So, here’s an idea – much like the distributed manufacturing system for printed pulleys, why doesn’t someone set up a website business for RepRap parts?  Here’s the outline of the business plan:

• A price could be set for a particular RepRap plastic part, depending upon size, complexity, scarcity, how many more are needed to make a full set, etc.
• People with RepRaps/Straps can register for an account and send in RepRap parts, and get their account credited for those parts.
  • Ideally, the website would also have an area where you can print out a table of contents – with bar codes.  That way the receiver could just scan the parts into their inventory – and verify the contents/quality later.
• People who send in parts are paid on a regular basis electronically.
• The site also contains a store where you can purchase an entire set of printed/molded RepRap parts – or perhaps just those ones you need.
• It would be quite handy if such a site also sold the various other parts needed for a RepRap – bearings, metal rods, electronics, fasteners, etc.
• I suppose the sets could be sold on a bid-style basis – and the parts paid for pro-rata. 1

This idea isn’t without it’s problems:

1. How do you ensure a minimum quality in crowdsourced parts?
   1. Perhaps you could use a seller/rating system like BrickLink does for lego vendors?
2. Why would someone buy/sell from a website like this rather than eBay?
   1. Well, eBay and Etsy each take about 3.5% with PayPal snagging another 3% or so.  Assuming sales are handled through PayPal2 , you’re talking about basically 6.5% out of the seller’s end.
   2. Assuming you go with PayPal (3%) and you charge less than the 3.5% for eBay, you can probably attract buyers and sellers.  The problem is once you’ve gotten this far, you’ve basically re-created eBay buy-it-now or an Etsy store.  To succeed you’ll need to serve the market better or cheaper.
3. As soon as RepRaps in the wild increase or demand for parts is met, won’t the bottom drop out?
   1. Quite possibly.  A week ago Mendel plastic parts were selling for $450. 3  Today it looks like parts are going for about $300 or so.  Then again, a set didn’t sell with a $200 reserve just a few days ago.
   2. How many sets have been sold on eBay anyhow?  A dozen?  Let’s say it was 20 sets at $450 each.  20 * $450 * 3.5% is $315.00.  If 100 sets are sold at $300 with a 3.5% cut, that’s $1050.  Neither of these amounts would not have been enough to entice me to code a RepRap sales site – but I’m a slow coder.

1. That would be a fancy bit of coding… [↩]
2. it’s the easiest to write plugins for – heck I’ve written a few [↩]
3. Adrian Bowyer’s set sold for $620.  But, I suspect that was an anomoly. [↩]