Tindie says forget Kickstarter • Hacker News Board

Re: Tindie says forget Kickstarter

#11

Post by thanatropism » Wed, May 07, 2014, 2:02 AM UTC

What I like about this is that it doesn't leave the buyer -- here, explicitly a buyer -- in the twilight zone that Kickstarter does. Kickstarter calls you a "backer", and a bearer of risk to some extent, and for this some people in the Oculus case have come to feel like investors and felt seriously cheated. Seriously, search HN.

Actually pricing what a Kickstarter "backing" offer should cost like is a lot like pricing financial derivatives. By offering to back a project, you're swapping a call option for something like a CDO - there are tranches, there are levels of haircuts, etc. etc.

Tindie is just Etsy for Arduino hackers. Congratulations for cutting that Gordian knot!

Re: Tindie says forget Kickstarter

#12

Post by codehero » Wed, May 07, 2014, 2:10 AM UTC

emilepetrone wrote: post #2

Hey HN, Just saw this was picking up steam so if you have any questions, happy to answer them! Some might remember me from my posts a few years ago when I quit my job to learn how to code. Happy to answer any of those questions as well... Emile Founder of Tindie

Some questions:

Tindie Fundraisers just seem to have disappeared; what happened to them?

How do you regulate the marketplace competition? Do you let overseas companies copy a maker's product and sell it for a lower price?

Re: Tindie says forget Kickstarter

#13

Post by sirdogealot » Wed, May 07, 2014, 2:27 AM UTC

I am wondering why I have yet to see this tindie mentioned on hackaday.com

To the founder, I would approach them for an advertising deal if at all possible.

Re: Tindie says forget Kickstarter

#14

Post by emilepetrone » Wed, May 07, 2014, 2:28 AM UTC

sirdogealot wrote: post #13

I am wondering why I have yet to see this tindie mentioned on hackaday.com To the founder, I would approach them for an advertising deal if at all possible.

They were the first to write about us :)

http://hackaday.com/2012/04/30/tindie-an-etsy-for-electronic... http://hackaday.com/2012/06/27/an-etsy-for-electronics/

Re: Tindie says forget Kickstarter

#15

Post by eldavido » Wed, May 07, 2014, 2:38 AM UTC

I'd like it if one of these marketplaces emerged that was more careful about vetting sellers. I've ordered Raspberry Pi-related gear off of two unrelated e-com sites in the past month (one was Tindie) and have yet to receive the goods (or any indication they received my order) 3+ weeks after the funds changed hands.

This isn't kickstarter. When I pay for something, I expect to receive it in a reasonable amount of time, or at least receive an explanation of what's going on. A little transparency would go a long way.

Re: Tindie says forget Kickstarter

#16

Post by emilepetrone » Wed, May 07, 2014, 2:40 AM UTC

eldavido wrote: post #15

I'd like it if one of these marketplaces emerged that was more careful about vetting sellers. I've ordered Raspberry Pi-related gear off of two unrelated e-com sites in the past month (one was Tindie) and have yet to receive the goods (or any indication they received my order) 3+ weeks after the funds changed hands. This isn't kickstarter. When I pay for something, I expect to receive it in a reasonable amount of tim…

Hi Eldavido,

Definitely not the norm. Email me directly with your info and I'll dig into it now.

Emile Founder of Tindie Emile{at}tindie[dot]com

Re: Tindie says forget Kickstarter

#17

Post by eldavido » Wed, May 07, 2014, 2:47 AM UTC

eldavido wrote: post #15

I'd like it if one of these marketplaces emerged that was more careful about vetting sellers. I've ordered Raspberry Pi-related gear off of two unrelated e-com sites in the past month (one was Tindie) and have yet to receive the goods (or any indication they received my order) 3+ weeks after the funds changed hands. This isn't kickstarter. When I pay for something, I expect to receive it in a reasonable amount of tim…

I think it's ridiculous that this comment got downvoted. I read hacker news every day and want to have a conversation about fulfillment, business models, and maybe learn about various marketplaces and how they're dealing with the problem of fulfillment and inventory management.

Sometimes conversations here can get a little sharp-elbowed, but I can't help but think I'm getting downvoted because I said something marginally negative about Tindie.

Is this what HN is becoming -- say something nice, or don't say anything at all?

Re: Tindie says forget Kickstarter

#18

Post by damian2000 » Wed, May 07, 2014, 4:31 AM UTC

eldavido wrote: post #15

I'd like it if one of these marketplaces emerged that was more careful about vetting sellers. I've ordered Raspberry Pi-related gear off of two unrelated e-com sites in the past month (one was Tindie) and have yet to receive the goods (or any indication they received my order) 3+ weeks after the funds changed hands. This isn't kickstarter. When I pay for something, I expect to receive it in a reasonable amount of tim…

Do they have a reputation system for sellers and buyers like eBay?

Re: Tindie says forget Kickstarter

#19

Post by vanwesson » Wed, May 07, 2014, 4:42 AM UTC

eldavido wrote: post #17

eldavido wrote: post #15

I'd like it if one of these marketplaces emerged that was more careful about vetting sellers. I've ordered Raspberry Pi-related gear off of two unrelated e-com sites in the past month (one was Tindie) and have yet to receive the goods (or any indication they received my order) 3+ weeks after the funds changed hands. This isn't kickstarter. When I pay for something, I expect to receive it in a reasonable amount of tim…

I think it's ridiculous that this comment got downvoted. I read hacker news every day and want to have a conversation about fulfillment, business models, and maybe learn about various marketplaces and how they're dealing with the problem of fulfillment and inventory management. Sometimes conversations here can get a little sharp-elbowed, but I can't help but think I'm getting downvoted because I said something margin…

HN has pretty much always been a creepy echo chamber where more or less all posts toe the line of "whatever startups do must be right, so don't question or criticize".

Re: Tindie says forget Kickstarter

#20

Post by avalaunch » Wed, May 07, 2014, 4:55 AM UTC

eldavido wrote: post #17

eldavido wrote: post #15

I'd like it if one of these marketplaces emerged that was more careful about vetting sellers. I've ordered Raspberry Pi-related gear off of two unrelated e-com sites in the past month (one was Tindie) and have yet to receive the goods (or any indication they received my order) 3+ weeks after the funds changed hands. This isn't kickstarter. When I pay for something, I expect to receive it in a reasonable amount of tim…

I think it's ridiculous that this comment got downvoted. I read hacker news every day and want to have a conversation about fulfillment, business models, and maybe learn about various marketplaces and how they're dealing with the problem of fulfillment and inventory management. Sometimes conversations here can get a little sharp-elbowed, but I can't help but think I'm getting downvoted because I said something margin…

I agree that your comment had value and didn't deserve to be downvoted. That being said, I think you're jumping to too big of a conclusion based on a single (assuming it was only one) downvote - that HN has become a place where contrary opinions are squashed. Chances are good that someone simply isn't aware of the community standards as to when they are and when they are not supposed to downvote - that downvotes are meant to be reserved for when a comment adds no value to the conversation, not when one simply disagrees with the opinion being shared. In that case, the person needs to be educated to the community's expectations. But we should also not rule out the possibility that someone meant to upvote you and instead pressed the downvote button, which are entirely too close to one another, and of which there is no ability to reverse.