If you submit it to quirky it will become public, they will not keep it private....

You have a few options. You can spend your own money and file for a provisional patent which will give you 1 year of protection. Provisional patents are available so inventors do not have to spend thousands of $$ on a full patent, yet they still have some protection in place so they can conduct market research and determine if the "thing" is viable. A provisional patent will cost between $200 and $800 typically. You can do it yourself on legal zoom for $200 or you can have it done correctly by a good attorney for close to $1000. Then do your due diligence and conduct as much market research you can in the next year. If people love it and want to buy it and you book a ton of orders, or you get interest from other companies who would like to produce and market your invention then it's time to apply for a full patent. You will need an attorney and it will cost you several thousand $. Possibly up to $15,000.

Option 2 is to spend $10 and see if Q is interested in doing something with it. You may end up collection royalty checks for the rest of your life, or you may end up putting your unprotected invention into somebody's lap who has the money and know how to do something with it, like patent it before Q and making millions when they introduce it to market.

Option 3 is to do nothing. Many people are so worried about having an idea stolen they do nothing and end up making nothing.

If you have some cash on hand you should patent your invention yourself. If you are broke you should submit to Q and see what happens. That is my opinion.

@Jay. Option 2, is not 100% accurate. Publication on Q will count as prior art for everyone except the one that publishes it. So it would not be really possible for anyone else to patent it once it is published. Of course that is the law, but if Q does it and someone else does manage to patent it then the courts would have to get involved.
 
BTW, you do not have one year from publication to file a "provisional patent" you have one year from publication to file a real patent. And you loose all international rights unless you file a provisional _before_ publication.

ScubaEd is correct. A PPA only holds a "filing date" for one year, it is NOT a patent and does not ensure any real protection. You have one year to file a design or utility patent after the PPA date.

Plus you cannot renew the ppa- the only way is to go full patent.

Thanks all. I am still considering putting it on Quirky, just doing some homework first. The thing about paranoia, is you only have to be right once.