I used to buy word press themes for links back but haven't for awhile and I wonder if they are still effective and counted for backlinks?
I don't really subscribe to the methodology. Links wind up next to other links that are totally unrelated. They get removed by folks all the time. And yet even worse, I was a looking at a financial site that had done this and wound up having links on a gay porn blog. If you don't care about any of that, its not a terrible idea but not real sound either. Nigel
I also think that Wordpress Themes Promotion working effectively it was some time earlier when webmasters were crazy about the WP themes but these days due to heavy market competition site owners pretend to use their customized themes designed by designers
+1 to what Nigel has said, however, if you are sponsoring a theme which is targeted towards your particular niche, then you will likely reap at least some benefits. However such themes are usually costlier than the general themes, which are all too easily available.
I believe they can offer some positive effects. I am chasing down a competitor's back link campaign where most of his links are from WP footers from a theme he has released. This is the only data I can relate to his new position in the SERPs. Therefore there must be some value in it.