If you have a finished project you’re now bored with, here’s Tindie. It’s a one-man operation headed b [emile] that hopes to connect makers with people who think DIY projects are really cool and have money.
There are already a few websites that cater to the builder who wants to sell projects: Kickstarter for one, but this is based on the concept of campaigns. Tindie aims to be a techie etsy, according to [emile]’s market research post on reddit; a places for makers with a soldering iron to sell stuff, but who are baffled by the concept of knitting.
Right now there’s nothing to buy on Tindie – [emile] is looking for hackers to sell their projects so the store doesn’t launch with an empty stockroom. If you’ve got an old project sitting on your shelf that you’d like to sell, put it up. [emile] is only taking 5% of the sales – just enough to pay for the hosting. Hopefully it will be popular enough for the eventual Tindie/regretsy blog.
I’ll give it a go. Sounds like a neat way to offload those well meaning projects that never find a home 🙁
Thanks @Colecago! I’m emile, so if anyone has any questions, just let me know
From the FAQ:
Q: What is the best kind of burrito?
A: Carnitas, black beans, guacamole & sour cream. Mmmm.
FALSE. The best burrito ever made is the Steak & Eggs burrito at Burrito Drive. Plus, it is easy walking distance from Sector67.
http://www.burritodrive.com/
No… gotta be the Carne Asada Super Burrito with Sour Cream and extra rice at Super Taqueria in San Jose, CA. Oh I miss those since I moved to Sac. Garibaldi’s makes a decent facsimile though.
Interesting… I’ve seen a bunch of these types of sites now… So they collect 5% on each transaction… hopefully that does not include 5% of shipping. How do you get paid, via paypal?? So another 3% there… Who stocks the items?
If it were a Techie version of Etsy… they would charge 25 cents per listing, that’s it.
Supply and demand, or in this case, small business vs large business 🙂
Etsy actually charges 3.5% transaction fees plus 20 cents for the listing. Just an FYI http://www.etsy.com/help/article/2144
Sorry I will stick to Ebay and ham radio swap meets.
BTW I have a small quantity of RFID implants that can emulate HID WG26 protocol.
All I get is “server configuration error”.
That doesn’t bode well…
@geonomad on which page? I’m not seeing anything on my side – emile
I’m using chrome and i get an “Internal Server error” on both of the links off of the home page.
Same issue here.
Thanks guys for your patience. I believe the bug is fixed. Please let me know if this didn’t fix it for you-emile
Interesting – I’m now seeing it intermittently. I’ll dig into it tonight. Try logging out tindie.com/logout/ and then log back in. It seems to be something with sessions & permissions for logged in users.
How did this make it to hack a day, I think I smell an ad.
Because it’s a cool idea.
Didn’t Hack-a-day try to run a classified-section once too? Wasn’t very popular though, and it was free. I guess electronics are just bit too low volume for any such service to gain traction.
Nothing wrong with having options. This will fly in it’s original configuration or it doesn’t. Either with a commission business model of a fee per listing model it’s a gamble if the bills will be paid ,and a reasonable compensation earned. Emile may not clear enough to pay for a 50¢ frozen burrito from the supermarket a year. I registered to see what does come up for sale. Any projects I have for sale are old, and haven’t been powered up for years.
Hopefully they can emulate Etsy without the incompetence and drama.
I’d suggest he opens it up to parts, as well – as a sub section, not included in the main browse/search, but to replace the once-awesome, ever-underused junkb0x.org.
Great idea! I’ll add it right now
Now THAT is customer service.
What does Tindie mean/stand for? Tech(nology) Indie?
Exactly – I was pretty shocked the url was available
Just pushed the Parts section live! If you have spare parts you’d like to unload, you can now add them. Thanks @birdhall again for the idea- emile
Working in a bodyshop I come across alot of motors and some sensors. I guess I’ll give this a try.
Two words. Functional Cosplay.
Hmm interesting.. anyone else interested in a Cosplay section? There have been a lot of really awesome Iron Man suits out there..
I can’t agree with this more. Most of my inspiration for DIY projects comes from a need for LARP props.
I clicked on “sell a gadget” and the url
http://www.tindie.com/accounts/login/?next=/submit/
showed server configuration error
This is Safari on Mac
I was thinking about doing a small run of these time-lapse video throws (in the original case of course) and putting a store up on Etsy. Maybe I’ll try it here instead.
Bananas – ok thanks for including the URL. Still tracking this down. Try http://tindie.com/submit/ Sorry for that bug- not cool, not cool at all
much appreciated – thanks for spreading the word! – emile
I feel 5% is too much. I mean it isn’t absurd but it is still a good chuck just to be a middle man with a database.
Second, I would be pretty concerned about liability doing request projects. Scarfs don’t catch on fire. Electronics can. Plus FCC part 15, I’m not sure how that would regulate something you are selling to an “end user”. IE you are requesting a project that does X, you aren’t someone DIYing you are and end user, so doesn’t part 15 apply for home use?
If so you’d have to legally test items for 1000s a pop to validly sell them without any liability.
Now don’t get me wrong we totally need a marketplace for electronics inmojo is another one that comes to mine, but I would have set one up myself if I didn’t think these issues were important.
5% is reasonable. I feel a more reasonable solution is a fixed fee, as the ‘cost’ to list something doesn’t change just because its more expensive.
A percentage style fee means the more expensive items subsidize cheaper ones (and make them more viable to sell) so the argument can go either way I suppose.
I’m sure Emile will figure out the right legalize to put in to the TOS to absolve himself. One other way, I believe, may be to offer a kit section for both tech and mech kits. People love putting it together themselves, and kits tend to be found along with complete and novel projects from flea markets to Makerfaires.
Kits and parts (can we call them t-findings?) may be a safer way to launch. I’m curious to read the FCC standard myself.
Best,
EJ
From what I understand, Part 15 is more meant to regulate only that which is mass manufactured on the basis that you would send in a couple of samples for testing by the FCC. Once they pass muster, your whole product line gets the greenlight.
Single and/or very low-volume products, though having to be in compliant with Part 15, don’t require the testing as it would be impactical to get the samples necessary to make an accuracy assesment. As such, any liability is between the end-user and producer.