Yes, it definitely seems unfair for the plugin developers to do all the work and receive very little compensation for all their time.

I disagree- it just reflects what the market value of a wordpress plugin is. Anyone who feels they're not fairly rewarded can just stop doing it. Nobody is forcing them to do the work.

Besides, they most likely have motivations other than money- there's no way anyone starts making wordpress plugins thinking they're going to get rich (at least I hope not!)

Maybe not rich but there are several plugin developers that make a decent amount of revenue by selling plugins. For example check out Dan Grossman and his review plugin: http://wpreviewsite.com

It doesn't reflect the value of a wordpress plugin, since the value of an item is the most the market will pay for it before going for an alternative.

The only thing this price means is that it is difficult to make money by giving away stuff for free.

While I'd love to make more money from the Wordpress plugins I've worked on, so far I've been content w/ the $10 I've received over the last two years because I did it to gain experience and have fun doing something I enjoy. Fortunately, I've been able to take that knowledge and apply it to my day job and it's paid off far more than any donations ever could have.

I think that's how most people start. The problem becomes apparent when you don't have time to maintain and support the plugin.

What, you think they thought they would make a business out of it? Open-source software is notoriously hard for third-party developers to monetize.

I think that's the challenge. That is, that because WordPress isn't supporting premium plugins and the market is reaching critical mass.