A Few Bob for a Potentially Lousey Idea.

[rustybin]

You know all those dumb ideas that one comes up with in the pub/bar but can never actually be arsed to do anything about? Well how could one go about flogging them for a few quid? I am sure I can't be the only person that has had ideas for products, inventions would be over egging it a tad, that might make someone a few quid but are not something I have the time, skills, or desire to develop. How would one go about flogging such an idea with minimum effort and investment, accepting that the result will be a pretty small price.

Edited by rustybin on Thursday 12th October 12:25

[sam_r]

Can you not spread the risk?

Get a load of friends on board to pay / develop the ideas etc. It could be like a hobby all with an equal share??

Sorry but i'm not sure where you could sell the ideas....

maybe there could be a business section of the PH classifieds

[wtd]

tell me the idea, i'll slip you a tenner for it

[jconsta6]

Most people wont pay for a potentially lousy idea, but they may pay for a potentially good one

Don't know, the answer, just trying to think of a not so lousy way of making it work - maybe a small site in which people subscribe to see other peoples ideas... and vote on them. The most popular ide each month gets a % of the takings.

Pretty basic - but just a thought.... However, its a pretty lousy thought, as although I'm intrested in hearing other peoples ideas, I'm not about to pay for them, especially if they are bad.

Just watch dragons Den to see how hard it is to sell even a good idea/business.....

Shame I can't help as I have tonnes of lousy ideas (see second paragraph of this post) which I'd love to get a few quid off.

Cheers,

JC

[rustybin]

It's a bummer really isn't it? No one will pay you anything for an idea that may be lousey. To prove it isn't you have to spend a fortune to develop it, another fortune to protect it and then you get so involved you don't want to sell it or become so entwined in it that you become part of what you are trying to sell. If you don't develop and protect it they'll just nick the idea if it's any good.

So I have a bid from wtd of £10. Just to let you know the field, the current idea is for an automotive accessory product. It is practical and not styling related, with potential for business as well as retail sales. Units would retail at, I would imagine around £20 for the base version, versions with additional functionality would cost more. Unit cost would be dependent upon how much you could get your pet Chinese manufacturing company to bang them out for. Any advance on £10

[nightmare]

Would it fit to all current cars? (if not, define market)
Would it be useful to all motorists? (if not, define customers)
Could licensing agreements get it included on new cars? (if not, why not)
Is it protectable, or could anyone copy it?
Does it inolve moving parts or is it a cheap tooling exercise?
Does it have safety aspects which would require testing?
"Ted - are you a tank?"

I'll increase the current offer to a very generous 15 pounds of finest sterling. dependent on the answers to the above of course!

[rustybin]

nightmare said:

Would it fit to all current cars? (if not, define market)
Would it be useful to all motorists? (if not, define customers)
Could licensing agreements get it included on new cars? (if not, why not)
Is it protectable, or could anyone copy it?
Does it inolve moving parts or is it a cheap tooling exercise?
Does it have safety aspects which would require testing?
"Ted - are you a tank?"

I'll increase the current offer to a very generous 15 pounds of finest sterling. dependent on the answers to the above of course!

Would fit majority of cars from major manufacturers but be bespoke to each model (though I am sure many would fit each other if you see what I mean).
Useful to all, Yes. Though at the moment nobody has one so obviously not essential!
Include in new cars, No. Can't explain why not without explaining the idea though.
Probably copyable - brand therefore the key. Having said that I'm no patent lawyer so couldn't say for sure without telling you the idea.
Probably no more than two major components. None moving. The 'Lux version could have a bit more but nothing complex by any means of the mark. Hard to explain without telling you the idea.
No safety implications.

Half answering that lot proves the point. I cannot fully answer the basic questions without giving the idea away.

So do I get my £15?

Edited by rustybin on Thursday 12th October 15:18

[BoRED S2upid]

Patent protection? Then flog it to a company that already manufactures similar products? OR Go as far as making a prototype and go on Dragons Den wearing your PH's T Shirt and give everyone the heads up so we can all watchyou.

You could even use PH to do your market research once you have patent protection and a prototype.

[SKR]

The chances are that you will not take it any further yourself, so why not post it on here and see if anyone else does.

If someone does get off their arse and put it into production and the product does well, you might get you some sort of recognition/goodwill gesture.

Alternativley you may get nothing but the smug satisfaction of knowing you thought of it first!

So in summary - do somthing about it now, or post it here for us to do somthing about it.

[nightmare]

rustybin said:

nightmare said:

Would it fit to all current cars? (if not, define market)
Would it be useful to all motorists? (if not, define customers)
Could licensing agreements get it included on new cars? (if not, why not)
Is it protectable, or could anyone copy it?
Does it inolve moving parts or is it a cheap tooling exercise?
Does it have safety aspects which would require testing?
"Ted - are you a tank?"

I'll increase the current offer to a very generous 15 pounds of finest sterling. dependent on the answers to the above of course!

Would fit majority of cars from major manufacturers but be bespoke to each model (though I am sure many would fit each other if you see what I mean).
Useful to all, Yes. Though at the moment nobody has one so obviously not essential!
Include in new cars, No. Can't explain why not without explaining the idea though.
Probably copyable - brand therefore the key. Having said that I'm no patent lawyer so couldn't say for sure without telling you the idea.
Probably no more than two major components. None moving. The 'Lux version could have a bit more but nothing complex by any means of the mark. Hard to explain without telling you the idea.
No safety implications.

Half answering that lot proves the point. I cannot fully answer the basic questions without giving the idea away.

So do I get my £15?

Oh if only life were that easy!

Nope - you progress to the 'Non Disclosure' stage! - basically I send you a PM promising not to tell anyone about, or do anything with your idea and you tell me what it is in detail. At that point I do my utmost to tear it to pieces and tell you why it's a bad idea, wont make money or whatever.

If you weather that storm, then your 15 pounds is probably assured!!

I'm a generous, generous soul

[rustybin]

nightmare said:

Oh if only life were that easy!

Nope - you progress to the 'Non Disclosure' stage! - basically I send you a PM promising not to tell anyone about, or do anything with your idea and you tell me what it is in detail. At that point I do my utmost to tear it to pieces and tell you why it's a bad idea, wont make money or whatever.

If you weather that storm, then your 15 pounds is probably assured!!

I'm a generous, generous soul

If I were asking for £15k and to still own most of the company that made and sold my super little device that will revolutionise motoring forever and make both of us multi-millionaires, I would expect to have to wade through that huge lake of crap. The point of the original post was 'Can I not avoid having to do so and sell for less?'. It seems to be assumed that there are more good ideas for making money out there than there are backers. I have a suspicion that this is in fact cobblers and an illusion created by people with the money to invest to ensure that they don't pay much for good ideas. One only has to look at the amount of rubbish we are sold that is merely yesterdays product dressed slightly differently to realise that there are very few new or interesting things to invest in, certainly in terms of consumer products at any rate.

I am assuming that bidding is back at £10

[rpguk]

If it was that easy though people would sit around thinking up 'potentially lousey ideas' to sell for a tenner a pop - I've had so many people tell me their 'next big thing' ideas and almost all are at best full of practical holes or just plain crap.

Saying that, I'm intregued - I'll bid £11

Edited by rpguk on Monday 16th October 18:31

[M400 NBL]

Stick an add on ebay for mystery invention.

When asked what your reserve is, tell them that you've had so much interest that you let teh auction run its course. You will get more than £15.

Or tell them that the reserve is £20k and hope for the best

[nightmare]

rustybin said:

nightmare said:

Oh if only life were that easy!

Nope - you progress to the 'Non Disclosure' stage! - basically I send you a PM promising not to tell anyone about, or do anything with your idea and you tell me what it is in detail. At that point I do my utmost to tear it to pieces and tell you why it's a bad idea, wont make money or whatever.

If you weather that storm, then your 15 pounds is probably assured!!

I'm a generous, generous soul

If I were asking for £15k and to still own most of the company that made and sold my super little device that will revolutionise motoring forever and make both of us multi-millionaires, I would expect to have to wade through that huge lake of crap. The point of the original post was 'Can I not avoid having to do so and sell for less?'.

well fair point...but in reality you'd never say 'ive got a £15 idea to pitch' You either sell at a market value by openly describing and offering it...or you try and convince a private investor. Now even for 15 quid i'd still need to know what it actually is before i spend money - i dont buy off 'black bag' stalls down the market either - and the 'huge lake of crap' would simply be a question and answer session - not a "present your financial predictions for ten years" type thing. sale value would be determined at this point possibly

rustybin said:

It seems to be assumed that there are more good ideas for making money out there than there are backers. I have a suspicion that this is in fact cobblers and an illusion created by people with the money to invest to ensure that they don't pay much for good ideas. One only has to look at the amount of rubbish we are sold that is merely yesterdays product dressed slightly differently to realise that there are very few new or interesting things to invest in, certainly in terms of consumer products at any rate.

I dont think i really agree with this. I know what you're saying but believe me it is very had to actually make money out of something. I had no idea until i did it just how hard going froma standing start to retail sale of a new invention is. The logistics alone make it very difficult for newcomers. As a result, finances often dictate that the established players simply evolve rather than revolutionise and we end up seeing, as you say, few new and interesting things.

If more people went the 'Ive come up with a new idea that could be sold to an existing player so I'll package and do it like that' (and accept that i could see them making far more money long term than they've given me) rather than try and do it themselves, I believe you'd get greater ingenuity and variety of new products

Night