[kanwisher]

Sales and lead generation is huge, I buy quite a few themes from ThemeForest, you seriously going to hunt around the net to 100 different sites where each author has 10 themes. Marketing has a cost and keeping an audience is very valuable

[RyanKearney]

I've purchased a few themes as well, however every time I've gone to do it I usually contact the author via email first and offer to buy the theme directly from him for 30-40% off. I save money, they get more money, we all win.

[josefresco]

Ethically borderline IMHO if you used the marketplace to find the theme first. If you found the author first, and saw they offered themes in a certain market after, it would be more acceptable to contact the author directly. You're essentially cutting out the marketplace from the transaction which damages their business model.

[asto]

Rather sneaky, that.