Read The Project Descriptions Carefully
Project descriptions contain important information about the types of ideas that can be submitted, which may include tip-offs on timelines, deliverables, constraints, assets, etc.
Quirky is a social product development company. Your product ideas come in, the Quirky community and team work on them, we sell the product worldwide, and then we share the revenue with the inventor and all influencers.
By enabling this fluid conversation between our global community of influencers and Quirky's expert product design team, we are able to accomplish what was once unthinkable: bringing one brand new product concept from sketch to store each week.
You have a product idea that’s been bouncing around your head for weeks. But you have no time, no money, and no idea how to get that product out of your head and onto shelves. Well, we do. Drop the $10 submission fee and post that brilliant idea on Quirky.
The Quirky community and design team take it from there. They evaluate all the ideas that have been submitted, and if your idea is good enough, they’ll make you that week’s winner.
Now’s when the fun really starts. At this point, the community weighs in on everything from your product’s design to its name, tagline, and logo. Thousands of people -- industrial designers, engineers, graphic artists, and average Joes -- add their two cents throughout the process.
Turn over the reins to our top-notch industrial designers and mechanical engineers. They take your idea, create a 2D sketch, translate that sketch into a 3D render, and come up with shelf-ready photorealistic images of your product in no time.
Based on your product’s price point, we’ll determine how many pre-sale commitments we need before we can move the product into production. Social sales tools enable community members to stimulate sales by promoting the product to friends and family. The more you promote, the quicker you’ll be able to…
Once we hit your product’s pre-sales threshold, it will move into production and make its way to customers' hands within a couple of months. Cha-ching! From that point on, you’ll be able to monitor sales and keep track of your earnings on your account page. You can access your cash by direct deposit, check, or international wire transfer.
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I'm digging this whole Quirky idea. How do I sign up?
You'll need a Quirky account to make a purchase or participate in our product development process. It's super easy to sign up:
1. Go to the Quirky home page at www.quirky.com.
2. Click on "Sign Up, Get Quirky" button on the top left.
3. Fill in your name, email address, and desired password.
4. Check the box that indicates that you've read and understood Quirky's Terms and Conditions.
5. Click on the "Sign Up, Get Quirky" white button.
We'll send an activation link to the e-mail address you gave us; click on the link to activate your account and you're all set up. It's free to sign up and fun to get involved, so do it. Come on, do it! -
How can I participate on Quirky?
Once you've signed up for a Quirky account, there are tons of ways to get involved!
1. Help a new product take shape by submitting, rating, and voting for product ideas, product designs, names, taglines, logos, and other elements of the product's development. Click on the "Influence" tab at the top of the Quirky homepage or visit www.quirky.com/projects to get started.
2. Place orders for products that are in pre-sales or on sale. Click on the "Shop" tab at the top of the Quirky homepage or visit www.quirky.com/products to browse.
3. Promote Quirky products to friends and family and earn a share of the profits through social sales. Click on the "My Account" link on the top right of the homepage and select the "Referral Info" tab for more information on our referral program and your unique social sales link.
4. Meet fellow community members by participating in the forums, checking out our blog, following us on Twitter, and becoming a fan on Facebook. There's never a dull moment in Quirktown! -
Do I have to pay to play?
There is no fee to register with Quirky. Community members are welcome to vote, rate, and comment on product ideas. Mind you, if you want to toss your own product idea into the ring, well, yeah, then you've gotta pay. As of August 31, the submission fee is $10. Check out our answers in the "Submitting Ideas" section for more details!
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What if I become a Quirky addict?
I'm afraid there is no cure. But the community functions as its own support group, so at least you'll have company!
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B-b-but wait... what if I have more questions?
If you don't find the answer you need on the FAQ page, there's a bunch of ways you can contact us. Ask general questions, share suggestions, report problems, or give praise (yes please!) in our support forum at support.quirky.com or e-mail specific questions to questions@quirky.com. You can also join or start a community discussion on the Quirky forums at www.quirky.com/forums.
- I have a genius idea, and I want to submit it to Quirky. Where do I begin?
The submission process is easy: 1) fill out the easy-to-use form at www.quirky.com/ideas/new; 2) upload image files (we accept PDF, JPG, and PNG file formats, 5MB and smaller), videos, sketches, or other inspiration to further your case; 3) provide payment info for the $10 fee. Once your idea has been submitted, it will be included in our next product evaluation round. Don't forget to jot down the date listed in your confirmation e-mail, so you know when to head back to the site to check out all the buzz around your product!
- Why does it cost $10 to submit my idea?
Well, we have to support our heavy gambling addiction somehow. In all seriousness, you've got to ante up to give your idea the fair shot it deserves. Best case scenario? Your $10 investment takes your idea from a tiny sketch to a professionally manufactured product, on shelves worldwide, earning you a helluva lot more. Worst case? That 10 bucks get you detailed analytics on who liked and didn't like your idea, as well as extensive community feedback. You then have the option to resubmit your idea, or you can use the valuable market research data to make the thing on your own.
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Can I submit more than one idea a week?
But of course... submit as many ideas as you want. $10 a pop.
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How do I know if my submission is feasible?
We currently focus on developing physical consumer products that would retail for under $150 and don't involve integrated software. If your idea relates to iPhone apps, time machines, or the Fountain of Youth, it probably won't make the cut. After ideas are submitted, we review all of them before opening up the evaluation phase. Unfeasible ideas are removed, the submission fee is refunded, and the ideators are notified.
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Can you promise that no one will steal my idea?
Well... let's be honest. Once an idea is out there, anyone can take it and run for the hills. We're simply here as a place to get good ideas out of people's heads and into the world. And in our opinion and experience, the community protection is just as good as any legal document. Who'd really want to piss off a passionate, vocal, loyal community of more than 30,000 people?
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Do I need to submit a drawing with my idea?
It's not necessary, but it certainly helps. Community members often like a little visual stimulation to help them get a better feel for your idea. Photos, videos, diagrams, presentations -- all are welcome! Keep in mind that if you want to submit an image, it will only show up as a thumbnail if it's in JPG, PNG, or GIF format.
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How can I edit my submission after I've posted it?
At the moment, we don't have a tool for changing submissions once they've been submitted. We found that constant idea edits could get confusing to voters. You can e-mail all edits to questions@quirky.com -- we're happy to help ya out manually.
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How do you decide which idea becomes Quirky's next product?
There are two main steps to idea selection: community evaluation and staff evaluation. During the community evaluation, members of our online community vote, rate, and comment on all the ideas submitted. The top 5 ideas go on to our staff's deep dive evaluation, where they get thoroughly analyzed in three areas: design potential, marketing potential, and viability. Each idea will receive a score (out of 100) and the idea with the highest score becomes Quirky's next product! Whew, that was exciting.
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How much will I make if my product gets selected?
Say your awesome idea is THE awesome idea of the week and gets chosen to move forward... right there, you've just earned yourself around 40% of the community share of revenue. That means you're pocketing around 12 cents for every dollar your product brings in online, and 4 cents on every dollar the product brings in at retail. Ask anyone in product development; that's pretty unreal. But wait, it gets better... your influence percentage can grow just like everyone else's if you continue to rate and weigh in on winning ideas throughout your product's development process. Cha-ching!
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What if my idea doesn't get selected?
You know what? We can't all win every time... but then again, when you submit your idea to Quirky, you're a winner no matter what. Whether or not your idea was selected for development by Quirky, we'll give you detailed analytics on who liked/didn't like your idea. That way if you choose to go for it on your own, you've got valuable research you can use to build the product. But there is one other option -- if you want to give your product another week, just throw down another $10 and you can submit it again (with any edits that you'd like to make).
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What's the benefit of posting my idea? Why not go do it on my own?
By all means, go build what you want to build! Our main jam is that it can be hard to do it on your own... or at least in our experience it was. And it can kinda cost a lot... which sometimes means tricking your parents into remortgaging their house (cough, cough, Ben). But we've done this before, which means we've got all the tools and resources that you need to get your idea out of your head and onto shelves. So if you're willing to risk $10 for your killer idea, it's totally worth it. Plus, you can't really lose. Even if your idea doesn't make it, we'll give you in-depth analytics that will help you understand the types of people that were voting on your idea. Through these analytics, you can see how factors like age, gender, income, and more impacted your idea's failure or success.
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I lost... boo. How do I resubmit my idea for next week's evaluation?
On your "My Account" page, you can view all the ideas you've submitted. Click on the little "resubmit" link to edit and upload your idea for a future round. It'll cost you $10.
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What is influence?
Influence is a real-time measure of your contributions to a project. You can earn influence either by submitting a winning idea, or by supporting and refining that winning idea.
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What are the various ways to earn influence on Quirky?
Think of the Quirky influence engine as a complicated, evolving recipe, made up of many different ingredients. The ingredients are your contributions to the site, which include: submitting a winning product idea; submitting a winning idea in another phase of the product's development, like a name, logo, industrial design, tagline, etc.; committing to a product in pre-sale; making insightful comments on ideas; voting for a winning product idea; voting for a winning idea in another phase of the product's development; and rating the majority of ideas in a round. More details are available at www.quirky.com/learn#influence.
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How do I vote for an idea?
First click on the idea to access a separate page, where you'll be able to read the whole pitch. You'll see a big "vote for this idea" checkbox idea -- click on it and you've voted! You only have three votes a week so choose wisely. You can also rate ideas by sliding the little rating dots. The further right you move the dot, the more you like the idea... and the more you rate, the more likely you are to earn a little influence for your actions. Pretty simple.
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Can I vote for my own idea?
Certainly... we're not gonna stop you! But remember, sharing is caring.
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I voted for a ton of ideas, but I don't see any influence showing up. What's up?
Patience, please! Influence can take up to a couple of days to show up. Also, you can only earn influence for voting on winning ideas -- votes on losing ideas won't earn you nothin'.
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What about comments? Can I earn influence for those?
Yup. We encourage the spirit of open collaboration here at Quirky! Influence is awarded for comments made on winning submissions that have a significant impact on the outcome of the final product design. For more details, check out our blog post about comment influence at aquirkyblog.com/?s=comment+influence.
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So you say you share your profits with the community. How?
Quirky shares 30 percent of all top line revenue brought in by direct sales on quirky.com, as well as 10 percent of indirect retail sales, with each product's influencers. About 40 percent of that reward goes to the ideator/inventor.
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Where can I see how much I've earned?
Go to your account page and click on the Payment Info tab. You'll be able to view your available balance and your pending balance, as well as request payout if you’ve earned more than 75 big ones.
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How can I get paid?
As soon as you earn $75 on Quirky, you can request payout under the Payment Info tab of your account page. We will ask you to fill out a Quirky Payee Information Form (QPIF) and U.S. tax forms, if applicable. If you are a U.S. citizen with a U.S. bank account, you can opt to receive your earnings through check or ACH direct transfer to your bank account. If you are not a US citizen, you have the option of check or wire transfer (subject to a small fee). Quirky will cover all related postage charges.
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Can I get paid if I don't live in the States?
Where you live shouldn't be an issue -- we have community members from around the world. If you are not a U.S. citizen, you can choose to receive your payments by check (we’ll take care of the postage) or by international wire transfer (the small wire fee will come out of your earnings).
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How often can I get paid?
You can request payout any time your account contains more than $75, but you can’t request payout more than once a week. We process all withdrawal requests within seven days of receiving them.
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How much money can I withdraw at one time?
There is no limit to how much you can withdraw, as long as your account balance is over $75.
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How do I deal with all that tax stuff related to earning money on Quirky?
When you fill out your Quirky Payee Information Form (QPIF), we also ask that you provide us with your tax information. If you do not provide this information, Quirky is required to automatically withhold taxes from your earnings. Members who earn more then $600 in a calendar year will receive a 1099 form.
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What is the difference between available and pending funds on my account page?
Available earnings are on products that we are currently selling and shipping. These earnings are immediately available for withdrawal. Pending earnings are on products that are available for sale, but which we haven’t yet collected money on – think pre-sales or items in production. These earnings will be marked available once we have shipped the products.
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I'm rich! What should I do with all the money I've earned on Quirky?
Send us cakes! Then go to Disneyland.
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What's the difference between an item in Pre-sales ("Commit Now") and On Sale ("Buy Now")?
A product in Pre-sales has not yet sold enough units to enter into production. Quirky sets a certain sales threshold for every product that must be met before the item is actually manufactured. It's the final step in a unique development process that involves the entire community. People who commit to a product in Pre-sales and then complete their order when the product is ready to ship will earn a small percentage of that product's profits, forever and ever, amen. Talk about getting paid to shop!
Once a product is listed as On Sale, it means one of two things: Quirky has made the product, or Quirky is in the process of making the product. If the product is already made, we will process orders by the next business day. If the product is still going through the manufacturing process, Quirky will post regular progress updates on our blog, which will also be streamed to the right side of the product page (fancy, we know) for your reading pleasure. -
What is a product commitment?
When you click on the "Commit Now" button you are saying that you will purchase the product if it gets made. Your credit card will not be charged until the product is ready to ship to you, and you can cancel your commitment at any time by clicking on the "Orders" tab under the "My Account" page. If you commit to a product in Pre-sales and then complete your order when the product is ready to ship, you will earn a small percentage of that product's profits in perpetuity. Why fear commitment with all that good stuff?
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How long does an item generally remain in Pre-sales?
The timeframe changes for each item. We set a different commitment threshold for each product based on anticipated costs and market demand. An item will remain in Pre-sales until it reaches this threshold, at which point it will go into production and be listed as On Sale.
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How long do I have to wait to receive the product after it goes into production?
When products on our website are marked as "in production", that means that we are currently in the process of finalizing engineering, sourcing materials, securing factories, creating packaging, and addressing the other elements that go into product manufacturing. The production process varies from product to product, so there is no set timeframe for delivery after an item crosses the set threshold.
We will post frequent progress updates on our blog (www.aquirkyblog.com) -- yet another reason to check it out on the regular. Product-specific information streams directly to the right-hand side of each product page. Toward the end of the project, we'll also reveal a projected timeline, with estimated dates for completion and delivery. Please keep in mind that this timeline is subject to change. Quirky's top priority is to produce the highest quality products possible, and we'll never compromise quality for speed! -
Is the email telling me I have to "complete my order" legit?
Yes, it is most certainly legit. This second order completion e-mail indicates that a product you have ordered in Pre-sales is about to complete production and ship. Completing your order likely means selecting your product's color/size and confirming your billing and shipping info. Once you have completed this step, we will ship out your order as soon as the product arrives in our warehouse, and we'll e-mail you a tracking number when the order is out the door.
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How can I choose the color/size/version of the product I am buying?
If you purchased an item in Pre-sales or production, you will receive an order completion e-mail with a link to confirm your product options, shipping address, and billing information. Only when you've provided all this information will your credit card be charged.
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How are orders shipped?
We offer multiple shipping options with FedEx and the U.S. Postal Service. The shipping costs are currently viewable within the shipping drop-down menu on the order page. For your reference, costs within the continental U.S. are:
Ground (FedEx SmartPost) - $5.99
FedEx 3-Day - $9.50
FedEx 2-Day - $14.75
FedEx Overnight - $22.50
If you require shipment abroad, please select the country for delivery from the shipping info country drop-down menu. The shipping costs menu will automatically update. For your reference, costs to ship abroad are:
USPS Airmail with no tracking - $12.50
FedEx International with tracking - $38
Please note that international shipments may be subject to import taxes upon arrival. Unfortunately, Quirky has no control over that cost. But we are working on world domination! -
Do you ship outside the US?
We sure do. Just indicate your country of origin at checkout, and you will be able to select from two international shipping options. For your reference, costs to ship abroad are:
USPS Airmail with no tracking - $12.50
FedEx International with tracking - $38
Please note that international shipments may be subject to import taxes upon arrival. Unfortunately, Quirky has no control over that cost. But we are working on world domination! -
When will my product arrive?
Well, it depends on what you ordered -- not all Quirky products are immediately available! A more detailed explanation of the difference between Pre-sales and On Sale products is available under the "Shopping/Our Products" category. If a product is On Sale and in our warehouse, the order will ship by the following business day, assuming there isn't a bottleneck at our warehouse. If the product is On Sale but still in production, it'll likely take a few weeks to a few months. You can view each product's latest production updates by visiting its product page. If the product is in Pre-sales, it will have to reach its commitment threshold before proceeding to production. One thing we want to emphasize: if the product is not yet in inventory, your credit card will be authorized, but it won't be charged until your order is getting ready to ship!
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How can I check the status of my order?
You can view your orders by logging into Quirky, clicking on the "My Account" link in the top right of screen, and then clicking on the "Orders" tab. If you ordered an item that is in Pre-sales or production, you can learn more by reading our answer to "What's the difference between Pre-sales and On Sale?" We also post frequent updates about our production and manufacturing progress on our blog at www.aquirkyblog.com. Product-specific information streams directly to the right-hand side of each product page. Still not enough info? Post questions on Get Satisfaction or email questions@quirky.com and we'll help you out the best we can.
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Will I be notified once my product ships?
Definitely! We will email you as soon as your order ships and will also provide a tracking number if your shipping option provides one.
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I don't like what I received. What's your return policy?
We don't have one of those stuffy corporate "return" policies. Instead, we have a "make every customer as happy as flippin' possible" policy. If you're dissatisfied with your product for any reason, reach out to us by e-mail at questions@quirky.com, or by telephone at +1-212-389-1390. We'll do our absolute best to satisfy every Quirky customer, whether it's through a refund, a return, an exchange, a spare part, or a birthday cake.
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Oops. I accidentally ordered 17 SplitSticks! How can I change my order quantity?
Not a problem -- just let us know by emailing questions@quirky.com and providing your order number. We will update your order and send you confirmation.
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I ordered a product, but decided I no longer want it. Can I cancel my order?
Yes, providing the product hasn't yet shipped! Just email us at questions@quirky.com. We're available to answer questions and process cancellation requests.
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I need to change my shipping address. What do I do?
Before we ship your product to you, we will ask you to confirm your order with an email. You'll be able to edit your shipping address at the time of shipping confirmation.
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I thought I ordered a product but I'm not really sure if it went through. How do I know?
If your order went through, you will get an email confirmation from us. Feel free to shoot off an email to questions@quirky.com if you want to double-check.
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I do not see a charge on my credit card. Does this mean that my order didn't go through?
Sometimes. If you've ordered a product in inventory, your credit card will be charged and your order shipped in a few days. But if you've ordered a product in production or pre-sales, the process is a little different. We'll authorize your credit card when you place your order, but we won't charge you just yet. Right before the product is ready to ship, you will receive an email asking you to complete your order. Click on the link in that email to confirm details, like product options (color/size/version), shipping address, and billing info. Your credit card will be charged when you confirm your order.
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What if the product never gets made?
If a product never crosses the Pre-sales threshold to move into production, your credit card will never be charged for that item. But if you're excited about the product, spread the word -- we'd eventually like to make all of our products into reality! For a more detailed explanation of Pre-sales, check out the answer to "What's the difference between Pre-sales and On Sale?"
General Q's
Submitting Ideas
Influencing Products
Getting Paid
Shopping/Our Products
Order Status/Cancellations/Returns
| Subject | Topics | Posts | Last Post |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free-For-All | 822 | 11440 |
Sep 02, 2010 12:12PM under Splash Stacks Social Sales Tools |
| Products | 92 | 3194 |
Sep 02, 2010 12:13PM under Product 0058 |
| Process | 81 | 809 |
Sep 02, 2010 12:08PM under Solid Number Of Votes.. (What is it) |
| Community | 33 | 709 |
Aug 31, 2010 08:24PM under Quirky Town Meeting, Numero Tres |
| Site/Tech | 51 | 273 |
Sep 02, 2010 07:11AM under site improvement suggestions |
| Tips & Tricks | 16 | 70 |
Aug 31, 2010 10:22PM under What Software are you using for Logo Design? |
| Rants & Raves | 8 | 59 |
Aug 28, 2010 01:22AM under Rant |
Write an Eye Catching / Descriptive Headline
You know as well as we do, people don't like reading. In retail stores, most consumers make their buying decisions in three seconds or less. Good products convey an immediate sense of need, purpose, and solution. When writing a title/headline for your idea, avoid anything that does not immediately tell the reader what the product does and why it’s so great.
Don't Name Your Own Product
You'll get a chance to do this later and get community input. In the earlier stages of development, keep your titles descriptive and illustrative of the purposes and advantages of selecting your idea.
Describe the Need/Problem, and your proposed solution
When writing your idea descriptions, it's best to divide your text into a few sections: why, what, and how. Why am I proposing this solution? Describe the problem/need. What is my proposal? Describe how you expect to solve the problem/need. How can my idea be realized? Describe, illustrate, or upload your solution. By keeping these three things in mind, you can develop a strong case for your idea for the benefit of voters and raters.
Be Concise
Don't ramble on about how great your Mom thought your idea was, or why your invention is the best thing since sliced bread. Be practical and pragmatic. Share with the community the bare essentials, and keep the mushy stuff for the comments section.
Attach, Attach, Attach
Our community is made up largely of visual thinkers. The more you illustrate, the more excited community members will get. So upload images, embed YouTube videos... go nuts.
Watch Your Comments, Be Responsive
Once your idea is published on the site, be sure to check back often to see how people are commenting. Just like any site, there will likely be some nay-sayers and negative commenters. The best ideators check their comments section often and provide friendly replies, responses, and rebuttals. This shows community members that you are serious about your idea and stand behind it... a good way to win over some swing votes.
Know Your Voting Power
In every project, you have a certain amount of voting power. In the project brief you'll see a dialog that says how many votes you have left to cast. Keep close attention to this number, as this is the full extent of your ability to show your love for certain ideas within the project.
Cast All Your Votes
Votes are use 'em or lose 'em. There is no disadvantage to casting all your votes. In fact, we encourage it! Be sure to do everything you can to cast all of your available votes in every project before the countdown clock strikes zero. Casting all your votes not only gives the ideas that you like a better chance of winning, but it also provides you with a greater chance of earning influence in a product.
Be An Early Adopter
Our influence engine knows if you're just jumping on the bandwagon. We encourage you to immediately put a stake in the ground on the ideas you like best. Voting on an idea early, from the time it’s submitted, shows that you immediately identified it as a good one, and you aren't just following the crowd, looking for some quick influence.
Watch The Clock, Check Back Often
Throughout the course of a project, there’s always the possibility that additional ideas will be submitted that are worthy of your vote. We encourage you to check back at least three times in any given project round to re-rate and re-vote. You can change your vote at any time by clicking on the vote button next to an idea you’ve already voted on, which will cancel that vote so you can give it to something else.
Rate All Ideas
Rating is an important metric used by the Quirky design staff to determine winners. We generally ask that users rate each idea on a number of different criteria, so that we know what exactly about the idea you find attractive. Rating ideas completely and truthfully provides the design staff with a great amount of crucial insight that will come in handy later in the product's development. To rate an idea, simply click the circle and drag it to the place on the scale that you see fit. You can re-rate ideas at any point until a project closes.
Sort & Sift
The sorting tools on the top of each project page provide you with the ability to quickly find what you are looking for and easily keep track of ideas you have rated and new ideas you have not yet seen. Some projects receive more than 200 submissions; sorting can help make the voting process more manageable, while also providing you with the opportunity to remain successful as an influencer.
Message Users
Messaging provides a private way for you to communicate with other users. Simply click on a user's name to be taken to their profile, and then click message. Communicating with users about their ideas, possible enhancements and refinements, or ways in which you can be helpful is encouraged.
Utilize The Forum
The community forum, found here in the Learn section, provides a place for public communication about new features, products in development, sales techniques and initiatives, and general water cooler type discussions.
Give Props Where Props Are Due
When someone does good work, that person deserves a pat on the back. Pop on over to that user's profile page and give him/her a prop. Props are public messages that can be thought of as recommendations or accolades. Examples of good props: "Joe is great at researching and commenting on product ideas in a pragmatic fashion. I love seeing his feedback." Or, “You are the best logo designer ever, man. Great work on the Cordies Logo!"
Stay Active
Things move quickly here at Quirky. Plan on checking back at least once or twice a day if you want to make a real impact on the products in development. The conversation becomes hard to track if you've been away for too long.
Participate in everything
You can earn influence for the smallest actions. When in doubt, vote, rate, and comment up a storm. There’s nothing better then seeing your feedback incorporated into a real world product that will ultimately sit on shelves worldwide -- just ask Marc, Matt, Jeff, Jenny, and Stephen. You never know what's going to be a hit.
Ask Questions
We're not just a website, we’re a community, with ambassadors standing by. It's their job to make sure you are navigating the Quirky world comfortably, with a full understanding of what's taking place and the opportunities that lie within. If you have any questions, ask them by e-mailing questions@quirky.com. You'll receive a reply quickly -- we promise.
The video above really says it all, plus you get to hear Ben's booming voice (always a treat). But if you’re more the written sort, let us break it down for you...
Influence is a real-time measure of your contributions to a project. You can earn influence either by submitting a winning idea, or by supporting and refining that winning idea.
So how does it all work? Think of the Quirky influence engine as a complicated, evolving recipe, made up of many different ingredients. The ingredients are your contributions to the site, which include:
- Submitting a winning product idea
- Submitting a winning idea in another phase of the product's development, like a name, logo, industrial design, tagline, etc.
- Committing to a product in pre-sales
- Making insightful comments on ideas
- Voting for a winning product idea
- Voting for a winning idea in another phase of the product's development
- Rating ideas
- Participating in a product research survey
All of these actions influence the final product in various ways and can earn you a percentage of the profits.
Keep in mind that there’s no hard-and-fast rule or guarantee for earning influence. Influence is awarded at the sole discretion of Quirky's platform and team. A user’s influence earnings in a given project depends on many factors: the number of phases in the project, the number of people who contributed to those phases, the number of ideas submitted by the people who contributed to those phases… you get the picture. We are constantly working to improve and evolve our influence engine. Think of it like cooking: the ingredients may stay the same, but the recipe itself may vary from time to time.
Now let’s talk about what you really wanna know: how the influence you earn on Quirky translates to cold, hard cash. For each product manufactured and sold, the Quirky community receives 30% of the total revenue generated by direct sales of the product on Quirky.com, as well as 10% of revenue from indirect sales (wholesale orders and worldwide retail sales). That share of product revenue is divided among all the community members that influenced the product, based on their corresponding influence percentages.
Still confused? E-mail us at questions@quirky.com, and we're happy to clear things up.
So for your reference, in case you’re new to the product game…when Ben started his first company to sell the Song Sling for the iPod Shuffle, he invested $185k to get things rolling. The product retailed for $40, and they sold 10,000 units - leaving the company with over $100k in debt. Ouch. But remember, Ben had to set up a company, pay out for tooling, manufacturing, marketing, sales force, travel, building a website, etc. In comparison, had Ben-then known that Ben-now would come up with quirky, well, he could have launched the Song Sling here and with even just 10% influence, he would have earned $12,000. And being in the black is so much cooler.
Beamer: A light in the eye of Jenny Tyler
As we always do when a product moves into manufacturing - it's time to hear a few words from Jenny Tyler the original ideator behind the Beamer - our iPhone case with a built in light.
Cordies: Plug in with Stephen Stewart
Cordies was Stephen's brilliant cable management idea that was submitted early on in the quirky days. It was such an awesome product idea that despite its high pre-sales threshold, it had the resilience to stick it out, gain commitments and traction and hit threshold. Shipping in early 2010, Cordies will undoubtably be the desk ornament of the year.
PowerCurl: The Brainchild of Jeff Scholen
Jeff submitted his modest idea to clean up cords for the apple power adapeter back during our 24 hour quick and quirky event in September. Within a few days he was off the ground with kickass product and an alternate source of income to pay for diapers of his new baby. Jeff made over $3,000 in just the first 7 days of shipping, and the pace hasn't slowed.
Veg Out With Mat Poprocki: The Guy behind Digidudes
Wacky Futurist / Designer / Die Hard Vegan, Mat Poproocki's idea for a portable tripod and keychian has been the subject of holiday gift guides worldwide. The 4 person DigiDude clan is showing up around the world to help with digital camera photo taking!
Marc Zech: Scratch-n-Scroll & SplitStick
Zech is the first community member to have submitted an idea that made it past pre-sales and onto manufacturing. He is somewhat of a quirky celebrity at this point because he's got not just one product, but THREE...it seems Zech knows exactly what it takes to make this community tick! Zech submitted ideas for a double sided USB stick which became the Split Stick, and for a writable mousepad which became the scratch-n-scroll. Looking for his hat-trick, Zech is now working on little guys that fit over USB plugs, which are now known as Cable Caps.
The Path To Quirky
Ben Kaufman discusses the path through mophie and kluster, which led to the birth of Quirky.
Quirky In 50 Seconds
Got a minute? Here’s a quick explanation of what Quirky does and how it earns its community cold, hard cash.
Intellectual Property At Quirky
If you’re worried about patent issues, this video will tell you all about how Quirky approaches intellectual property.
Quirky Influence
Ben Kaufman demystifies Quirky’s unique influence engine and explains how users can cash in on product influence by participating on the site.
Ben Kaufman On CNBC's "Collaboration Now"
Ben Kaufman appears on CNBC's “Collaboration Now” to discuss the kluster process of collaborative decision-making.
Ben Kaufman On CNBC's "Innovations"
Ben Kaufman appears on CNBC’s "Innovations" to discuss cool consumer-created products.
Mophie Illuminator / MacWorld 2007
Team Mophie descends on San Francisco for MacWorld 2007 and opens up its development process with the Illuminator; Josh Graef dances like a fool.
Creativity and innovation are great, but only of you execute and push your ideas to completion! Here are some tips on this very topic from Behance:
There are too many ideas in the world, and not enough action. If we consider every idea as part of a project - and then consider all we must do to manage our various projects, we realize the many challenges standing in the way of productivity. The Behance team believes that organization and productivity ultimately determine whether a brilliant idea ever actually happens. They have interviewed hundreds of the most productive individuals and teams in the world, and have discovered best practices across industries for managing everyday creative projects.
Our years of research have caused us to question the status quo of making ideas happen:
- What if compulsive filing yields little benefit?
- What if priority matters more than context?
- What if the success of every project (and life) ultimately comes down to organizing actions you must take?
- What if the design of the method we use for productivity influences our psychology for getting stuff done?
Questions such as these have led our team to some very important realizations:
1. Actions should be kept separate from email.
Email can kill productivity, because the actions you must take are buried in regular communication. An inbox full of email - even well-filed emails - still forces you to dig through every communication to find the hidden task. Tasks to be completed, or “Action Steps,” should have a management system of their own.2. People should NOT share whole projects, just relevant items within projects.
Until now, all project management systems were made up of projects that were shared among different people. However, the way people really THINK about their work is more personal: we define our projects in our own terms - and it is rare that 100% of any project is relevant to all involved. Rather than share entire projects, we now have the technology to share just the relevant components of projects - action steps, reference items, discussions, milestones - and the recipient can then organize these components in a way that makes sense for his/her system.3. Good design is great for productivity.
Through witnessing all of the elaborate systems for productivity, we realized that the most effective systems are distinguished by their design. It’s very simple: If a system functions properly and is attractive, you are more likely to stay loyal to it.4. Actions are only truly “delegated” when they are accepted.
While many collaborative tools support “to-do lists” that multiple people can see, true accountability is never achieved unless the designee chooses to accept the action step that he/she has been given. The rise of social networks has taught us that control over what we accept from others (or who has befriended us) preserves the sanctity of any system.5. A degree of voyeurism and transparency keeps us engaged.
Twitter and other online “activity feeds” prove that the future of communication is passive as well as active. Being able to tune in and search everything that happens around you is more valuable than getting emails or holding “status posting” meetings.6. When it comes to taking action, work and personal life collide (and that’s ok).
People tend to separate the actions they must take in their personal lives from their professional lives. While formal “to-do” lists and applications empower you at work, your little post-it notes on your refrigerator keep you on task at home. But after observing the uber-productive, we have come to believe that action steps are action steps, regardless of their context. Priorities may change, but having everything actionable in one system is your best bet for anxiety-free living.7. Darwinian productivity: The “nag” and natural selection.
As great as you think you are, nobody can nail prioritization 100% of the time. The truth is that the importance of a particular action step is sometimes demonstrated by how badly other people need it done. Typical project management systems and office environments assume that dividing tasks is enough. However, we have found that “nagging” plays a key role in productivity - the forces around us help determine which action steps are most important. Nagging should be a formal part of project management.8. Appreciation is the greatest non-financial reward for achievement.
If you have a formal way to nag your colleagues when necessary, why not also show some formal appreciation when something is done well? We think that project management systems need to have a fully integrated appreciation mechanism that rewards productivity.9. No more email-chains - make it a real discussion!
Ideas that are discussed via email often become cut-up, convoluted, and lost. They also fill up our inbox and consume our time as we try to parse it all out. Instead, what if you could start a discussion at any moment - share it with anyone in the world - and organize it within your own projects? Technology now enables us to start, track, and search discussions online. It is time.10. And if nothing else…ACTION ACTION ACTION.
Too many project management systems either exclude a “task” functionality or minimize its importance. The main page in an office system is often the deadlines, the project list, and more static data related to roles and responsibilities. However, we have found that the most productive creative teams eliminate a lot of the “overview,” and start with what needs to get done, and who is doing it. What if we managed projects STARTING from action steps before anything else?
Scott Belsky and the Action Method team at Behance were kind enough to provide this article exclusively to us here at Quirky.
Be sure to check out the Behance website.
Be sure to check out the Behance website.
Oh Canada! Not only was Jenny's idea totally awesome and necessary - you know the type that made us all say, "wow, why didn't I think of that?" but Jenny had the amazng ability to draw people to purchase her product through social sales. Beamer had a high threshold that we hit in just a few days. Go Miss Tyler!
quirky’s Beamer is an iphone case with a built in light. This light can function as a flash for your iphone’s camera as well as a light for use whenever you see fit - Dropped something under the table at dinner? Need a flashlight for your car? Squinting to read a menu in candlelight? Taking a picture in the dark? Beamer is the case that shines!
With the Beamer, all you iPhone-ers out there need not feel jealous of your Blackberry-ing friends. Now you too can have stellar phone pictures.
1. When did you think of the idea for the Beamer?
I was chatting with a few friends about the Quirky site and we were all thinking of some cool inventions to submit. I had a Blackberry at the time and it had a flash and a couple of my friends had an iPhone. This being said the concept came from all of us…well everyone claims it to be theirs independently:) Either way, a month later I asked if anyone had submitted it and no one had….so I jumped on it. Everyone is really excited about it’s success so far…funny thing is I received an email from one of the members in the Quirky community the day it opened for voting detailing he was going to submit the exact same concept that week but ran out of time. I got lucky:)
2. Had you tried to make this thing on your own already?
No, but I have brought a product from concept to fruition before and understand the complexities and struggles that come along with it. This Quirky site is genius as it takes away all of the hard work involved in bringing a product from concept to fruition. I have so many ideas to submit, and am planning on making this Quirky site an integral part of my future product ideas.
3. What do you do? (job-wise, ya know, when you are not on quirky)
Presently I run an environmental firm, DF Technical & Consulting Services Ltd., out of Vancouver, BC. They have become an official dealer of my first successful invention www.canairi.com. 9 years of research and development later I brought to life an amazing stand alone real-time indoor environmental monitoring system for both residential and commercial buildings. Upon detection of any threats, our team is alerted in real-time via cell phone or pager so immediate action can be taken. Our core focus is Environmental Risk Management and our market niche is real-time leak detection for green-roofs and wall perimeters. It is going really well but believe me when I say this, the work entailed is at times overwhelming. I cannot stress enough how incredible Quirky is, it will change the world of manufacturing and offer all of the inventors an opportunity to get their ideas into the market place without having to go through the years of struggle myself and many others have undergone.
4. Where are you from?
I am from Canada but grew up sporadically in Trinidad and Tobago where the best half of my family resides.
5. Who/where do you derive your creative inspiration from?
I am most creative when I am alone unable to be influenced by others. I admire the most people like Howard Hughes, Albert Einstein and Richard Branson. These types of people have no limitations and have inspired me to do my best to never place any on myself. “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand. Albert Einstein.
6. What do you wish quirky had that it does not already?
1000 Retail locations across North America;)
7. What store would you love to see Beamer in?
Target, Wal-Mart, Best-Buy, Telus, Rogers, online iPhone accessory stores.
8. What is your favorite deli meat? What is your favorite cereal?
Lol…none of the above really…funny:)
Cordies was Stephen's brilliant cable management idea that was submitted early on in the quirky days. It was such an awesome product idea that despite its high pre-sales threshold, it had the resilience to stick it out, gain commitments and traction and hit threshold. Shipping in early 2010, Cordies will undoubtably be the desk ornament of the year.
Cordies is an on-your-desk cable management system that organizes your assorted computer cables while also keeping them weighted down so they don't slide off your desk when disconnected. Cordies’ playful form, small size, and quirky colors makes it a product that you'd like placing on your desk.
1. When did you think of the idea for Cordies?
There’s a little glass stand I have on my desk for my iPhone. I had used it to keep my laptop’s power cord on my desk when I unplugged it, as I was sick of fumbling around on the floor for it. The glass stand sort of reminded me of a paper weight, and so one day I had the brainwave of having a little weight specifically for cables. I think I was driving at the time the thought hit me.
2. Had you tried to make this thing on your own already?
No, though I had improvised with anything that happened to be lying around my desk.
3. What do you do? (job-wise, ya know, when you are not on quirky)
I am a lawyer, specialising in commercial contracts, IT and IP. Having advised on IP aspects of product design in the past, being involved in the whole product development process has been quite interesting for me. In my spare time, when not on Quirky, I spend a lot of time listening to, making and playing music.
4. Where are you from?
Belfast, Northern Ireland, though I now live in Leeds, England.
5. Who/where do you derive your creative inspiration from?
Ultimately my parents I guess, and my brothers. We are a creative family. Oh, and Slash of course.
6. What do you wish quirky had that it does not already?
A general discussion board so we can talk about things generally, rather than as comments on products or blog posts; a good description of the product selection process (i.e. what goes on after ratings); sales counters after presales; detail about the next steps for products after presales targets are met.
7. What store would you love to see Cordies in?
Basically as many as possible of course. But in terms of specifics, the Apple Store would be cool, as would the online gadget retailers (e.g. in the UK Firebox, IWOOT, etc) and tech stores, the big supermarkets….
8. What is your favorite deli meat? What is your favorite cereal?
Deli meat: ham. With cheese. In a baguette. In Paris. Cereal: Muesli with lots of extra nuts and fruit. But really I’d rather have sausages, bacon, soda bread, potato farls, scrambled eggs and black pudding, washed down with about five cups of tea.
Jeff submitted his modest idea to clean up cords for the apple power adapeter back during our 24 hour quick and quirky event in September. Within a few days he was off the ground with kickass product and an alternate source of income to pay for diapers of his new baby. Jeff made over $3,000 in just the first 7 days of shipping, and the pace hasn't slowed.
Designed by the quirky community and apple enthusiasts worldwide in 24 hours, the quirky PowerCurl is a clip on cord wrap for Apple’s 45W, 60W and 85W MagSafe Power Adapter. PowerCurl wraps both cords (plug end & MagSafe end) around the device and allows for easy and quick cord wrapping. The PowerCurl makes it easy to unplug and pack up quickly without having to untangle your extension cords the next time you need to set up shop.
1. When did you think of the idea for the PowerCurl?
I bought my first Mac in May of this year. I hated the cord from the start and got to thinking about how it could be improved to make it slimmer so that it could fit into my laptop bag.
2. Had you tried to make this thing on your own already?
I doodled sketches of how the idea could work, but never finalized it.
3. what do you do? (job-wise, ya know, when you are not on quirky)
I am an engineer for a medical device company
4. where are you from?
Atlanta
5. who/where do you derive your creative inspiration from?
Who: I believe all good things (including my creative ideas) come from God.
Where: I am a vacuum for information. Every so often, 2 or 3 pieces of information will clash and an idea will pop into my head.
6. What do you wish quirky had that it does not already?
It would be nice to have a count of units sold/earnings online after pre-sale is done. It would help to motivate myself and others to submit more ideas. I’d also like a description of what people do to gain influence listed online to better understand the process.
7. What store would you love to see PowerCurl in?
Apple or apple.com of course!
8. What is your favorite deli meat? What is your favorite cereal?
Roast beef is my favorite, but I don’t eat it much. Turkey is better for me. Cereals come and go, but Cheerios is a classic.
Wacky Futurist / Designer / Die Hard Vegan, Mat Poproocki's idea for a portable tripod and keychian has been the subject of holiday gift guides worldwide. The 4 person DigiDude clan is showing up around the world to help with digital camera photo taking!
DigiDude is your own funky, portable camera tripod and keychain with attitude. Simply screw off your dude’s head and pull out his retractable legs for the perfect on-the-go camera mount. DigiDudes are easily attached to your keychain or camera bag... so say goodbye to shaky hands, blurry pictures, cumbersome tripods, and unnecessary camera gear. The DigiDude will mount most point and shoot cameras, flipcams, and more. If it fits in your pocket it will fit on your DigiDude. 1. When did you think of the idea for the DigiDude?
When starring at the submission form it hit me like a bolt of lighting. I was very excited about what just happened and went straight to the sketch pad / photoshop to materialize the vision. 12 hours later I was ready to hit submit.
2. Had you tried to make this thing on your own already?
I made a few of them out of clay (as seen in the photo), but I really want to be able to create molds at some point for some other ideas that I’m working on.
3. what do you do? (job-wise, ya know, when you are not on quirky)
I’m just trying to enjoy life and have a good time.
4. where are you from?
O.H.I.O… that’s how I roll.
5. who/where do you derive your creative inspiration from?
My friends and whoever I meet are a huge influence on me, I run all my ideas threw them first. Life experiences also play an important roll. But most importantly I generally feel connected to the universe and just let ideas flow from that.
6. What do you wish quirky had that it does not already?
I miss validated amps from the kluster platform, but it would be nice to see the sell count of a product even after it surpasses it’s threshold.
7. What store would you love to see your DigiDude in?
Urban Outfitters, Target, Wal-Mart, Best-Buy, or any kind of Super Store.
8. What is your favorite deli meat? What is your favorite cereal?
LOL, bananas for breakfast, and tofu or veggie patties in the sandwich please.
Zech is the first community member to have submitted an idea that made it past pre-sales and onto manufacturing. He is somewhat of a quirky celebrity at this point because he's got not just one product, but THREE...it seems Zech knows exactly what it takes to make this community tick! Zech submitted ideas for a double sided USB stick which became the Split Stick, and for a writable mousepad which became the scratch-n-scroll. Looking for his hat-trick, Zech is now working on little guys that fit over USB plugs, which are now known as Cable Caps.
The Scratch-n-Scroll is a standard mouse pad with an added writing surface. Simply, write notes to yourself on your mouse pad using just the pressure from your finger or the built in plastic stylus as a “pen.” Cool thing is, just like your childhood toy the magic slate, you can erase the notes at any time simply by flipping up the semi-transparent top sheet.
1. When did you think of the idea for the Scratch n Scroll?I thought about this being at the office and I tried to write something down. I had a notepad but no pen and remembered that children's toy where you can scratch in things.
2. Had you tried to make this thing on your own already?
I build a prototype for this and showed this it around on some occasions. About that time quirky.com went up and I found this to be the perfect place to get this done. Which turned out to be true ;)
3. what do you do? (job-wise, ya know, when you are not on quirky)
I am a freelance copywriter and concepter.
4. Where are you from?
I’m from beautiful Hamburg, Germany in the European Union.
5. Who/Where do you derive your creative inspiration from?
Invention-wise, I try to look out for things in my every day life where things don’t work the way they should or people have problems or where it doesn’t feel easy to do things. I try to think of products that which could solve these issues. In addition, I try to think up what would happen if already exciting things and products get combined together to come up with something new.
6. What do you wish quirky had that it does not already?
I think quirky should expand it´s retail distribution and hit a broad market as THE brand for community created products. I think this is a wonderful idea which should impress lots of people - when the products meet high standards this will be a pretty unique selling proposition which should generate PR and sales likewise. ...but i guess you already thought about this ;)
7. What store would you love to see your Scratch-n-Scroll in?
Everyplace office and computer related. Online and offline. Amazon to best-buy. The scratch-n-scroll could make a good incentive corporate gift also, I think.
8. What is your favorite deli meat? What is your favorite cereal?
hmmm. that’s the best question. I’m a vegetarian most of the times. Cereal: I like Special K red fruit.
Just a few quick seconds and you'll be on your way.
Find Your Social Sales Link
Social sales give you the opportunity to stimulate the final phase of the Quirky product cycle: cold, hard sales. Social sales links can be found in your My Account page under the "Referral Info" link, as well as on product pages in our online store. Click on a link and copy it, then go wild with pasting it! Promoting this link will earn you credit for actions taken by all of the people who visit our site using your link. Through social sales, you can earn up to 10% commission on product sales, plus additional influence on pre-sales.
Promote Quirky
Promoting Quirky to other creative minds who may also have product ideas is the quickest way to earn cash. You'll earn 25% on all product submission revenue generated from your social sales link. Find creative talent, and spread the word. It'll be worth your while.
Promote Specific Products
The best way to drive sales is to focus. Pick a specific product you love, or have earned a lot of influence on, and promote that specific product like crazy using your social sales link.
Use Twitter, Etc
Use your social media networks to generate interest in Quirky. Re-tweet new product launches using your social sales link, and remind your followers/friends about ongoing projects. The more you hype up Quirky and get people excited enough to click on your social sales link, the more influence/cash you'll earn.
Design, Create, Earn
Create social sales-linked banners for your blog and/or Facebook page. Create a little micro-site about a specific product and drive traffic using your social sales link. Be creative in finding ways to drive traffic and sales for Quirky products, because Quirky sales = money in your pocket.