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Comment by philfrasty | Hacker News Reader

How does this compare to most builtin page builders in themes on e.g. Themeforest? „Compare“ as in: why does Shogun seem to have SO MUCH MORE potential in YC's POV?

For comparison: a top-selling theme on TF with a top notch built-in page builder is usually around $50 to $70 one-time fee. Shogun with similiar features in the most expensive version is $60 per month.

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You raise a fair point and I can't say with any certainty why YC picked us over any other ideas. One advantage we have over Themeforest is that our customers are willing to pay on a monthly subscription basis, whereas TF is a 1 time fee as you mentioned. We also integrate seamlessly and directly into whatever backend our customers are using, so they don't need to deal with HTML/CSS/other theme files.

From my POV, I wouldn't call that an advantage. What happens when the customer (or a potential customer who is doing diligence before purchasing) realizes there's a cheaper, and in most cases, just as easy to use option with something like Themeforest?

We've found that most theme based drag/drop builders are quite limited, and railroad you into the design of the theme. Also it's not possible for a lot of well established stores to go out and pick up a new theme, as they have their own brand guidelines, etc. That said, I'm sure we must lose some customers this way.

Another point here is that most theme developers don't want to provide support. If you read our reviews, our support shines through time and time again. So by using our software, they're getting (and paying for) more than just the functionality.

Can you give an example of a top-selling theme with a page builder included?

here are some: https://themeforest.net/category/ecommerce/shopify?term=buil...

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