In reply to Samuel "Otto" Wood.

I agree it would be good to make it clear to users whether plugins have upsells or not (ie through labels, yes please, let's do that), but not sure it should affect rankings.

The problem with this is where do you draw the line with what's acceptable? Are you de-prioritizing everything that includes an upsell?

For example, I have no problem with the way Jetpack upsells and neither would most people (and I can't really see it being de-prioritized or removed from Featured because of that). But there are some plugins and themes that go too far and probably should be de-prioritized. The question is where is that line?

Personally I see the existing ratings system as a potential solution here. If authors get the balance wrong and don't provide enough value or have too much upsell, then they get bad ratings and are de-prioritized accordingly.

I'd propose a) making it clear to users that items contain upsells through labels; b) having clear guidelines for authors about upsells in global areas; but c) not actually de-prioritizing specifically because of upsells, leave that to ratings instead.

Hmm, while we're at it, should we consider labels for Supported and Not Supported? I guess that's a can of worms...