Connect Your i.materialise Shop with CreatorFoo, and Start Selling Your 3D Prints on Amazon!
We’ve heard a lot of 3D designers saying, “I want to increase sales of my 3D Printed designs, but listing my products on those big e-commerce sites is too troublesome. I wish I could only focus on designing!” Well, now you can solve this problem with just a few clicks. We’re proud to present CreatorFoo, our new API partner that connects your 3D Printed products with i.materialise and the world’s largest e-retailers, including Amazon.
What’s CreatorFoo all about?
CreatorFoo is an online platform that transfers your 3D Printed products to e-retail giants through i.materialise. If you already have a shop item on i.materialise, you can instantly start selling the same product on Amazon by following these 3 simple steps.
1) Sign up on CreatorFoo
2) Upload a 3D model from your i.materialise shop with a descriptions about your product
3) Sit back and relax while CreatorFoo lists your product on Amazon
By creating an account on CreatorFoo, you no longer need to worry about listing your items and managing payment transactions on multiple e-commerce sites and can get back to doing what you love: designing. And the best part, if you sign up now, you can get access to these services with no fee!
3 benefits of using CreatorFoo
How was CreatorFoo born?
The system was developed by Will Hughes, software architect for a start up that wasn’t “starting”, so he began to look around for other ideas. While he’s been doing software for more than 20 years, he started out as a physicist, designing communication lasers. Then he went into software, automating warehouses or building embedded controller. After five years he went back to academia, working on the Human Genome Project as a bioinformatics researcher. But a friend at an internet infrastructure firm lured him away.”I always enjoy learning the nuts and bolts of a new industry.” Will explains.
So how did 3D Printing become his next passion project? Will says it was his 6-year-old son who gave him the inspiration. “My son got interested in 3D design and he designed up a snowman on Tinkercad, an awesome 3D design program. When his 3D Printed model arrived a few weeks later, we were both hooked. But looking at some of the 3D Printing marketplaces, I thought, ‘Why not sell these on Amazon, Etsy or eBay that attract a lot more consumer traffic?’” He then started building this simple platform that connects 3D Printing service operators and the world’s largest e-commerce sites.
A snowman ornament designed by Will’s 6-year-old son on Tinckercad
Our API connects you, i.materialise, CreatorFoo and Amazon
From material and finish choices, pricing, payment transaction to shipping, CreatorFoo is completely integrated with the i.materialise API to realize “just-in-time manufacturing.” When your item on Amazon sells, CreatorFoo places an order at i.materialise using the API, then it passes back the production and shipment status of that order to the store customer.
The future of CreatorFoo
At the moment, Amazon is the only e-commerce site connected with i.materialise shop and CreatorFoo if you’re a tryout user; however, if you choose to go beyond tryout, then you can start using other stores such as Etsy as well. Yet, Will’s hope is to keep the whole system simple in order to provide free services for small designers. When asked how he wants CreatorFoo to evolve in the future, he says:
“The hope is to leverage a happy user-base to attract larger companies. Right now, there are two areas where 3D Printing is just starting to be used: part-replacement and customized products. Why should any company maintain a huge stock of items that sell very seldom, if they can apply 3D Printing to supply random replacement parts? [And] I’d love to see us team up with some of the awesome 3D-it-yourself companies to get those products to the forefront of the market.” – Will Hughes
Together with 3D designers and developers, we’re on a quest to make 3D Printing accessible for anyone. If you’re a developer looking into a new 3D Printing business model using our API, talk to us at developers[at]i.materialise.com. And don’t forget to follow CreatorFoo blog and Twitter to get the latest updates. Join the movement to make “3DIY” the next norm for consumers!
