Some website template providers sell templates as a membership package. You pay a subscription to join their website, and then have access to all the website templates that they offer.
Although this may seem like a good idea at first glance, there are a few very good reasons why many website template providers do not, and will not, do business in this way, and why you should think twice about buying a template membership.
Some website template providers call these membership packages "template dumps".
- Devalues the templates
The membership-based sale of website templates is a form of market “dumping“, where a large number of products are dumped on the market at low cost, which devalues the designers' work and therefore the intrinsic value of the templates themselves.
- Oversaturates the market
Where a large number of people, at low cost (usually around $50 for a membership) are able to download hundreds or thousands of templates, those templates become widely distributed and over-used. Some of the members, perceiving the templates to have low value, go on to redistribute and resell them.
= No pride of ownership and no distribution control
You face the likelihood of seeing many clones of your website on the Internet.
- No copyright protection
Defending copyrights where products are so indiscriminately and widely distributed is impossible. This practice encourages mass circulation of website templates of questionable origin and ownership.
I recommend purchasing a fresh, professional product at a fair price, where you can be sure of its origin and be protected. You can also look out for the "No Membership Guaranteed" label and support those template stores.
You will find professional non-membership-based website templates (both free and paid-for) here.