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What do you think of $1/download idea ? For example if you've designed wordpress theme its still basically free to use but to download it you would pay $1 for it. This eliminates the need for donations, which like we all know don't do much now a days. Thanks.

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How can you use a WP theme without downloading it first? – Salmon Mar 26 '12 at 19:03
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You would need to create a demo website for this themes of course, or at least screen shots. The point is that everyone can afford $1 if they really want to use your theme. It needs to be quality theme, not crap of course. – Tux Mar 26 '12 at 19:06
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@Tux try it and let us know how it works. – Karlson Mar 26 '12 at 19:09
It might cost $1 to collect a $1. – MikeNereson Mar 27 '12 at 19:29

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up vote 4 down vote accepted

Good Wordpress themes are worth far more than $1 and there are plenty of sites that sell themes such as www.ThemeForest.com

Pricing your theme(s) at a dollar might attract a lot of downloads, or it might turn people off as being "too cheap = bad". Assuming you want to make money from selling themes, I'd suggest you read up on the theories of elastic pricing.

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I guess you're referring to the price elasticity of demand (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_elasticity_of_demand)? I use that kind of modelling all the time, but it's dangerous just to scrape the formulae - for a typical web business you aren't going to equalize visibility with the broad market, so the simple models aren't going to help you achieve actionable insights. – Jeremy Parsons Apr 9 '12 at 11:14
"for a typical web business you aren't going to equalize visibility with the broad market" Err. In the case of the OP, his entire market is online. That's about as broad as it gets. – Nick Stevens Apr 9 '12 at 18:23
Sorry, it really doesn't work like that. Visibility <> "I'm online" so the basic premises of elasticity don't apply. Just sayin' – Jeremy Parsons Apr 16 '12 at 13:47
Care to actually elaborate on this? Bearing in mind that the OP isn't talking about a typical web business, there are specific marketplaces for his products and (by default of the product) his entire audience must be online. – Nick Stevens Apr 16 '12 at 14:08
Pricing to your own customers, pricing on Amazon Marketplace, pricing in recognizable product categories on eBay are good examples of places where you can get lots of value from this technique, building insight and making good decisions. All those are cases where we've equalized visibility and co-operated with others in operating in a commodity market. Indeed, a WP theme on Themeforest, say, is going to have some of this going on. But even in the world of mobile app marketplaces, this breaks down, let alone web biz in general. – Jeremy Parsons Apr 16 '12 at 14:19
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