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Is there any theme marketplace that doesn't suck?

4 points| anujkk | 12 years ago

I hate how theme marketplaces treat their developers. Recently I submitted a template and it got rejected. May be it wasn't up to the standards but it was really disheartening to see how they communicated the rejection. This is what I got in my inbox:

----

Hello,

Thank you for submitting your item. Unfortunately, this submission has been rejected.

Your item must be improved in one or more of the following areas:

- Visual quality and appeal

- Technical quality

- Originality

For more information about quality standards, please refer to the item style guide: https://xyz.com/help/sellers/style-guide

Regards,

XYZ Support

https://XYZ.com/support

-----

A standard boilerplate message with vague reasons. Which one of the three reasons? Lacks technical quality? How? Invalid HTML? JavaScript errors? If the developer wants to improve his theme and resubmit it how will he know what changes to make? Theme developers work hard to develop themes and they deserve at least a proper feedback about what are the exact reasons their submission got rejected. Is it that hard or time consuming?

I tried contacting support and asked if they can tell the specific reasons. Got no response. This is what they call "support"?

Today I gave them feedback through their website and also mailed it to founder. Let's see if they care to respond this time.

I would like to ask HN if there is any theme marketplace that doesn't suck? What an independent theme developer should do to avoid such marketplaces? What are the options?

7 comments

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[+] anujkk|12 years ago|reply
My email to founder :

I would like to suggest that you need to improve the quality of feedbacks you provide to theme developers when their submissions get rejected. Theme developers work hard to develop themes and they atleast deserve a proper feedback about what are the exact reasons their submission got rejected. This will help them make changes and improve the design if possible. I understand that to maintain the quality of themes in your marketplace you need to reject some themes but why not do it with a proper feedback? Is it that much time consuming?

At them moment they just get a standard reply that their item must be improved in one or more of the following areas:

- Visual quality and appeal

- Technical quality

- Originality

This is a terrible form of communication and a terrible user experience for theme developers who provide all the themes you sell at your marketplace. I wish you take some time out and do something about it.

[+] waqasaday|12 years ago|reply
Dude try CreativeMarket.com, great folks with great platform.
[+] vertis|12 years ago|reply
In a lot of ways the reviewers at these sites are similar to call centre workers. They're expected to maintain quotas.

When you're trying to get through a large backlog reviews, that doesn't leave much room for tailoring responses to people.

I'm not justifying it. The process leaves a lot to be desired...I've seen quite a few things rejected that I would be happy purchasing.

Regarding improving your own work, perhaps you could ask someone else to review the theme before you submit it.

[+] vertis|12 years ago|reply
If you're going to do a few designs you could also just open a shopify store or something similar.
[+] grimor|12 years ago|reply
C'mon I submitted my first project. And got acceptted after first time, soo ... Probably your template actually sucks or it's just another same template like rest of them or you wasn't lucky at assigned reviewer for your template.