We've only just started using Template Monster, but thought it may be beneficial to some readers to provide a review of their service so far.
What is Template Monster?
Template Monster provides professionally designed websites for almost any category/genre you can think of. The business has many designers working for them and submitting new templates daily to expand the catalogue, which at present contains nearly 6000 templates to choose from.
Types of Template
Templates include regular HTML Website Templates, Flash Templates, Flash Intro Templates, SWiSH Templates, Dynamic Flash, Photo Galleries, E-commerce Templates (osCommerce, ZenCart, CRE Loaded), CMS & Blog Templates (PHP-Nuke, PhpBB, WordPress, Joomla!, Mambo), and many Corporate Design templates (Logos, Corporate Identity, Logosets, Icon Sets).
Each of these types of templates has many categories to search within, and so finding a template for whatever look you want for your website should be no trouble at all, whether you are building a sports website, or a dating website.
The Website
The main Template Monster is fairly easy to navigate with a simple search option to use, or seperate website sections if you prefer to browse. The templates themselves are clearly layed out with a small preview image that when clicked on will lead you to a preview page showing the website in full, and a list of what is included with the template (images, flash version, html version, etc.) and of course an option to buy the template.
Pricing
From what we have found, Template Monster offers templates at very reasonble prices for the level of professional design you get. Basic website templates range from £30-£70, and e-commerce templates range from £70-£100. These are non-exclusive prices though, so other people will be able to purchase the same template for their website too. Each template also has a 'Unique Price' (usually 8-10 times the regular price) whereby you will be the last person to be able to buy that template (someone else may have already purchased this template before however).
What can I do with the Templates?
According to the terms of use, you can modify the templates however you like, and can use them once for a single website, but you can't redistribute or resell templates no matter whether you paid the regular (non-unique), or UNIQUE price.
Who can use Template Monster?
Any individual can purchase templates for their own use, and according to the terms of use, web developers are allowed to use the website templates for client websites too - this saves times for the developers, and their clients get a very professionally designed website.
Support
Template Monster provides many different types of support including live chat, online help guides, a ticket support system, and phone support (should you prefer the traditional method!).
Overall
We are very impressed with Template Monster overall, and would be happy to recommend the website/service to anyone building a website, or web designers who need a quick template for a client.
Affiliate Program
Template Monster runs an affiliate program too, where it is possible to earn commission (up to 20%) for selling templates to others. The affiliate program is free to join and takes just a few minutes to create an account. Once you have sold a certain number of templates (5 at the time of writing), it is also possible to reduce prices, thereby offering discounts to your customers, although the larger the discount, the lower your commission.
The affiliate program is very good in our opinion, not only due to the range of templates you can offer, but due to the excellent tools Template Monster provides its affiliates, and the ease with which affiliates can integrate the templates into their own websites. Affiliates can even recruit sub-affilates and earn commission on templates that they sell too.
Affiliates can setup white-label shops using their own logos, or incorporate only certian features such as a template search box, or template from one category.
Affiliate Program Overall
Overall the affiliate program makes an excellent addition to any web design, or online business website (that's why we added it just recently!), and we would at least recommend website owners having a look at it as an addition to services they already offer.
Join Template Monster Affiliate Program