[Lab] Introducing TugBits.com - a marketplace for makers

[Andrew O'Malley]

Tom,

As an active on-line seller, I'll be interested to see the development
of Tugbits.

For reference, sites like Etsy and Broodr.com take less than 5% of
each sale, so as a seller it's a great trade off for all the overhead
they take care of.

Etsy isn't really directed to electronics/maker stuff, but that's
where most of my sales come from.  Broodr is a newer site dedicated
more to maker stuff, but I have yet to make a sale there even though
they claim to be promoting it as well.

Is Tugbits for physical objects as well?

Best of luck and keep us updated!  Nice to see a local approach!

Andrew


> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 8 Jun 2011 13:25:33 -0400
> From: Tom Burns <tom.i.burns at gmail.com>
> Subject: [Lab] Introducing TugBits.com - a marketplace for makers.
> To: lab at artengine.ca
> Message-ID: <BANLkTinCRSY-ETHCw0nYPWwmmVsCwoToTA at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> I'd like to introduce the community to a website I've been working on with a
> few friends.  I would love to hear your feedback on the idea and the site,
> http://www.tugbits.com .
>
> Our dream goal is to help people quit their desk jobs and pay their bills
> doing what they love, making things.
>
> TugBits.com is a digital marketplace for makers.  You upload your design
> files, list them for sale, and collect money via PayPal when your item
> sells.  Likewise, you can use the site to find quality, reviewed designs
> suitable for printing on your 3d printer, milling on your CNC, running on
> your Arduino, etc.  Also suitable would be e-books, schematics, source code
> libraries and tools, etc.  Only after the PayPal transaction is the buyer
> able to download the files.  There are no physical items sold on the TugBits
> store, only files.
>
> Our goal is to help talented makers easily profit from their hard work.  We
> do not want to replace the existing "free/open source" model, but we want to
> augment it. We think that if you can get paid for your work it will compel
> you to go the extra step and make it that much better.  Market driven
> innovation.
>
> Registering and listing items is free.  We charge 25% of your gross revenue
> and bill monthly.  Depending on our costs and community feedback this number
> is probably going to change, but it's similar to the costs associated with
> putting an app on an app store or a musician listing with iTunes.
>
> Currently you can register on the site and list items for sale, which is
> what I would love for any of you interested to do.  We are in the final
> stages of getting PayPal to sign off on the site, at which point sellers
> will be able to collect money and items will be able to be sold.
>
> Please visit the site and let me know what you think!  Even if you hate it,
> please reply to tell me why.
>
> Thank you,
> Tom Burns