4 ms·

I made tindie, so if anyone has any feedback I'm all ears!

srik 14y ago
You can expect more visitors in the next few hours from HN as the day progresses since its almost weekend and all. I would consider those new views pretty valuable. Maybe you could serve a static page untill the 502 situation gets resolved.
- emilepetrone 14y ago
  And we are back online...Glad I randomly woke up at 3am
f4stjack 14y ago
fantastic idea buddy! I do love custom gear and gadgets and now I can buy them!
iamwil 14y ago
Where did you find the people who are working on these posted projects, and how did you get them to post? I think generally, etsy works because they can sell small runs of handmade things at a premium to cover costs (not the only reason). I'm not sure what the costs are to get small runs of circuit boards made, but it may push up prices of small runs of electronics to be much higher than what we're use to paying--and people generally don't think of electronics as being 'handmade' to justify paying the high premium. It's not a show stopper, but it's something I'd watch out for. That said, it might work for addons for already made platforms like raspberry pi, arduino, etc. I think it's worth a shot to try it out. Keep us posted of your progress.
- emilepetrone 14y ago
  Initially, I just threw a post on /r/arduino asking people if they thought it was a good idea, then had a signup form for people to start seeding projects before the site was built. http://www.reddit.com/r/arduino/comments/rxyjb/would_you_support_an_arduino_marketplace_or_am_i/ http://www.reddit.com/r/arduino/comments/rxyjb/would_you_sup...
  - rockmananoff 14y ago
    What kind of payment/shopping cart system do you use to allow people to sell products on your site?
    - emilepetrone 14y ago
      Stripe for payments. Shopping cart built into Cartridge, a django framework
happimess 14y ago
This is an exciting idea, and I can't wait to see what turns up on it. As for feedback, please give me the option to load as many items on a page as I want.
miles 14y ago
How about adding a "request" feature? For example, say someone is looking for a Kindle DX hacked to accommodate a USB keyboard. It would be nice to allow him or her to post this request so interested makers could jump on it. Perhaps prices or bounties could be offered by both buyers and sellers?
- emilepetrone 14y ago
  I actually had this up for a month, and it turned into "well go buy it here (insert link)". I thought it would work out like you are thinking but it turned out a bit different in execution
  - miles 14y ago
    If the product already exists, the advice on where to find/buy it is valuable. It would be a great boon to visitors, as well as drive more traffic to your site through web searches. One of the most valuable things about Amazon is the reviews which often contain additional info/insights about products, even where to find (legitimately) free ebook versions of print titles, etc.
    - stfu 14y ago
      This suggestion is actually pretty good! Don't be too afraid of loosing customers that way. Most who are looking for this special kind of solutions are most likeley interested in other products as well. And things like these let your site come across as community friendly, i.e. let visitors bond with your site and less likely to run away when something new comes along. The site is a great idea, but try to get more products on board, i.e. troll robotics sites, offer successful kickstarter campaigns a place to sell their "overproduction" units, etc.
  - bigiain 14y ago
    I'd be perfectly happy - so long as you disclosed it up front - for ou to automatically add your own affiliate code to links like that where you can (perhaps with special handling for people who post links with their own affiliate tracking already). If you managed "the community" right, you MIT even be able to start a culture of recommending vendors for which the site has affiliate deals - so users might selectively choose to recommend Sparkfun or Adafruit (where you've got affiliate relationships) over deal extreme or eBay (where you don't)
johnohara 14y ago
A menu item for software (programs, apps, and sketchs).

srik 14y ago

You can expect more visitors in the next few hours from HN as the day progresses since its almost weekend and all. I would consider those new views pretty valuable. Maybe you could serve a static page untill the 502 situation gets resolved.

emilepetrone 14y ago
And we are back online...Glad I randomly woke up at 3am

f4stjack 14y ago

fantastic idea buddy! I do love custom gear and gadgets and now I can buy them!

iamwil 14y ago

Where did you find the people who are working on these posted projects, and how did you get them to post? I think generally, etsy works because they can sell small runs of handmade things at a premium to cover costs (not the only reason). I'm not sure what the costs are to get small runs of circuit boards made, but it may push up prices of small runs of electronics to be much higher than what we're use to paying--and people generally don't think of electronics as being 'handmade' to justify paying the high premium. It's not a show stopper, but it's something I'd watch out for. That said, it might work for addons for already made platforms like raspberry pi, arduino, etc. I think it's worth a shot to try it out. Keep us posted of your progress.

emilepetrone 14y ago
Initially, I just threw a post on /r/arduino asking people if they thought it was a good idea, then had a signup form for people to start seeding projects before the site was built. http://www.reddit.com/r/arduino/comments/rxyjb/would_you_support_an_arduino_marketplace_or_am_i/ http://www.reddit.com/r/arduino/comments/rxyjb/would_you_sup...
- rockmananoff 14y ago
  What kind of payment/shopping cart system do you use to allow people to sell products on your site?
  - emilepetrone 14y ago
    Stripe for payments. Shopping cart built into Cartridge, a django framework

happimess 14y ago

This is an exciting idea, and I can't wait to see what turns up on it. As for feedback, please give me the option to load as many items on a page as I want.

miles 14y ago

How about adding a "request" feature? For example, say someone is looking for a Kindle DX hacked to accommodate a USB keyboard. It would be nice to allow him or her to post this request so interested makers could jump on it. Perhaps prices or bounties could be offered by both buyers and sellers?

emilepetrone 14y ago
I actually had this up for a month, and it turned into "well go buy it here (insert link)". I thought it would work out like you are thinking but it turned out a bit different in execution
- miles 14y ago
  If the product already exists, the advice on where to find/buy it is valuable. It would be a great boon to visitors, as well as drive more traffic to your site through web searches. One of the most valuable things about Amazon is the reviews which often contain additional info/insights about products, even where to find (legitimately) free ebook versions of print titles, etc.
  - stfu 14y ago
    This suggestion is actually pretty good! Don't be too afraid of loosing customers that way. Most who are looking for this special kind of solutions are most likeley interested in other products as well. And things like these let your site come across as community friendly, i.e. let visitors bond with your site and less likely to run away when something new comes along. The site is a great idea, but try to get more products on board, i.e. troll robotics sites, offer successful kickstarter campaigns a place to sell their "overproduction" units, etc.
- bigiain 14y ago
  I'd be perfectly happy - so long as you disclosed it up front - for ou to automatically add your own affiliate code to links like that where you can (perhaps with special handling for people who post links with their own affiliate tracking already). If you managed "the community" right, you MIT even be able to start a culture of recommending vendors for which the site has affiliate deals - so users might selectively choose to recommend Sparkfun or Adafruit (where you've got affiliate relationships) over deal extreme or eBay (where you don't)

johnohara 14y ago

A menu item for software (programs, apps, and sketchs).