What is the standard for themes on sale not being updated?

I’ve been looking at a theme I want to buy on here for months but see it hasn’t been updated since Aug 2018 and doesn’t work with latest wp but it’s still on sale. For these reasons, I haven’t purchased but it got me thinking, is it acceptable for authors to be still selling themes and support on here then not update them? It’s a bit of a worry that you may base a whole site around a theme to have this happen to you? At what point does Envato stop an author selling a theme and charging for support when the theme isn’t being updated etc, just curious? Thanks

While I agree with your concern -

Items must work to the latest versions at the time of release, but there’s no feasible way for envato to be able to test or be aware of which of the thousands of items had been updated etc. on an ongoing basis

Perhaps a report button should be added to themes so customers could easily let Envato know when this is happening?

It’s not a bad idea and always good to come with solutions.

It would still require quite a bit of resource time would be needed as issues from the demos to installation and/or compatibility can be down to a number of different things which would need to be properly assessed.

Unfortunately envato not owning the copyright to items is what allows them to offer the quality
and quantity that sets them apart, but also can create issues like this and prevents them guaranteeing things like updates and support.

Surely Envato is backing items on here as being of a certain standard and if an item falls below that standard someone should be checking on this and speaking to authors? Perhaps some guidelines at the very least should be issued to authors about at a minimum 6 monthly updates should be expected of them if they want to remain selling a theme on here and asking customers to pay for support for a theme?

They check the themes at the point if sale and if you were to extend support then find out it was not working or the author not replying then they would issue a refund.

But there are tens of thousands (if not more) items for sale and envato are just the marketplace so authors could update or even remove the item at any moment so even if they were to let envato know it would be a logistical mountain to check. Plus as there are technical and copyright considerations beyond that.

If you look at the alternative marketplaces (who own the items they sell and therefore have a tighter grip on support and updates) they are almost all more expensive, with less than 50 themes to choose from, and often not as creative

We’ve bought over 1000 items and around 30% have been removed and several other are no longer supported so I completely see your point.

That said - more often than not authors take good care of their items and given what we are getting at the ridiculously low price, we’ve always seen it as a risk worth taking.

Sadly, they do not. Buyer beware.

Good question.