nettuts+, and then the second half at ThemeForest. Instead, I generally monitor both simultaneously. One moment, I’ll be working with a ThemeForest member; the next, I’ll be posting a new tutorial on Nettuts+. Luckily, as the two are sister-sites, it makes a lot of sense for me to handle both.
Chris: Bonus Question! Is Kanye West truly that big of a jackass or was his strange outburst at the MTV Music Awards a publicity stunt?
Jeffrey: +1 for jackass. There are two possibilities here.
- Kanye is a genius, and somehow knew that this stunt would make him the most talked about person in the country the next morning — to the point of even web developers making tweets like:
“Best direct message I ever got: DREW, I’M REALLY HAPPY FOR YOU, I’M GONNA LET YOU FINISH, BUT ZELDMAN IS THE BEST DEVELOPER OF ALL TIME!” (via @drewdouglass)
- He’s, as you put it, a jackass. :)
I really found true inspiration watching all the envato stuff, from screencasts to their well done stock files. I’ve bough a couple of their layouts and i think is much more useful than every other stock market. And they’re also very kind
LOL @ Bonus Question :D ! Kanye West instantaneously became an internet meme…
I like the way everything looks but honestly I had yet to find this resource. Gonna take some more investigation into Envato!
I’ve been using Envato marketplace and websites for sometime now!
first should be mentioned their excelent tutorials and tricks and articles.
second, their marketplace is encredibly usefull. having many tamplates and icons and stuff to be used or inspired by in my work.
being a website designer and coder and a graphic designer their market place was of great use for me! buying super nice icons ready to use for another cool website!
LOL. I love the last question & answer.
I’ve used GraphicRiver a couple of times now, like Chris for grabbing some quick images to use in designs. If you can find something suitable then it’s certainly faster and cheaper than producing the graphic yourself.
I’ve also used ThemeForest for a project where my client couldn’t afford to go for a completely bespoke design. There were a number of good options available on ThemeForest and the sellers do their best to help with support where they can.
Really like the Q&A graphical style by the way Chris – looks good!
I used FlashDen once awhile back and found if to be a pretty seamless and hassle-free experience. I think the best thing I have noticed about the Envato Marketplace sites is the lack of silly junk and filler, and the quality of the work. For photos and images, I prefer sxc.hu – which actually got better, in my opinion, since being purchased by Getty Images – and also Wikimedia Commons is great for graphics and photos.
I have purchased a couple of wordpress themes and a video intro and have had a great experience thus far. Also, the designers themselves are typically really great about responding to questions regarding their designs.
I have never used Evanto because I have never heard of it.
I just recently started using ThemeForest and have purchased only one theme thus far. My experience has been very pleasant and I now browse the site pretty much daily. Not to necessarily look for themes to puchase, but to get ideas on design and implementation that other premium theme authors are using.
I use ThemeForest all the time. It’s a great place to find some very decent site and admin themes for amazing prices. You can go to other website theme sites that sell cheap ugly site packages for $50-$70, when ThemeForest authors make some beautiful up-to-date templates for $12-$15. It’s a great resource when you need a beautiful template fast and well coded.
All in all…I love ThemeForest. Great idea, better execution.
I have used ThemeForest a few times over the past year. I’ve found it invaluable in a couple of instances:
– grabbing a quick image file … so much easier than re-creating something on my own, and you get a professionally produced photoshop file that is dead simple to use.
– when a client has a tiny budget and you really can’t justify any design time on it, grabbing a template (and, of course, being open about it with the client), is a win-win solution. Again, choose the right template and you get a great looking design at a fraction of the cost.
Love it,
David
The whole envato network has brought so much inspiration to me and I also bought stuff for (I don’t count) a couple hundreds of dollars^^ =)…mostly I don’t use them directly as template or graphics (ok, the flash stuff I do =D) but I take elements or code, mess around with it and create something new =)…
I’ve tried to sell a joomla template a few months ago when themeforest was looking for joomla templates and offering 200$ prize, but after the template got rejected 3 times, even after the adjustments they asked where done I quited and decided to offer my template with CC atributions. Somehow I tought the process was being rather complicated as regarding to the quality of previous joomla templates.
It’s here: http://projectosweb.com/creativetheme/
But nevertheless I’m a big fan of some of the templates that they sell. The prices are very competetive and the designs gorgeus. It’s a good place to go for inspiration.
I wasn’t sure what to make of FlashDen when I first found it. However, the Envato marketplaces have become a regular stop on my search for design resources. Plus, I’m very inspired by Envato’s growth and Collis and Co.’s willingness to share what they’ve learned along the way.
In my first year of selling on ThemeForest, I made over $12,000. And this is fairly low for a lot of the other “higher selling” developers. Most of that was made doing absolutely nothing but sitting around watching the sales come flowing in. :)
Envato has provided by far the best marketplace experience I have ever had. Ever.
second that :)
I tried to buy a template there for 25bucks, but they did not accept 25$, just 20$ or 20$
so that was really stupid and I did not buy the template.
Maybe now I will win exact that amount of money to get that template?
I still want it ;=)
I use ThemeForest whenever a friend wants me to “create a quick site for them”. I point them there, tell them to pick out a wordpress template, download, install, and have the whole thing customized and running in an hour.
I have had a good experience with them. I like the fact that they have a network, so you can get templates and designs for many different kinds of projects.
They need better audio files, but other than that things are good quality!
Envato has been one of the most usefull and inspiring resources i have come across, it has inspired me to make my very own templates that I could potentially sell on Theme Forest too.
Great Resource, Great Prices.
Never actually used any paid templates.Dissected a few free ones but I’m still at that stage where everything is new to me and still exciting. I’m sure I’ll be using them before too long to speed up the work process and already have a few nice ones bookmarked. Also <3 Nettuts, learned lots from there. Cheers Envato.
I’ve been using the Themeforest marketplace to find some great psd layouts. I’ve tried uploading a few of mine, but unfortunately those were all rejected. This explains why the have the quality down so well, it’s all pure A+++ stuff on there!
I’m a young freelance web developer, and after doing one project where I designed and developed everything for the client, I decided that design is not my thing. For the next project I did, ThemeForest all the way. I met with the client for the first time and I had picked out about 10 designs that I thought were great from ThemeForest, she selected one she liked and the files were on my hard drive in about a minute.
One gripe I have about the marketplaces is that you can’t deposit custom amounts. i.e. A design is $12, you have to deposit $20. Meh.
I have found the service from the individual sellers is what makes these site tops above the rest. The best thing is that you can ask (and get answers to questions) even before you purchase. If modifications or additions need to be made, usually the authors are on top of it as well.
Graphic River is something I am turning to more and more too. All in all, a great series of sites!
I am very impressed with the site and actually just purchased something from them last Friday for the first time.
Hi Everybody!
I’ve been purchasing from Envato, and it has been a very good experience, the themes from themeforest are just “wicked”!
They are well organized and the authors give all the suport you need while developing.
If you don’t know it, you should!
I want’em all!!
The reason I’ve never used an Envato marketplace is because I’ve never had access to a PayPal or credit card to buy online credits for this type of thing. However, that doesn’t stop me from browsing the files in awe!
I absolutely love Envato’s Market place. I practically visit the site themeforest every single day, in the PHP script section. The files on the site are really top quality, anytime that I need some file such as an icon set, quick html theme to get me started, or my fav a PHP script. I sort of getting addicted to the service though, I’m spending almost 40-60 dollars a month just on the site, but I don’t any regrets!
Also just to add to that, FlashDen has the best (and cheap) flash video players.
Simply because I’m new to the game is why I haven’t used Envato’s marketplace much. My firm uses FlashDen regularly but not me personally. But admittedly, I tend to want to try things a little before spending.
I have been using the Envato Marketplace (mainly Theme Forest and Flash Den) for a good while now. It is good to look at what is popular on the site to see the trends in current web design. I will also look at it for inspiration. It is obviously a great marketplace but also a great place to find the new hot designs that people currently like.
I have purchased an HTML website from Envato. It was the best $20 I’ve spent in a long time. Their offering are top notch and the authors support it very well.
I like envato marketplace!! I bought the 3rd birthday bundle and i’m expecting to buy more over there!! ;)
I’ve had many experiences with the Envato Marketplace over the past few years. Theme Forest is consistently the most reliable and easiest to navigate premium WordPress theme platform. I especially like the detailed breakdown of every theme and the live preview features to make sure what I think I am buying is what I will ultimately end up with as a product.
Thank you for your continued efforts!
B) I’ve heard of Themeforest, but haven’t used it as I usually use WordPress as a CMS for businesses and to me, that means working up a design from scratch that fits their needs. Perhaps I should explore their stock a little further.
GraphicRiver looks great but again looking for things I’d use for say a Bed and Breakfast or Barn construction site business or even church website, I don’t see anything that really fits my needs. However, for personal blogs for friends, I’ve found lots of elements I could work into a design.
I have never bought anything from them, I wasn’t really aware that they offered stock graphics… that is more appealing to me personally than templates. I like to make my own.
I’ve been using themeforest for just over a year, as a buyer and seller. One thing that makes me come back over and over again is the constant support given in both areas. Whether it be the constructive support given through the review process or the extended help authors give you after you’ve bought their file (which they are not obligated todo).
This supported by the hard work the envato staff put in the keep the marketplaces alive and growing strong enabling us to sell more – resulting in us drinking more – resulting in more drunken inspirations – resulting in some cool designs.
Thank you themeforest!
i’ve used themeforest before, mostly to buy psd themes and designs, because some times you just need that extra thing you can only get at envato market place.
I’ve used both ThemeForest and FlashDen.
Overall it’s been a good experience. I am annoyed that I cannot specify exactly how much I’d like to put into my account. And I hate that I have to use a Paypal-like service.
But the prices are much more reasonable than many of the so-called “premium” theme marketplaces.
I’m buy first template in theme forest shortly soon. I’m only buyer.
My favorite marketplaces:
1. Theme Forest
2. Flashden only.
I first started using flashden since I’m fairly noobish in that area, then grabbed a few quick files on graphic river for some projects of mine. The birthday bundle a couple of weeks ago was great. I hope to have enough free time to start selling psd/html templates soon enough.
I’m glad to see you giving some love to the Envato sites. I’m recently new to the design scene, but two of the first places I found great resources were here (obviously), and nettuts+. I admit I hadn’t had much to do with the other Envato sites until their recent birthday, but the deal they ran was just too good to pass up and now I’m definitely a fan of all the different sites.
I have only 3 themes at themeforest and i’m very happy with the result. Not only for the sales, but ‘cos I receive a lot of emails asking for freelancers.
I’m planning on buying a theme or two just because of the free files they have given away I’m really impressed with what is on there.
My teacher, Mr. Gordon, got us introduced to ThemeForest and I fell in love with it. It had quality stuff that helped me set up my first class portfolio site. I was learning Expression Engine, so I didn’t feel like having to build an entire template then start implementing the Expression Engine code. So, with ThemeForest I got a template and then was able to learn EE much faster. Now, I use ThemeForest and FlashDen for any extra things I may need for my site.
I think the Envato Marketplace is a great place to start looking for premium content.
I bought a fancy menu item from Envato, but couldn’t make it work. Probably user error! LOL. I like their sites, and cruise ThemeForest occasionally — their themes are very nice!
I have to take issue with Jeffrey’s claim that their templates are “rigorously tested”. I purchased a website template recently that did not have a live preview so I could not check out its source code. But assuming that it was coded as cleanly as most of the templates on the site, I bought it anyway. Turned out to be one of the messiest code job I’d ever seen – tables within tables within tables. The template still exists on the site – http://themeforest.net/item/relax-furniture-company/19653
I can proudly say, purchased some business card templates yesterday. Making my first purchase on the site.
I almost forgot about the update, I was surfing one moment and the next a new layout was up!
I never used it because I never heard of it. :)
Themeforest has been a great resource to me both as a content creator and a consumer. It seems like everyday a few new, clean templates are added to the already massive inventory.
I used the marketplace for the Birthday Bundle for the first time. Found the experience to be great & quick. I love looking through their stuff for ideas and also the monthly freebies are spectacular.
I use mainly use GraphicRiver and ThemeForest and I have to admit on how easy it is to sell a product. Currently I have 5 items on GraphicRiver and it has been very easy to do so.
I have found only in themeforest a theme for my blog that makes me happy both in design & functionality with great support.
My general impression is that the items in the Envato marketplace are open to our own creativity while the authors are motivated to continue their original work.
Not wanting to go off-topic from the post and complain about anything, but this post literally JUST came up for me, after I cleared my cache. Still no new snippets since the launch for me either.
I’ve used the Envato Marketplaces a few times in the past to buy some audio clips for a video project and some WordPress templates that I wanted to dissect and learn from the code.
Both were extremely affordable, perfectly suited to my needs and great assets to future projects.
For my workplace, we purchased a WordPress theme file from Envato because it did some nifty things with categories and a content slider that we wanted to take advantage of (there’s the “solves the problem” part).
Interestingly, by the time the site was due for launch, we hadn’t kept any of that theme, instead redesigning from scratch. But since we learned from the template how to accomplish what we wanted to, it was still ultimately $25 well-spent! Isn’t that funny?
There were probably tutorials out on the net that could have also got us the information we needed, but that would have taken scouring and sorting the wheat from the chaff. Instead, we knew for sure that this theme had the exact functions we wanted. Mini-lesson for everything we needed, all in one place. That alone was worth the money.
Being on their mailing list, I also cashed in on that $300 for $20 anniversary deal they ran not too long ago. The same thought occurred to me: even if I don’t use any of these goodies directly, they surely will be an excellent source of learning materials!
I’ve used Envato Marketplace since the conception of it. I’ve been selling recently over the past couple months and It’s really been great for me there. I plan to continue to use it. Also I always tell people about it. Overall It’s one of THE BEST online marketplace I’ve come across with great people there and a wonderful community of people from all over the world.
I had been trolling the Envato marketplace for a few months, and finally purchased my first wordpress template last week. I don’t know why I waited so long…perhaps personal pride was getting in the way of using a template. The quality of the files within the template, and the amount of work saved on my project, made swallowing my pride much easier. :-)
I’ve been following Envato since the launch of PSDTUTS. I mainly follow NETTUTS+ these days, and I’ve even contributed an article. Back when Themeforest launched I threw together a basic WordPress theme over a couple of weeks, and it was accepted. Now, a year after, I’ve earned around $125. It’s not nearly enough to cover a decent hourly wage, but I’ve noticed that you can make some real money as an author. I’ve got my second theme in the pipeline, and it’s a lot more extensive than my first one!
I like to buy dummy graphics on Graphicriver, and I’m also a big fan of the function icon sets that are available there.
Awesome redesign, Envato. I look forward to using the new site in the future.
I have an account with ThemeForest.net that I use for addons to my website design service – addons such as flash rotating banner, etc.
Nice redesign. Envato’s tut sites are good indeed but imo the weakest link is the rates they pay to the authors, atleast thats whats stopped me from even trying sell something there. Starting at 40% (25% if your not exclusive…) Thats even worse the government….
But yeah … nice redesign now go and “redesign” the author rates :P
Awesome redesign.
A. I have been using themeforest for about 4 months now. Its been an amazing resource! Mainly used for quick clients to get them in and out on a budget. Many of the designers on there are more then happy to help with problems that occur and that has kept me coming back for more!
I have never used the envato market place as a seller because I have not had the time. I plan on creating items in the future that I can sell though.
I also think I am going to check out GraphicRiver soon for stock photos too.
An OK experience, but i am really annoyed with the “No hierachy” experience. My eyes can’t find rest, and doesn’t know where to look.
I have been using iStockPhoto for about a month now (just to test it out) and started by depositing $50 into it. 4 days after I signed up I realized that it is incredibly expensive to get images that are decent enough not only for web design but also for print design. After about a week I was out of credits and had only purchased 7 images… That being said, while I have visited the Envato marketplace sites before I have never really considered to use any of them. I think I will be migrating from iStockPhoto to Graphic River starting in October.
Why I don’t use it? Well, I code my own dang themes!
I discovered the Envato Marketplaces (and the rest of the Envato Universe) about 6 months; I’ve purchased two items from Themeforest, and haven’t regretted it at all! I really like the one-click shopping: you know you’re going to want to spend money there, so you just upload a fist-full. Then, when you find a killer item, one click and it’s downloading!
Go Collis and Team!
I tried sending my work (http://decor-d.com/flash/itaiOren/) to flashden, but they unaccepted my work…
I tried to questioning them why they didn’t accept it but I didn’t get any proper answer, instead they asked me to never send any work again…:(
Since than I don’t like much the flashden site.
I spent a week watching Lynda.com tutorials and reading an Actionscript 3 book to learn how to code a Flash piece for a web site I was working on. I got frustrated and decided to try FlashDen. Found what I was trying to do for $10, and was able to customize it to fit the look of the site.
Extremely easy, and very convenient. Next time, I’ll probably try FlashDen first, to save time and money for the client.
I have found Envato marketplaces to be an excellent resource, mainly Icon Sets but I also love some of the Admin themes available, as it makes no sense to me to reinvent the wheel on all your projects when it comes to admin sections.
Quality is generally excellent, love envato, love the new design! :)
I’ve bought a few things from the marketplace, mainly on Flashden. I really appreciate how the sellers often offer help on the files that they create. I’m very happy with Envato, and the new redesign looks great. :)
Well I might as well get in on this.
I’ve bought a few items off of ThemeForest and am happy with the templates I’ve received. I think where TF really comes alive, though, is the community.
The authors are extremely passionate (sometimes a little too much, as the forums will tell you!), and that is very important. The more the authors rely on TF, the better templates they will produce, and ultimately the more customers they will get.
Envato has truly turned into one hell of a powerhouse.
I first got to know Theme Forest through the advertise/affiliate on CSS-Tricks, and discovering it made me so happy! (honestly)
Only 3 more days to the nextr “free file of the month”. Jippi!
I love the way the Envato Marketplace works. I have only had great experiences with them. I hope to upload many more things in the future.
The new site design is amazing! Very inspiring to me, like everything Envato does.
I mostly try to create my sites from scratch, hand coding everything. But my business is picking up and i think it would be a great tool for a business on a budget looking for work. i’m always worried about the customization ability of themes and premade sites. but from the comments i might just try one of these out anyway.
I love the new marketplace design. The new blog design are awesome as well. Themeforest is the only place I have ever bought a template and it will be the first place I visit in the future.
Cheers
I spent about 5 hours once trying do do a old movie count down in After Effects. I later found the exact thing I was trying to make on FlashDen for something like 3 dollars.
I love Envato stuff, they do such a good job—great designs.
I have used Theme Forest & Graphic River both for a Web Project.
One was to design a website for a gaming sit where I used the template mimino and some nice background images from graphic river.
The second was to design a church website for my school lol I know fun projects. I purchased some textures on graphic river and You couldn’t find those on iStockPhoto or open source.
I was looking for some flashbanners and found some of the best at Flashden. The rest of Envato sites got bookmarked as times went by. Nowadays I only use Themeforest for its great and cheap HTML and WordPress templates. Top sites. And love the redesign.
I’ve used both FlashDen and GraphicRiver in the past. It was really helpful when I needed an element quickly. Looking into purchasing some templates from ThemeForest in the future.
I’ve always found the bulk of the items to be high quality and low-priced.
I love their site and they offer a lot of great items from base templates and Icons to full web sites. Real time savers.
I write tutorials for envato and use the marketplace for inspiration, but never bought anything from them as of yet. I wouldn’t mind some credits to give it a chance though.
I’ve been using ThemeForest for the last couple of months, and it’s now become my number 1 resource for designs. Just starting to explore the other Envato sites too.
I love the quality and the depth of submissions. Fantastic! Although I wish you were a little less popular so you could be my little secret…
I have had great expereinces with ThemeForest.
Great support from the developers and great templates.
I do wish there was more options though.
Chris, good to see focus on these guys,
I love theme forest, I’m more of a backend data guy, but they allow me to provide a second service to my clients in professionally designed themes… one example… http://www.charolais.com/wordpress (not populated yet).
I use ThemeForest all the time, I recently purchased a blue template for a buds personal website.
Awesome designs at affordable prices.
Definitely recommend.
Due to my limited budget, I bought only 2 items in ThemeForest and GraphicRiver. I can say I bought it just for learning how to build WordPress theme sake and I think it’s worth every penny. The quality of WordPress themes there is higher and higher as time pass by, I’m tempted to their recently released items. Lastly, I wish they’d switch to GPL license like other premium theme sites.
I’ve bought from ThemeForest before, and it was easy, totally satisfied what I needed at the time. The Envato Marketplace is definitely one of those things to keep in mind when you’re in a time crunch, or just want to save yourself some time if you find a design or graphic that fits the bill.
Congrats to Envato on a nice redesign!
Hey Chris,
I have never used any of the Envato market places, but I have always wanted to put some of my own work on there. This redesign happened right as I was about to look into it actually. Thanks for keeping us in the loop and nice interview with Jeffrey!
I have bought several templates off of themeforest, and am amazed at the quality of the templates. When you look at free templates they are terribly coded and not very much support is available, but on TH I get great quality that is up to date. As a developer I have nil design skills and being able to create a beautiful site with an awesome backend makes all of my projects shine more.
I used the graphicriver.net to buy a design for my business cards!
I am currently using a theme which I purchased on Themeforest for my wordpress site and I am highly impressed with the theme designer’s help and willingness to implement a request I made. Finally, I have a theme for my website I love and can easily tweak to suit my needs. Themeforest and all of the other Envato marketplaces allow me as an artist to experience first rate, affordable and beautiful designs without me requiring to know HTML. or CSS. Thank you to everyone and I love the new designed site – a joy to visit and use.
I’ve purchased a few items from Envato marketplaces in the past. Their offerings are great, and the prices are cheap enough that it’s a bit difficult to not to go crazy and buy more than planned.
If I need a quick template due to time constraints on a project, I often go to ThemeForest. Similarly, I’ll pick up a PSD from GraphicRiver once in awhile if I need something.
Muy buen blog de diseño! great blog! thanks from Argentina.
Envato rawks! Last winter, I purchased some video loops from Flash Den…they were used for a countdown that I did for a New Years Eve party at a local bar here in town! I videotaped the final countdown and put it up on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-zzQUM-1S4 The guy shouting “Here we go” at the beginning is yours truly!
Chris, I love that you posted this. Envato is awesome, and I started using GraphicRiver in the exact way you described. It’s great to see so many designers agree!
My first experience with the Envato Marketplace was as a buyer. This was right after Smashing Magazine gave away 25 dollars to celebrate the Markletplace’s launch. Afterwards, I became interesting in creating stock vectors for Graphic River. So far, I’ve submitted one vector and garnered zero sales. :(
That’s ok though. I still love what the marketplaces have to offer. :)
The ‘old’ design was cool, but this one looks better i think. My experience with Envato is as a buyer, as i bought a couple of banner rotators from Flashden and some backgrounds from Graphicriver.
I really love the bookmarking feature and the fact that they keep all purchased files in one place.
B) Why you have never tried using an Envato marketplace (as a buyer or seller)
Why haven’t I? Because I’m a noob on that matter! :)
I’ve just heard it from you, thanks!
I have never used the market places because I have alway been a little dubious as to what you actually get when you buy from them. For example it’s not always clear what you get, what format the graphics are in (assuming this is from graphic river) and what size the graphics are.
I have never really picked up on template sites as such as envato due to some of the cross browser issues experiences I’ve had of the past and simply non-standard templates and ending up spending more time tweaking the template! It’s been a while but I might have to check out the quality of the templates if they are of of a more standards approach
I am a member of them and I like their work. I used to like the hover functionality which is not available or my browser has an issue.
I use Envato as a tool like my CSS editor or Photoshop, that sais it all…
Regards
TZ
The design is awesomee!!! It did need a redesign!
Chris,
I have to agree I find myself visiting Graphic River a lot these days when I need a good graphic and I am too lazy to make one ;)
PS I am really digging that fade effect on your inputs, really gets the creative juices flowing
bought 2 templates, when first joined they gave you $10 free to sign up, then added $20 to it and bought couple of templates. like their stuff but do like Net Tuts probably best
Al
Chris-
Truthfully I have never purchased from or submitted an item to any of the envato marketplaces, although that may change as I get more clients and need a quick and easy fix. I mainly visit the site for design inspiration, as there are some really great ones on there. Really love Nettuts+ as well. I have a plus membership and visit daily for new tutorials, etc. Learned a lot from them (and you) in a short period of time. Keep up the great work.
I am a big fan of Envato and I think the redesign is fantastic. The one issue I have with the site is that the smallest increment you can deposit is $20. There are loads of great items on the site that are a lot cheaper than that.
I always wanted to get this template from themeforest.net but i never had the money.. so one day i asked my brother if he can give me 30 bucks so i can buy the template and he deposited the money! So now i have that template and am very excited .. i learned a lot from that template by looking at its code and stuff. The template was very well-organized and i just love it. So the experience has been great with Themeforest.net :) Am really happy with the purchase.
awesome site.
Bad re-design.
Designers don’t get much money for their designs..
cool
I have bought stuff I don’t have experience doing, like flash templates and music (Flashden & AudioJungle) and I contribute in what I have most experience (GraphicRiver).
I like being a buyer because things are really cheap and support for any doubt about the file is easy. I like being a seller because you don’t have to worry about anything more than creating the file and support (if needed), sales speak for themselves and you get your money in a very easy way.
I have nil design skills and being able to create a beautiful site with an awesome backend makes all of my projects shine more.
I’ve used Flashden before and just yesterday I went looking for an Ajax contact form. I was glad that my account works across all marketplaces. Really handy and well thought out.
I think they set the standard. Go Aussies!
I like a new look that website has at the moment. No doubts that website is much better now.
I have only used it once (last week) and do not like that I have to buy credits in chunks; $20, $30, $40, etc. If I only want to purchase one theme and it is $12, I am left with an $8 dollar balance. Now I have to find something else to buy otherwise my money just sits there. Other than that I have no issues with the site. I really like the new design.
Hi,
I’ve never used Envato before because I’ve always looked for fre themes. However, recently I had something very specific in mind for a WordPress theme, and I’ve considered looking for a paid one. I found one that more or less fit my needs but have yet to pay for it, because I wanted to look around a bit more. Thanks for pointing me to Themforest, I hadn’t come across it before!
I am currently Selling my works, some PSD Themes and a few other things on graphicriver :D
I used Envato marketplace many times. I love their ‘file of the month’, but most of the time, and found some uses for them, but generally, I just purchase commercial items. I bought several of the templates, scripts, Flash files and lot of web graphics files. And of course, the ‘Birthday package’. And I could not be happier with the quality. Great prices, and the time I save by implementing these prefabs (instead of creating everything myself) is enormous. My customers are happy too, saves them tons of money and their projects are done much faster. And I get to do more projects and thus serve more clients, and thus create bigger client network. So overall, I love the Marketplace.
Where did my comment go? Well, one more time:
I used Envato marketplace many times. I love their ‘file of the month’, but most of the time, and found some uses for them, but generally, I just purchase commercial items. I bought several of the templates, scripts, Flash files and lot of web graphics files. And of course, the ‘Birthday package’. And I could not be happier with the quality. Great prices, and the time I save by implementing these prefabs (instead of creating everything myself) is enormous. My customers are happy too, saves them tons of money and their projects are done much faster. And I get to do more projects and thus serve more clients, and thus create bigger client network. So overall, I love the Marketplace.
I’ve used Flashden a couple times I thin it’s a great resource.
I have never used the envato marketplace before because I can’t afford to buy themes although I would really like to try some of the themes they have to offer. Thanks for the chance :)
Ive used GraphicRiver and i like how its pretty cheap to buy things and I always felt like I got my moneys worth. Users are always adding new and trendy graphics so its a frequently visited site for me.
Its a smooth site that allows someone to get quality graphics without paying an arm and a leg. I feel like it serves to a different crowd than an iStockPhoto, I use it not only for the graphic river images and artwork, but I have more recently started to use it for some great flash components and the video hive has some great AE templates for intros and presentations.
I’ve bought several themes from TF for quick project work and to dissect and see how they work for future reference I love seeing how others construct their sites. I appreciate their work so think the designers should be rewarded rather than just ‘borrowing’ the content in the view source !
Never bought anything from envato, but I wouldn’t mind trying it.
Firstly, because it is my first comment here, I would like to thank you for your effort! This is such a huge resource of quality tutorials! I’ve downloaded about 90% of your screencast and tomorrow I’ll check them out, because when you are ill you’ve got soo much free time…once again thank you!
PS: As I was writing writing I was wondering why there is so many comments, and then I’ve noticed this is all about those 25 bucks give away..pretty funny thought. Btw I’m member of Envato sites and there are also nice templates, tutorials and resources, but I’ve never bought some – the only thing I’ve paid for was membership at net.tutplus.com.
Been using the Envato marketplaces more and more recently, especially Graphic River – especially with the new design, really pleasant experience!
I have been buying stuff from ThemeForest in the past. And I’ll probably continue to do so. :) GraphicRiver also has some amazing resources.
I am a big fan of Envato but never purchased from yet because I use my own stuffs or freebies.But now i want to buy some wp themes from themeforest.
I have used ThemeForest, FlashDen and GraphicRiver alot the past year. I simply find, that I save time. A complex Flashfile for example might take up to a week or two to code, on Envato it might cost 10 USD. And I usually also learn alot from the files as well. I buy Flashscripts, CSS, HTML templates and a few graphics. The sites are also good for inspiration.
I’ve worked with theme forest in the past. Usually I design my own themes but I sometimes I needed to whip up a site in a couple of days and I simply didn’t have the time to create something acceptable. They also have really affordable prices.
Nice, it looks like I won! When can I expect my email? Thanks so much!
Recieved the money last night, thanks again!
I’m an PHP and Javascript author on Themeforest and love the Envato community. It’s great to make some extra money because of the huge user base.
did chris sell wordpress theme in themeforest..
i want to buy~~