Research What to Print and Sell Before You Make It

If you sell things you make, a muse can research what buyers are already paying for on the marketplaces you sell on, work out the profit on each idea at a real price, and hand you a short product proposal for each one worth making.

What it does

Picking what to make is usually a guess. The muse turns it into homework. Given a product type, it goes through live listings on the marketplaces you name, studies a first batch in depth, then widens the search to more items, including ones that already sold out, because a sold-out listing is proof someone wanted it. It then runs the money side: at the price you would charge, it subtracts material cost and marketplace fees and shows the profit left on each item. It also sweeps model libraries for popular and new designs worth licensing or adapting, and writes a short proposal for each candidate: what it is, what it sells for, and what it costs you to make.

How to use it

1. Name the product family and the marketplaces you actually sell on, for example printed keychains on two named marketplaces.
2. Ask for a first batch of about ten items researched in depth, with prices, then a wider batch that includes sold-out listings.
3. Give it your real costs: material per item, printing time, and the fees your marketplace charges.
4. Ask for the profit at the price you would charge, item by item, in a simple table.
5. Ask for a short proposal for the top few items, then pick which ones to make yourself. The muse researches, you decide.

What you need

• A Muse account
• The names of the marketplaces you sell on
• Your material costs and selling prices, stated plainly

What to watch for

• The profit figure is an estimate. An estimate like this usually leaves out labor, machine wear, and model license fees, so add those yourself before you trust the number.
• Sold out can mean popular, or it can mean the seller made very few. Check how many sold when the listing shows it.
• Marketplace rules and fees change. Confirm the current fee for your category before you price anything.
• A design that sells well for someone else may be under a license that does not allow you to sell prints of it. Check the license on any model you did not design.