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Here https://wordpress.org/about/license/ it says that themes are also GPL. But I see many themes for sale. What am I missing? The core is GPL but whatever you format like css is not? That is why we can build and sell themes? But here it says "theme", which is general and sounds like includes all files that make up a theme….
GPL doesn’t prevent you from selling! However you are granting all the redistribution and modification rights by it, so legally someone can buy from you then sell it themselves (with some nuance in regards to naming/trademarks which aren’t covered by GPL).
Loosely there are three cases:
1. Selling a theme completely under GPL
2. Selling theme under a split license, where GPL covers PHP/template code only and the rest is covered by a different license. Envato market did a lot of such, got them into hot water with Matt at one point.
3. Selling theme under non-GPL license. This is… debatable. The official stance of WP project are that extensions must be GPL, however project itself acts contrary to this in places (e.g. repositories allowing non-GPL licenses if they are GPL-compatible). Anyway very likely to label you a problem.
When you purchase a theme, you are really paying for support and updates.
Yes, I can download ALL themes and plugins on the repository and sell them.
Nothing in the GPL prevents you from charging money. It just prevents you from claiming ownership over code that you produce. If someone wants updates and support, they pay you. If someone wants access to the source code, and/or chooses to distribute it, that’s their right.