Small Potato – I agree with you on some of what you said, but some people don’t modify the themes they get, actually, a fair number don’t. I think your comment focuses on the top 10% and not really the public at large. Search around and you’ll find thousands of people using themes in their default, unmodified form. Having something custom, to set you apart can be really nice, especially if you can’t design or code.

WordPress bloggers like to do things themselves. They are handy people that can search for ways to modify themes, not to mention the great support provided by Wordpress support forums and individual theme designers.

Why would you buy something at a high price, only to modify it? And for most of the times, would you modify the car after purchase?

So in fact, it’s NOT like asking “how much should a car cost?”

The poll serves only to get an idea of the general blogger threshold for WordPress theme.

There is no right price. There are different levels of quality, of service, and value. Each of us perceives these things differently, and weighs the import of the individual factors independently.

Honestly, everyone has their own set of requirements to define their cost. If you’re a business, you quote more. If you’re working along, you could quote less. Then there’s the marketing point, you either go for volume or you go for quality.

So I personally think it’s difficult to judge how much a theme should cost without first considering its intention or goal.

Cheers.

I know $200 isn’t much compensation for a custom theme compared to what a web designer’s usual rates would be but for small amateur bloggers earning only small coin from blogging I think that is a realistic price to expect.