Service providers are chosen or validated by ideacious, and hand-selected by a product’s creator. With everyone’s reputation on the line, it is in every party’s best interest to create the highest quality product.

On top of that, ideacious can step in if quality is not up to par, or the product's manufacturer is not performing as promised. Throughout the development process we bring our industrial design and manufacturing experience to the table. If we see something off, we’ll do our best to fix it.

If the minimum order of units predetermined by the manufacturer and ideacious has not been achieved, the product will not go in to production.

If you’ve put $5 down to save your position on a preorder, you can transfer your full $5 to another product. If you back out completely and don’t want to transfer your money, you will be charged a $1 processing fee and get $4 back.

The $1 covers our costs for making these kinds of changes. The charge is also meant as a deterrent, albeit a small one, to keep people serious about making preorders.

Creators decide how much they want to share with their early buyers as well as how much they want to share in different sales categories. For example, a creator may offer more in a retail scenario, but less in a buyout scenario. Furthermore, the earliest of early buyers will receive higher earnings than someone with a later position on the same product. Check the product’s detail page to see what you can earn with your preorder.

Hells ya. But you’ll have all the units of that product shipped to your front door and you’ll be limiting the amount of early buyers that will be promoting the product with you.

All orders, whether retail or wholesale, go through ideacious. We keep track of every micro-payment and distribute the funds. Plus we publish how many units are sold of each product, on and off our site, so you can see for yourself. As far as security goes, our proprietary software is backed up, then backed up again, and then backed up once more just to be safe.

Each product on ideacious requires a different quantity of sales to hit its critical mass and will take more or less time to get to that number depending on its audience. Additionally, each product will have its own production schedule with some processes taking longer than others. Our forecasting software does its best to give an accurate estimate, which you can find on the product’s detail page.

If your product is not what you had hoped, contact the creator via ideacious and provide a clear explanation of what you think is underwhelming about the product. We’ll highly recommend a 100% satisfaction guarantee for all creators, but cannot force them to provide such a service to their customers. To see a creator’s return policy, check out the product’s detail page before you buy.

Absolutely. If you would like to promote only the products you’ve preordered, it’s as simple as telling all your friends about your latest purchase or walking into your local retailer and telling them to get on board. Your preorder earns you a commission for all sales.

Or, if you work as a professional sales rep and want to represent products you have not personally preordered, please contact ideacious directly.

Send us your reimbursable $100 along with your finished renderings, CAD, and Bill of Materials, and we’ll do the rest.

If you don’t already have a manufacturer, ideacious will search its certified network and beyond to find you one. You’ll decide how much you want your early buyers to earn, and we’ll post your product and keep track of the preorders.

Once you’ve presold your target amount, production starts. When manufacturing is finished the units are shipped to their buyers. Revenue from your first run is rolled over to produce a second production run. Subsequent sales will earn revenue for you, your early buyers, and ideacious, which is distributed throughout the process, as defined prior to posting your idea.

Anyone. We have a basic checklist that all submissions must pass. As long as your submission isn’t illegal, immoral, or just plain unrealistic, there shouldn’t be a problem. If there is we’ll refund your money, tell you why your submission isn’t on, and help you improve your idea by providing some pointers where we can.

Your primary commitment is to honour your agreement to allow early buyers to earn revenue. This means, above all, your product is made well, and is profitable for everyone involved.

In order to ensure quality, profitability, and efficiencies, we may choose to a different manufacturer, supplier, or service provider if any of those elements are being compromised. If you already have a manufacturer, that’s fine so long as we’re able to deal with them directly. This direct relationship allows us to accurately track all produced units to ensure that your early buyers are getting what’s been promised. Of course, you are never excluded from the conversation.

ideacious requires non-exclusive distribution rights, meaning that we can sell your product on our site and present possible corporate opportunities. Important to note: you can sell your product through any other venue, and if you find a company that wants to buy exclusive rights to your product, no problem - we can make that work too.

With ideacious, you always retain the rights to your own designs.

Before you post your product on ideacious you will have the same intellectual property (IP) choices as anyone going through the traditional product development cycle. You can choose to protect your idea with patents, design registrations, or any other appropriate form of protection. In fact, the ideacious model works extremely well with provisional applications. As an inexpensive alternative, provisional applications provide a one-year window that will give you enough time to determine how much demand there is for your product.

If you’d like, multiple quotes and information on your IP options can be provided by ideacious to help you make an informed decision.

$100. And if your product makes it to production, you’ll be getting your $100 back – and then some. But if your product doesn’t make it to production, $100 covers the costs on our end and we’re even.

If you aren’t able to get your product finished on your own you may need to enlist various creative and legal services, which you can find through the ideacious network. Those costs will, of course, vary according to project. Alternatively, you can submit your idea as a Sketch Submission to presell enough units to pay for the finishing services.

Once your product is submitted and we find you your manufacturer of choice, all the financial details will be laid out for you to see. We’ll be able to show you projections and profit distribution scenarios so you can decide how much you and your early buyers can make, and how many units you’ll have to sell to get there. Based on that information, you’ll be able to determine a price per unit.

Absolutely. Though keep in mind – the more diverse your pool of early buyers, the further and wider your collective network reaches. These people are your marketers, with motivation to promote your product. So buying your own preorders will limit the amount of early buyers able to get involved.

Each product will have its own profit margin based on production costs, early buyer earnings, and other similar factors. Those numbers will be determined before your product is posted. After that, it’s up to hard work and good fortune.

We don't charge a cent for providing services like; manufacturer sourcing, project management, posting, or standard marketing. This allows you to get up and running for next to nothing, and profits are only shared once you've got the sales to cover it!

As a retailer of your product, you'll be selling to ideacious at wholesale pricing. Your defined wholesale prices will be agreed to prior to posting your product - they will typically range from 20% to 50% off the retail price of your product (in order to be viably wholesaled offsite).

When you sell your produced product on your own (any venue that's not ideacious.com), ideacious' commission becomes significantly less. Your offsite orders will still be placed through us, with our standard commission being 5% of wholesale pricing. This percentage is also defined and agreed to prior to posting your product.

Earnings will be deposited to your ideacious account. From there they can be transferred to PayPal, your bank account, or paid by cheque. Each payment method will incur standard fees, as specified by that institution. Access to profits will be provided quarterly upon request, and will be tallied to 60 days prior to each quarter.