Show HN: my weekend project, Gumroad

#1

Post by sahillavingia » Mon, Apr 04, 2011, 2:43 PM UTC

Show HN: my weekend project, Gumroad
gumroad.com

Re: Show HN: my weekend project, Gumroad

#2

Post by sahillavingia » Mon, Apr 04, 2011, 2:43 PM UTC

Over this past weekend I had the idea to build a sort of link shortener but with a payment system built-in. There have been many times in the past where I wanted to share a link - on Twitter or just through IM with a few friends - but did not want to go through the overhead of setting up a whole store.

So I built Gumroad. I coded/designed from 12PM -> 11PM on Saturday and 8AM -> 11PM on Sunday. There are still tons of features missing (I'm working on AJAX file uploading next!) but I think it's reached that - buzzword alert! - MVP stage where I want to see if anyone's actually going to use the darn thing (I'm thinking about taking a 30% cut).

Here's an example Gumroad link: http://www.gumroad.com/l/hjbaod - I use Stripe for payments. Here are some screenshots I took while making it: http://letscrate.com/gumroad/gumroad-progress - I didn't use Photoshop so no crazy time-lapses!

I think it has some potential. What do you guys think?

Re: Show HN: my weekend project, Gumroad

#3

Post by lux » Mon, Apr 04, 2011, 2:51 PM UTC

What are your fees? Didn't see that anywhere on the homepage.

Re: Show HN: my weekend project, Gumroad

#4

Post by sahillavingia » Mon, Apr 04, 2011, 2:53 PM UTC

lux wrote: post #3

What are your fees? Didn't see that anywhere on the homepage.

Honestly, I'm not sure - hence them not being listed - but I think I'm going to go with 30%. And then for people making >$x a month dropping that in tiers. Thoughts?

Re: Show HN: my weekend project, Gumroad

#5

Post by bhousel » Mon, Apr 04, 2011, 2:57 PM UTC

Clickable: https://gumroad.appspot.com/l/jxrvbk

Re: Show HN: my weekend project, Gumroad

#6

Post by sahillavingia » Mon, Apr 04, 2011, 3:01 PM UTC

bhousel wrote: post #5

Clickable: https://gumroad.appspot.com/l/jxrvbk

Trying to sell the link to Gumroad for $100?! Stop trying to profit off of my work! :D

Re: Show HN: my weekend project, Gumroad

#7

Post by jcapote » Mon, Apr 04, 2011, 3:03 PM UTC

If the payment fails, will you still redirect to the link?

If you only redirected based on successful payments, you could use this as a simpler paypal for charging clients on your site using unique gumroaded links.

Re: Show HN: my weekend project, Gumroad

#8

Post by bhousel » Mon, Apr 04, 2011, 3:03 PM UTC

sahillavingia wrote: post #6

bhousel wrote: post #5

Clickable: https://gumroad.appspot.com/l/jxrvbk

Trying to sell the link to Gumroad for $100?! Stop trying to profit off of my work! :D

It's profit all the way down.

Re: Show HN: my weekend project, Gumroad

#9

Post by sahillavingia » Mon, Apr 04, 2011, 3:04 PM UTC

jcapote wrote: post #7

If the payment fails, will you still redirect to the link? If you only redirected based on successful payments, you could use this as a simpler paypal for charging clients on your site using unique gumroaded links.

You only get redirected if your payment goes through. Yes, that is a potential use-case.

Re: Show HN: my weekend project, Gumroad

#10

Post by evoltix » Mon, Apr 04, 2011, 3:05 PM UTC

Seriously? I'm not sure I could take anyone seriously that tried to sell me a link of "value." Why not just share the link for free like people have been doing since the beginning of time?

Don't get me wrong. You did a great job getting this rolled out over a weekend and it looks nice. I must need some enlightening because I really don't get it.