Well, I thought the same way about the quality, and just can't keep shelling out money for a decent look, so I guess I'm doing a "sucky" skin for myself.
The one thing I am finding, is dispite what the standard response is, it's really not that easy to work in VB, with that insane template system.
I use to do Nuke templates, and though people would turn up their nose at it, sure was a heck of a lot easier to understand and work with, and maybe that's the problem? We are all not rocket scientists here, and there's a heck of a learning curve, and maybe that's why the free skins look so similar.
Add to that certain people have appointed themselves guardians of the code, or some sort of CSS police or something, and expect a standard that maybe is putting off some people as well.
I'm having a shot at it, but then I'm not worried about whether my theme is 100 % validated. It's for my enjoyment, and really, what are they gonna do? Knock down my door, and then beat me with their pocket protectors if I use tables instead of CSS?
I sure appreicate the effort that people put into their stuff, and then release it here. Good or bad, doesn't really matter, it's like a gift, it's the thought that counts that's the most important thing.