Hi Andrew!<div><br></div><div>I am glad you are interested. I am a fan of your work!</div><div><br></div><div>Thank you for bringing Broodr to my attention, I had not seen it before. </div><div><br></div><div>Doesn't Etsy also charge a listing fee? Our site is free-to-list to hopefully promote growth, but clearly our original 25% idea is too high. Once we internally agree on a lower number I will let the list know :)</div>
<div><br></div><div>While we are not against eventually supporting physical items, to start it is digital only. It is a simpler model for everyone involved to not have to deal with shipping. Also I am not sure if we want to compete with Etsy. </div>
<div><br></div><div>One of our potential ideas is to partner with existing physical services like ponoko, sparkfun/mouser, and easy PCB, to offer simple JIT kit ordering. For single quantities and multiple-source shipping it might end up being too expensive compared to traditional sales models.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Another way to look at our target marketplace would be "App Store for Arduino/CNC/RepRap".</div><div><br></div><div>Cheers,</div><div>Tom</div><div><div><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Jun 8, 2011 at 3:08 PM, Andrew O'Malley <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:aomalley@gmail.com">aomalley@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">Tom,<br>
<br>
As an active on-line seller, I'll be interested to see the development<br>
of Tugbits.<br>
<br>
For reference, sites like Etsy and Broodr.com take less than 5% of<br>
each sale, so as a seller it's a great trade off for all the overhead<br>
they take care of.<br>
<br>
Etsy isn't really directed to electronics/maker stuff, but that's<br>
where most of my sales come from. Broodr is a newer site dedicated<br>
more to maker stuff, but I have yet to make a sale there even though<br>
they claim to be promoting it as well.<br>
<br>
Is Tugbits for physical objects as well?<br>
<br>
Best of luck and keep us updated! Nice to see a local approach!<br>
<br>
Andrew<br>
<br>
<br>
> Message: 1<br>
> Date: Wed, 8 Jun 2011 13:25:33 -0400<br>
> From: Tom Burns <<a href="mailto:tom.i.burns@gmail.com">tom.i.burns@gmail.com</a>><br>
> Subject: [Lab] Introducing TugBits.com - a marketplace for makers.<br>
> To: <a href="mailto:lab@artengine.ca">lab@artengine.ca</a><br>
> Message-ID: <<a href="mailto:BANLkTinCRSY-ETHCw0nYPWwmmVsCwoToTA@mail.gmail.com">BANLkTinCRSY-ETHCw0nYPWwmmVsCwoToTA@mail.gmail.com</a>><br>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"<br>
><br>
> I'd like to introduce the community to a website I've been working on with a<br>
> few friends. I would love to hear your feedback on the idea and the site,<br>
> <a href="http://www.tugbits.com" target="_blank">http://www.tugbits.com</a> .<br>
><br>
> Our dream goal is to help people quit their desk jobs and pay their bills<br>
> doing what they love, making things.<br>
><br>
> TugBits.com is a digital marketplace for makers. You upload your design<br>
> files, list them for sale, and collect money via PayPal when your item<br>
> sells. Likewise, you can use the site to find quality, reviewed designs<br>
> suitable for printing on your 3d printer, milling on your CNC, running on<br>
> your Arduino, etc. Also suitable would be e-books, schematics, source code<br>
> libraries and tools, etc. Only after the PayPal transaction is the buyer<br>
> able to download the files. There are no physical items sold on the TugBits<br>
> store, only files.<br>
><br>
> Our goal is to help talented makers easily profit from their hard work. We<br>
> do not want to replace the existing "free/open source" model, but we want to<br>
> augment it. We think that if you can get paid for your work it will compel<br>
> you to go the extra step and make it that much better. Market driven<br>
> innovation.<br>
><br>
> Registering and listing items is free. We charge 25% of your gross revenue<br>
> and bill monthly. Depending on our costs and community feedback this number<br>
> is probably going to change, but it's similar to the costs associated with<br>
> putting an app on an app store or a musician listing with iTunes.<br>
><br>
> Currently you can register on the site and list items for sale, which is<br>
> what I would love for any of you interested to do. We are in the final<br>
> stages of getting PayPal to sign off on the site, at which point sellers<br>
> will be able to collect money and items will be able to be sold.<br>
><br>
> Please visit the site and let me know what you think! Even if you hate it,<br>
> please reply to tell me why.<br>
><br>
> Thank you,<br>
> Tom Burns<br>
<br>
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</blockquote></div><br></div></div>