|
|
|
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
|
|
|
|
|
>
|
|
|
|
|
> **Product name.** "Wiggleverse Makers" — chosen over "Wiggleverse Market" to keep
|
|
|
|
|
> the *network, not marketplace* positioning (memo §7); the public URL is
|
|
|
|
|
> market.wiggleverse.org (a URL needn't match the brand). Pre-launch, so not
|
|
|
|
|
> makers.wiggleverse.org, matching the brand. Pre-launch, so not
|
|
|
|
|
> necessarily the final legal brand. **Dateline is aspirational** (target launch
|
|
|
|
|
> Aug 1, 2026), per the working-backwards method: the press release is the
|
|
|
|
|
> *target*, written before the build, not a record of a shipped thing.
|
|
|
|
@@ -24,27 +24,27 @@
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
## PRESS RELEASE
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
### Wiggleverse Makers launches the first commerce platform built for *commit-then-make*, not *stock-then-sell*
|
|
|
|
|
### Wiggleverse launches Wiggleverse Makers, the first commerce platform built for *commit-then-make*, not just *stock-then-sell*
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
**A verified-maker network where independent makers run drops, pre-orders, and
|
|
|
|
|
clubs — and earn demand by vouching for each other, not by buying ads. The maker
|
|
|
|
|
keeps their own checkout, their own customers, and ~20% more of every sale than
|
|
|
|
|
**A verified-maker network where independent makers run customized orders, drops, pre-orders, and
|
|
|
|
|
clubs in addition to traditional *stock-then-sell* commerce — and earn demand by vouching for each other, not by buying ads. The maker
|
|
|
|
|
keeps their own storefront, checkout, customers, and ~20% more of every sale than
|
|
|
|
|
on Etsy.**
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
**PORTLAND, OR — August 1, 2026** — Wiggleverse Makers today opened to
|
|
|
|
|
**SEATTLE, WA — August 1, 2026** — Wiggleverse Makers today opened to
|
|
|
|
|
its first community of independent makers — the tabletop-miniatures scene: a
|
|
|
|
|
commerce platform built around the way makers actually sell. Where Shopify and Etsy assume *stock-then-sell* — make
|
|
|
|
|
inventory, shelve it, wait for a buyer — makers run on *commit-then-make*: collect
|
|
|
|
|
committed demand first (a drop, a pre-order, a monthly club, a made-to-order
|
|
|
|
|
inventory, shelve it, wait for a buyer — many makers run on *commit-then-make*: collect
|
|
|
|
|
committed demand first (a drop, a pre-order, a deposit-and-waitlist, a monthly club, a made-to-order
|
|
|
|
|
commission), then produce against it. Wiggleverse Makers is built for that motion
|
|
|
|
|
end to end, and adds something no storefront tool has: a **reputation-staked
|
|
|
|
|
referral network** where makers send each other real buyers.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
**The problem.** The tools makers rely on serve them badly at exactly the moments
|
|
|
|
|
**The problem.** The tools makers rely on serve them poorly at exactly the moments
|
|
|
|
|
that matter. Generic storefronts treat a scheduled drop or a 10-piece lottery as
|
|
|
|
|
an afterthought, and marketplaces have drifted the other way: Etsy, founded on
|
|
|
|
|
"handmade," is now flooded with mass-produced and AI-generated goods, so the
|
|
|
|
|
buyer can no longer tell what's real. Makers are left choosing between a tool that
|
|
|
|
|
buyer can no longer tell what's authentically created by a Maker. Makers are left choosing between a tool that
|
|
|
|
|
doesn't fit and a marketplace that has stopped standing for anything — while
|
|
|
|
|
paying marketplace fees that can approach 20% of each sale.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ paying marketplace fees that can approach 20% of each sale.
|
|
|
|
|
**commitment-commerce engine** — scheduled drops, pre-orders and deposits,
|
|
|
|
|
raffle/queue allocation, recurring clubs, made-to-order workflows, digital-file
|
|
|
|
|
delivery — that runs on the maker's *own* storefront and *own* payment processor.
|
|
|
|
|
Second, a **verified merchant referral network**: each maker's storefront carries
|
|
|
|
|
Second, a **verified merchant referral network**: each maker's storefront (and, optionally, email marketing content) carries
|
|
|
|
|
a "Curated By This Maker" section featuring other *verified* makers whose work
|
|
|
|
|
they genuinely admire, with the curating maker's reputation on the line. Placement
|
|
|
|
|
is *earned*, never sold — the opposite of pay-for-placement advertising. Every
|
|
|
|
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ resale), so a buyer always knows what they're buying, and the platform never
|
|
|
|
|
points a buyer at an Etsy or Amazon listing.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Critically, **Wiggleverse Makers never touches the buyer's money.** The maker is
|
|
|
|
|
the merchant of record on their own processor; the platform sells software and
|
|
|
|
|
the merchant of record on their own processor; the platform sells optional storefront software (or Makers can bring their own existing storefront) and
|
|
|
|
|
bills its fee separately. That single architectural choice keeps the platform out
|
|
|
|
|
of the financial and regulatory machinery that sinks marketplaces, and lets it
|
|
|
|
|
charge a fraction of Etsy's take.
|
|
|
|
@@ -96,12 +96,12 @@ erases your bill.
|
|
|
|
|
> end up loving. It's the people I follow — not an algorithm guessing."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
**Availability.** Wiggleverse Makers is opening invitation-only inside one tight
|
|
|
|
|
community — independent **tabletop miniatures makers** (resin/STL casters,
|
|
|
|
|
community — independent **miniatures makers** (resin/STL casters,
|
|
|
|
|
sculptors, painters) — chosen because it expresses every commit-then-make motion at
|
|
|
|
|
once and its makers already run drops, clubs, and made-to-order commissions. It
|
|
|
|
|
expands along the adjacent-buyer arc — **miniatures → resin dice → broader tabletop**
|
|
|
|
|
— as each community compounds. Makers on any controllable storefront — Wiggleverse,
|
|
|
|
|
Shopify, or self-hosted — can be invited to verify and join. Learn more at market.wiggleverse.org.
|
|
|
|
|
Shopify, or self-hosted — can be invited to verify and join. Learn more at makers.wiggleverse.org.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
*Wiggleverse Makers is operated as a true non-profit: open books, no equity, no
|
|
|
|
|
sale, engineered by volunteers with LLM-accelerated development. The structure
|
|
|
|
@@ -114,11 +114,11 @@ not by good intentions.*
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
### Part 1 — Customer questions (makers & buyers)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
**What is "commitment commerce," and why is it the whole pitch?**
|
|
|
|
|
**What is "commitment commerce," and why is it so important to the pitch?**
|
|
|
|
|
It's the inverse of normal retail. Stock commerce is *make it, shelve it, someone
|
|
|
|
|
buys it* (Shopify's model). Commitment commerce is *collect committed demand, then
|
|
|
|
|
make against it* — a drop, a pre-order, a deposit-and-waitlist, a monthly club, a
|
|
|
|
|
made-to-order commission. Makers live in this mode; generic tools treat it as a
|
|
|
|
|
made-to-order commission. Many makers live in this mode; generic tools treat it as a
|
|
|
|
|
bolt-on. The memo's core claim (§2) is that the drop/pre-order/club/commission
|
|
|
|
|
cadence isn't a feature of a storefront — it *is* the platform, and it's the part
|
|
|
|
|
that's genuinely hard to build well (the "gnarly 20%"). The storefront itself is a
|
|
|
|
|