I’ve noticed a trend with fellow webmasters that I’m just not too crazy about. With the rise of blogs on the ‘net, it’s almost inevitable that someone will find you and ask you to design a theme for them. This is just fine and dandy because all money is good money.
The problem I have is with those who get paid and don’t actually do any work. I surfed through a few portfolios today the running theme between them all was the fact that they were all based on the SAME theme. The only thing that was changed was the header image. Now, normally I wouldn’t really notice but I found this to be a little absurd. One girl was basically charging $50 for WordPress themes that were all using the same code. The only changes were in the header images and CSS coloring. I went through her ‘theme preview’ and saw that all coding was the same.
If she was charging $50 for amazing images, then of course I would understand. But she’s not…it’s like she’s surfing through Getty images, and cropping the watermark out and then slapping it onto the template. If someone wants a simple theme – fine go for it – but when you’re paying $50 for something, you’d expect that person to spend more than FIVE MINUTES working on your theme, wouldn’t you?
I work on the ‘net, it’s my main income right now. I make it a point for every single client to start from scratch. Yes, as far as the WordPress files go for index.php and comments.php I take the ‘classic’ theme and edit it to match the particular theme I’m working on. However, the outcome of each theme looks different 99.9% of the time. I’m not taking the same two-three column layout, strapping a header image into it and then edit style.css – that isn’t WORK, that’s called screwing over a customer. The idea is to make the customer HAPPY this way they are a RETURN CUSTOMER. If you screw the customer over, there’s the chance that they just won’t come back a second time. If they do, then abuse it because they’re idiots and don’t know any better anyway.
I just can’t understand how anyone could recycle a layout (probably the same code they use on their OWN blog) and edit a few things then turn around and sell it for $50-$100. I find it to be completely absurd.
Maybe it’s because I’ve run my own business for so long…or maybe it’s because I have respect for my clients. Who knows? I just don’t quite understand how people could do such things. I’m aware of the fact that 50% of the internet is brain-dead, but good lord taking them for granted is just horribly bad business etiquette.
So, answer me this – Do you think it is acceptable to charge $50-$100 for something you?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ve put five minutes of work into?
Comment your little hearts out, I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢d really like to know what someone else thinks.
Omg.. that is lame! I can’t believe they don’t feel bad doing that! Geez.. I could make $50 every 5 minutes like that!!
That’s VERY BAD BUSINESS ETIQUETTE!
Mind you, as you said – there must be some VERY silly blogger who are willing to pay for half assed layouts.
Some people are just so desperate for money that they would do almost anything in terms of web design/graphic design. It’s very bad business.
But some people would buy it because they don’t know better. They would figure–‘oh, 50 dollars? I guess everywhere is like that–or more’. I keep my crappy layouts to myself, lol. Which means I don’t try to sell any of them, so…
I don’t often get people asking me to make them themes (I wish they would), but every time I do one, I usually start from scratch. Hell, if I recycled coding from my old layouts, I wouldn’t charge more than $5 for theme, and even then, I’d still feel like I was ripping them off..
Oh Krissy I completely agree with you. I know you put so much into layouts that you make for other people, and also yourself. It’s crazy that someone would charge that much for a simple template. I guess people try to make money off of what they can do. Not everyone is as talented as you. 🙂
Hell no! If I’m going to pay that amount of money for something it better damn well be original and fan-fucking-tastic.
i’d love to make $50-$100 every 5 minutes. but not like that, not if it compromises my morality and integrity. if a client wanted to change just the header to the layout, sure, but i would never recycle a layout like that and charge for it as if it was something new. i think part of why people come to me is that there is originality in my designs. they want something different, custom from what is out there. that is what they are paying for, and that is what they are going to get. the other part that my customers are very satisfied with is the communication – i tell them what they’re getting, and i run everything through them before it’s finalized. i don’t just slap a header onto a template and then charge them for it.
i’d like to see this person’s site/portfolio and client list. i totally and whole-heartedly agree with you on every point you made. but i dunno, it’s also the client’s job to do their research to make sure they’re getting what they paid for. if that’s what they wanted, and they’re paying for it, then that’s that. if they were expecting something completely custom and are getting ripped off for it, that’s different. i’d really like to see this person’s portfolio.
oh yeah, remember that site on blogger that i showed you, where it was horrible with black text on a dark blue background and like 16pt font? the guy had an ad that said he would help others make their blogs look pretty and whatnot, etc. for some large amount of money.
To be honest I think WordPress and Greymater all have the same core design features, the little box with the pic and then the info about the blogger. That’s why I never got into WordPress or any other blog tool, I wanted to be original so I got a forum and hacked it. Sometimes even the blogs are all the same, talking about the same thing as the next blogger, I try to be different talking about computers and video games, but my site was never meant to be just a blog. I mean a blog and a blog template should be as individual as the blogger themselves, but maybe the blogger isn’t that individual to begin with so they want their blog to look like everyone elses
Actually its a lot more common than you’d think-I use to work as a freelancer and would regularly use business templates for companies etc.
Its bog standard ,bread and butter work-I used to code from scratch,yeah like you I did take pride in my work,but when the deadlines are moving faster and clienets are building up sometimes you have no choice.
I think the personal site market is a different kettle of fish-no-one should charging $50 per template-thats a rip off and not many bloggers can afford that ,so you’re just pricing yourself out of the market
Smaller prices,use a template -more time more clients-remember that not many of them would know or care that the underneath is the same as Mary-Sues next door-its all about visual appearance to the bloggers market
Don’t worry about-pile them high ,churn them out and rake it in-having morals and ethics doesnt put food on the table
I’m definitely one to recycle style sheets. But thats for when I make my own layouts because its quick and easy. If someone offered to pay me for a layout, then yes I would start from absolute scratch.
I’m indifferent. It depends on what the client wants, and sometimes they say “I want my site to look like XYZ.” So you give them something similar, and they give you money.
I’m perfectly happy with a basic layout with a couple of colors and sparkles, but I couldn’t see paying someone money for it — only because I know how to do it myself, or at least make it look like I do.
But if you’re just changing a header and calling it a theme… I dunno. I know people that work their asses off for NOTHING to do this stuff… so I guess it’s about what the client wants.
I agree. I had a layout made once but it was only like $8. But then I asked her to do a layout for a FANSITE I had and she said since fansites usually take more time it’d be more money and I paid. But it was basically the same thing, just a bigger header… and different CSS SETTINGS I could have changed myself. That’s the last time I paid someone to make a layout for me. No matter how lazy I am, I always make my own layouts now.
I’ve never been big on the “layout” thing so there is no way I’d ever pay that much money to have someone make (or recycle) one for me. People on the net are gulliable, they have all this knowledge at their fingertips, if they did their research first they’d either find someone cheap(er) to design a layout for them or learn enough themselves so that they could create their own.
Where’s the idiot who’s doing this? I’d like to steal some of her clients away. It’s not fair to other webdesigners out there working their butts off for a single layout that they might sell for less than $50. And it sure isn’t fair to the clients either.
not really.. 50 dollars is a small price to pay. 50.00 certainly doesnt buy perfection. however, im sure a whole bunch of people disagree with me and agree with you. im so sorry about the other day and me being so flakey.seriously though.. what if i couldnt add. i find your anti spam thing unfair to the people that cant add. have i mentioned this before?
The problem arises if the said person is successful, because that wil encourage others to do the same, alas the best product doesn’t always equate to be the most profitable.
Hey what’s this anti spam thing you’ve got?
Sites that just change headers to scripts such as wordpress I can agree with but many people actually do go into the coding and change CSS files. I don’t beleive it’s that big of a trend really and isn’t as common as you think.
On many portfolio sites sellers sale “premades”. If a buyer buys they should know what they are doing. Ugh… it’s sort of hard to explain.
Layouts are different. What you refer to is the coding. Designers could have a certain style which may be noticed in all their layouts. It’s not neccessarily true to say that they are that similar.
I do agree that it is absurd for people to be charging 50-100 dollars. Completely customized layouts that actually do take time (featuring vexels/vectors/rendered images) are understandable.
Uh… perhaps I didn’t make much sense >_>;
no it’s not acceptable. in fact you made my first layout for me and i had no clue how to do anything. i learned the basics. i pity anyone who pays $50.00 for a wordpress theme that is just like every other wordpress theme out there with the exception of color, etc. i’d pay you $50.00 for the paris theme you made for me because it kicked the most ass ever.
btw i’ll be hiring you this week for the photo thingy…just need to get my company gone first and get my head back on straight.
A while ago I opened up a WP customizing on my site, but I actually made it for free, on a first come first serve basis but I didn’t have to create anything for my client. I don’t beleive you should pay anyone for something because if you get off the lane quickly you’ll won’t be helping yourself in the long run since you’ll always have to rely on someone else. But, yes, no one should charge for someting that they spent minutes on, it’s just horrible.
But, anything else, why would you spend $50 on a layout/cutomization when there are quite a bit experienced and talented webdesigners out there that only charge – no more than – $10 for their services?
WP themes aren’t too difficult to understand, especially since anyone can create a header, even in Microsoft Paint.
what gets me wondering is what stupid people would actually fork over $50 for a wordpress theme that doesnt even have great images or coding, or why they would pay that when there is clearly exact styles just different headers. I would only pay that much for a wordpress theme if i knew it was “one of a kind” and that no one else would have the same theme as me ever, even with different images it would never look that same…..plus there are hundreds of designers out there with free wp themes and some only charge $3- $15 max.
I completely agree with you unless the customer asks for something simple and like someone else’s designs. I personally am a web designer as well even though I am just starting out since I’m just now graduating. I think alot of people just want to make easy money and screwing people over as you said is the easiest way. I would prefer to have value to my work and couldn’t do that to someone but money does make people very greedy. I admire the fact that you are honest because not many designers are nowadays. I know fellow friends that are graduating have designs/templates that they keep reusing so all their clients look the same. It’s really sad.
That’s crazy.5 minutes of crap work – $50?
The only kick ass point about WordPress themes is that the coding is complicated…but if the graphics are not that good,why should she charge $50?It’s ridiculous!
Money is tight these days but this person shouldn’t just resort to Getty Images,crop the watermark off,do some silly stuff to it and slap it onto a code she has been using.
i know. even the “professional” companies are just reusing the same template over and over again. if you look at the coding on their layouts, its all the same. so are the stylesheets. i try to make things from scratch. but a lot of the time it doesnt work out. hehe. so i use premades. im so lazy. but yea it is INSANE to charge 50$ for a shit job on something as simple as a template.
Definitely not. If it’s just a template, $50 is a bit much. Maybe $20…nothing more. I think that the person selling should put as much effort as possible, and suiting the customer’s needs…with a reasonable price too! No ripping them off!
If you have time to do it from scratch then do it from scratch. If you don’t then just recycle it.
I guess it depends. As long as she’s not leading people on saying she’s doing this and this and this just for you, then I don’t think it’s wrong. If she is it’s unethical and maybe illegal since she’s not paying for the stock photos.
Hey Krissy.. this comment doesn’t have anything to do with your blog entry but I thought you might be interested in it. I signed up for a new freebie site last night and since I know you do some of them too, I thought I’d tell you about it.. if you haven’t heard of it already. It’s OrderCash4Free and it’s not based on referrals (but you do get $40 for each one). You do offers and get cash back for each one. There’s alot of good deals and dozens of pages and offers to do. I signed up last night and just wanted to try one out quick.. I did a tickle test, got the results for $4.95 and got $31.50 back. It was an instant offer and within minutes I cashed out and am now pending approval for paypal payment. I’m waiting for it to go through before I do any more but it’s a Grade A – Proven Legit site on A4F so I’m confident about it. It’ll be a nice way to make some quick extra money.. and that’s why I thought you’d like to hear about it. You should really try it out!