Is Tindie about to fail?

[phil from seattle]

I am a Tindie seller - any others here? 

Last week I got notice that they are unable to disburse (pay me for my sales) because of PayPal issues. They made it seem like a glitch that they are working on.  Monday, I got a message "we are still working on it" and nothing since.  I've got orders piling up and am hesitant to fulfill if Tindie won't pay me. And definitely if they are about to go under.

There are a number of other issues that they are "working on" (UK VAT, US State sales tax, PayPal alternative). I use quotations because they have been doing that for literally months. Do they not have a programming staff to keep their site/system going? Pretty disheartening.

I'm working on get a second channel up (Shopify) but in the mean time people keep ordering my product off tindie. I may have to move them to Shopify but not sure when that will be. Unmet expectations sure piss people off.

Anyone have insight to this?

[phil from seattle]

Well, wouldn't you know it.  No more than 10 minutes after I posted it, Tindie sent me email saying disbursements are again happening. 

Still, the question of Tindie's stability is valid.

[floobydust]

SupplyFrame Inc. owns Tindie, Hackaday and looks more like Silicon Valley bullshit, such as Autodesk purchasing Instructables.
The maker sites and marketplaces have nothing to do with their core business yet the corporations buy them to exploit creatives, yet contribute nothing more than web hosting.

SupplyFrame "Powered by breakthrough Design-to-Source Intelligence (DSI), Supplyframe’s AI-based SaaS solutions enable previously impossible insights and decision support that bring new levels of resiliency and performance to the global electronics value chain."
"... a SaaS application that builds resilience into the product lifecycle from the beginning of the New Product Introduction (NPI) process, accelerating time-to-market, assuring BOM validation, optimizing for target costs, and mitigating risk of downstream supply disruption."

Never heard of them, what a bunch of useless buzzwords. Good luck making cash.

[phil from seattle]

I don't pay much attention to the marketing BS.  But I do pay attention to their actions (and lack thereof).  They have been talking about a Tindie alternative for 6 weeks at least.   They have been saying they are working on the UK VAT issue since Nov of last year.  Nada so far.  And it took them 6 days to fix the PayPal "glitch".

To be fair, I've made a fair amount of money selling on Tindie, in spite of the distinct lack of features. If they had features like being able to figure what tax rate to apply and allow me set up my product shipping with weight categories, I might actually stick with them. But what they actually do is just not worth the almost 10% they take.

[themadhippy]

They have been saying they are working on the UK VAT issue since Nov of last year.  Nada so far.

when they've got a solution maybe they could tell the uk government along  with our revenues and customs as it would help them also find a solution,as normal  they seem to be having trouble  just  distinguishing  between there rectum and elbow,let alone complicated tax problems

[phil from seattle]

lol.  As I understand, it sellers have tried to register with the UK Tax authorities and not gotten any response. 

The rules are that for shipments under 135 gbp in value, I have to collect 20% VAT and remit it to the UK tax man.  Tindie has no way for me to charge my customers for tax (VAT, GST, sale tax, ...) based on the customer's location.   So, I just ship it to the UK without collecting VAT and so far Her Majesty's Postal Service has seen fit to just deliver it without charging the recipient.  So, I'm going with that from now but eventually, something will change. Maybe by then Tindie, will actually have figured something out. Not holding my breath.

[48X24X48X]

HRMC still haven't process my application. It has been 2 months now. And customers are still receiving packages without any tax.

Just get on with your own website. Don't wait and it's not hard also. And at the end of the day, you do whatever you want on your website. Better shipping classification, more accurate tax handling and what not.

[phil from seattle]

HRMC still haven't process my application. It has been 2 months now. And customers are still receiving packages without any tax.

Just get on with your own website. Don't wait and it's not hard also. And at the end of the day, you do whatever you want on your website. Better shipping classification, more accurate tax handling and what not.

Yeah, I hear you.  Tindie was easy for getting started, time to move along.

[gooligumelec]

Just get on with your own website. Don't wait and it's not hard also. And at the end of the day, you do whatever you want on your website. Better shipping classification, more accurate tax handling and what not.

Yes, but your own website might not be found by some of the people who browse on Tindie.
I sell most of my stuff via my own site and it's nice to have full control, but I also list on Tindie and get the occasional sale there, that I might not otherwise have made.  Less money from that sale, but at least it's a sale.

And if I have to pay VAT/GST on a Tindie sale, I pay it on the customer's behalf and take the hit.  Again, a sale with reduced margin is better than none at all.

[48X24X48X]

Just get on with your own website. Don't wait and it's not hard also. And at the end of the day, you do whatever you want on your website. Better shipping classification, more accurate tax handling and what not.

Yes, but your own website might not be found by some of the people who browse on Tindie.
I sell most of my stuff via my own site and it's nice to have full control, but I also list on Tindie and get the occasional sale there, that I might not otherwise have made.  Less money from that sale, but at least it's a sale.

And if I have to pay VAT/GST on a Tindie sale, I pay it on the customer's behalf and take the hit.  Again, a sale with reduced margin is better than none at all.

I totally agree on the traffic gained from Tindie. But if you write good stuff, publish amazing development stories, or contribute a lot of open source stuff (for example) back to the community, you have more natural traffic from there. And paying on behalf customer, it's not going to bring food onto the table in the long run. It has to be sustainable.

[48X24X48X]

HRMC still haven't process my application. It has been 2 months now. And customers are still receiving packages without any tax.

Just get on with your own website. Don't wait and it's not hard also. And at the end of the day, you do whatever you want on your website. Better shipping classification, more accurate tax handling and what not.

Yeah, I hear you.  Tindie was easy for getting started, time to move along.

HRMC finally emailed me after 3 months and left a few tiny details to be filled, and I will be registered! 

[nardev]

lol.  As I understand, it sellers have tried to register with the UK Tax authorities and not gotten any response. 

The rules are that for shipments under 135 gbp in value, I have to collect 20% VAT and remit it to the UK tax man.  Tindie has no way for me to charge my customers for tax (VAT, GST, sale tax, ...) based on the customer's location.   So, I just ship it to the UK without collecting VAT and so far Her Majesty's Postal Service has seen fit to just deliver it without charging the recipient.  So, I'm going with that from now but eventually, something will change. Maybe by then Tindie, will actually have figured something out. Not holding my breath.

This is one of the problems but it's too hard for Tindie to handle it at the moment. It's even hard for Ebay/Aliexpress etc to do it.

Looks like they have increasing sale lately,  followed the invoice number rise and it looks like that.

I have 400+ sales for now, i made quite a few contacts and new customers there, i was working great for me for now.

If Siemens gets Tindie and Hackaday and if they try to impose their "approach" to makers culture, i'm afraid it would not work well. The Europe's trade and innovation culture is pretty conservative and slow, it simply doesn't fit liberated, relaxed as it is the case in USA now.

IMOH!!!

[nuclearcat]

lol.  As I understand, it sellers have tried to register with the UK Tax authorities and not gotten any response. 

The rules are that for shipments under 135 gbp in value, I have to collect 20% VAT and remit it to the UK tax man.  Tindie has no way for me to charge my customers for tax (VAT, GST, sale tax, ...) based on the customer's location.   So, I just ship it to the UK without collecting VAT and so far Her Majesty's Postal Service has seen fit to just deliver it without charging the recipient.  So, I'm going with that from now but eventually, something will change. Maybe by then Tindie, will actually have figured something out. Not holding my breath.

This is one of the problems but it's too hard for Tindie to handle it at the moment. It's even hard for Ebay/Aliexpress etc to do it.

Looks like they have increasing sale lately,  followed the invoice number rise and it looks like that.

I have 400+ sales for now, i made quite a few contacts and new customers there, i was working great for me for now.

If Siemens gets Tindie and Hackaday and if they try to impose their "approach" to makers culture, i'm afraid it would not work well. The Europe's trade and innovation culture is pretty conservative and slow, it simply doesn't fit liberated, relaxed as it is the case in USA now.

IMOH!!!

Liberated in the US?
Tindie hardware sellers are operating in grey area for US customers.
Many of them violate FCC certification rules. Almost none of them UL compliant, even remotely. Add the insane US patent system on top.
If you've made devices for mass production, you should know that Europe is much more comfortable in this regard, if you sell legally.
I believe that Tindie works until the first high-profile incident with all above.

[floobydust]

Siemens acquires Supplyframe for $700M; includes Hackaday and Tindie.
https://supplyframe.com/press-releases/siemens-accelerates-digital-marketplace-strategy-with-acquisition-of-supplyframe/

all that for "marketplace intelligence" ? It smells like Autodesk buying Instructables 

[RoGeorge]

I didn't know that, thanks.

So far Siemens was always high quality and well ranked in my experience, so I expect things will go better for Tindie and Hackaday, too.   

[floobydust]

These big money, snobby, uncreative, stodgy companies are only about "providing return to the shareholders". Acquiring fun, creative companies is theoretically good because of the money infusion but not likely to do anything else for them.
As if Siemens knows anything about fun and creativity, the maker community lol.

[sleemanj]

I wouldn't be surprised to see Siemens sell off Tindie and Hack-a-Day. 

They are not the reason for the acquisition they just happened to be owned by Supplyframe so came along for the ride.  I doubt that either site earns a lot (more likely is a net loss) for Supplyframe.

You'll note that neither of these are even mentioned in the press release.

Siemens paid for the core business and IP of Supplyframe, the amateur stuff, not so much.

[SiliconWizard]

These big money, snobby, uncreative, stodgy companies are only about "providing return to the shareholders".

That's the case for all big companies.
Of course they don't care one bit for the maker community. Actually, most companies out there do NOT want people to be makers. They just want consumers. Some will say that it might attract some future talents they can later hire. That's probably marginal, though.

They just do this to get more exposure, if just of their brand name. Oh, and probably to invest some money in stuff they can get tax cuts from.

[helius]

The banner at the top of this site is served by Supplyframe (if you have ad blocking off).

[nardev]

I didn't know that, thanks.

So far Siemens was always high quality and well ranked in my experience, so I expect things will go better for Tindie and Hackaday, too.   

This was never their focus and never their field. It's probably something like "buy that, let's see what to do with that, OH it's not making enough profit, shut it down".

This is complete kick in the ass for every seller. It was amazing platform,promoting innovations.


I don't think that Siemens would have sense for that. In their heads innovation and experimenting is only for profit, not to be shared, not to give away. Only industry focus and that's it.

Even BBC TV company had electronics/IT experimenting kits even in 80's and now through BBC micro:bit they are still promoting STEM.

I don't remember that SIEMENS EVER HAD anything like STEM kits, promoting electronics or opensource and innovations outside of the company.

It's simply not that kind of company.

[mairo]

The most probable reason why Siemens bought SupplyFrame is because they also own Mentor now, so probably trying to do same as Altium-Octoparts integration..