Scope of a Wordpress Theme Marketplace

I believe it will be a pretty hard run, as those big names hire the best developers available and definately spend a lot on marketing as well. So being a one man band won't be too easy to succeed with this. If I was you I would focus on providing custom designing services to clients, as that is a place where you are more likely to have fair amount of success.

There's always room for more talent. If you've got what it takes to stand out from the crowd, there's no reason not to launch a theme marketplace. Most customers don't buy from just one theme site. I buy themes from most of the top ones.

It would definitely be a big job if you were wanting to gain any type of real traction.

It's not to say it's impossible but it would be almost like trying to create a search engine to take on the big ones.

The Envato marketplace is very big and you would need to give developers some reason to use your marketplace over that one since it is already established and getting a ton of traffic.

Impossible? No. Would I do it? No.

First of all, you should think at this as a business. What do you dislike at themeforest and mojothemes that you think you could do better. Big business tend to be too autoritary, and it is normal for both clients and developers to search for alternatives.

If you just want to build another clone, then there is no reason to start it, you won't be able to pitch it and it will be hard to attract users.

More, since you are starting from scratch, you need to have some base to start from, at least few dozens of themes so the first visitors to be able to see something else than a blank page.

If you run a Theme Development shop like the ones you mention, it takes a lot of work and you need to be constantly developing new themes.

WP Themes are covered by a GPL license and it is transerfable to your buyers. So if you make a theme, as soon as someone buys it they can modify it, sell it or give it away.

Now the GPL license is not carte blanche to steal others work, but it makes chasing down offenders more difficult.

If someone violates the GPL and you feel they stole your work, their first reply to a complaint will be to point at the GPL and say "I have the rights".

It would be up to you to show how they are not covered by the GPL and this could get expensive.

The big theme sites realize this (and often include it in their own licensing) but make their money in other ways than just selling the themes directly.

For example, they offer memberships, so for a certain fee you get access to all the themes, upgrades, etc.

When everything you produce effectively becomes "public domain" you need to ensure you have a sustainable model.

The constant need to produce new themes and build your portfolio requires good designers.

Thanks dukegman, sbucciarel, WillR, thedark, konrud, onSubie