Yup!
 
It is funny and sad at the same time that many don't seem to see this.
 
By my calculations, around 1 in 4 _developed_ ideas actually make it all the way to production.

We are all self-sufficient little (free of charge) marketing drones. This web site just ties us all into a single organism. When the resource is free to Quirky they do not feel any pressure to make things pay more often.

I don't understand how the influencing part works. I have commented, voted, priced-- and still apparently haven't influenced anything. Btw- I would love more votes: http://www.quirky.com/ideations/169896
Thank you!
LJ

Once Ben said he expects 60% of products in development to reach shelves.

60% is a pipe dream:(

$10 to see if an Idea of ours will fly. I think Quirky is giving us a terrific opportunity. No complaints here.

Basically, it's an "idea mill." People come here, submit ideas... And then the Quirky staff picks and chooses which ideas/products will fit their business model the best. In a way, we are Quirky's outsourced product "ideators" and marketing drones as PI mentions above.

Linda:
1) This isn't the place to pimp your idea.
2) You can vote and price all day long. But if the idea wasn't selected, you don't earn influence. Maybe be more selective on the ideas you're backing. Also, influence is a two-part process. The first part when you earn a percentage of influence, means nothing. But, the next part, if the product hits the store, you earn money based on that influence. Influence alone, like the subject of this thread, means nothing.

For your $10 you get feedback on your idea and the votes are an indication of what others think of it. You also get the chance to see your product manufactured (and financed, which is huge.)
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Also, the $10 insures that we submit quality ideas, that we consider all the the pros and cons of the idea properly, and that we present it well with accurate descriptions, illustrations, etc. If there were no fee for submission, everyone (including myself) could just constantly flood the board with every idea that came to mind (and then resubmit everything every other day...) Ten dollars is just the right amount. Enough to ensure that submissions are serious, yet affordable for everyone who wants to participate.
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The idea submission process, combined with the suggestions and influence of the entire community in developing products takes the Mastermind Concept to a quantum new level. In my opinion, Quirky.com is one of the most innovative websites on the internet.

I'm lucky to have one product that is being produced. I'll be getting .06% influence for it. Yet my total influence is much more. I wish Quirky would just get rid of the upcoming products process. If an idea is chosen and it makes it to a final product it should then be produced and put into the shop. This way your guaranteed a piece of the pie from the beginning to end. This is much better than waiting and wishing that your product gets out of upcoming never never land. I really feel bad for those who have influenced hundreds of products and not one of them made it into production. There is something wrong with that picture if you ask me. Just my opinion.

quite some people think if they just collect enough influence on as much products as possible then they will get rich some time.
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wrong
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influence is worth nothing if the product is not selling. period.
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that is the reason why i only vote for ideas which i think have the potential to sell well, in the 100000 range and more. don't get me wrong, yes there are a lot of cute and nice solutions out there, some are very creative...but most of those just will not sell.
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i am still wondering why Q is moving a lot of those 'cute loosers' into UC, knowing that those ideas are not fulfilling their own DMV process. what a waste of time and energy.

@wunder, ASOTV does sales by carpet-bombing the airwaves and looking for the impulse buy crowd. AirMall does it by targeting the captive audience that is in the airplane seats. Quirky is trying to do it by pushing the 'community' aspect of production and the word of mouth this engenders.
 
Average minds will conceive of average products, that is the definition of 'average'. Without pushing total clunkers through the process, and letting the market be 'the bad guy', the idea of 'invented by community' would be lost.

@Scuba, i do believe in quality ... quality of a decision, and quality of a product.
If Q would make more quality decisions by moving only quality ideas into UC, the community would start to provide quality ideas and would stop to provide a flood of brain-flushes.
we all would benefit from this, because only quality products will sell and bring the profit Q and we are looking for to have success.
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'invented by community' would have a real meaning then.