On the Tindie store settings, you can check a little box saying you accept requests for custom work. Over the past year, I’ve had multiple inquiries and did indeed fulfill a few requests for custom PCB designs. However, each of these threads mostly seems to go over the same stuff: what’s your price, how long do you expect to take, exchanging requirements and NDAs, etc.
If would be mighty handy in my opinion if there were some kind of sub-platform where it is possible to advertise stuff like:
- Your rates
- Your specialties
- Previous work and testimonials
- Your company info and general delivery terms
I realize most people would say ‘well, lead them to your own website!’. Sure, but in practice nobody does. Custom work essentially goes around the Tindie ecosystem, but people still keep using Tindie’s Discourse messaging to inquire about these projects. They rarely if ever, in the case of my store, visit my muxtronics.nl website. It seems like the fact that this feature exists as a check box could be fleshed out more, and this would be good for sellers. Hell, I’m happy for Tindie to take a cut or keep funds in escrow for this stuff.
Custom work is pretty much my bread and butter. Sure, Tindie sales are starting to become a significant source of income, but nothing beats raw hourly rates for custom designs. I think expanding on this feature would be very attractive to existing and new sellers