How it works
From your collection to a considered shortlist.
Start with one collection, then use the evidence and fit explanations to decide which stores deserve a closer look.
- Add your work.Use at least three representative product photos, or a public collection page showing several pieces. Do not use a link that requires a login. Add your materials, wholesale prices and currency, opening minimum, lead time, shipping area, and any account exclusions. Retail price context is optional; buyers set their own selling prices. Focus on products with similar uses and prices.
- Review your market.Separate what you know from actual customers and stores from ideas you want to explore. Review potential buying occasions and retail settings. Consider what your collection could add in style, price, size, or function.
- Research potential stores.Confirm your profile and agree to send it, with any selected photos, for research. A batch can return one to five potential stores with official merchandise source links. If the search cannot return usable matches, your successful-batch allowance is restored.
- Assess the matches and save your report.Open the sources, review current prices and vendor requirements, mark your assessment, and add notes. You can prepare an introduction draft to edit yourself. Save your project to reopen your work later, and save your report as PDF for reading.
Need help with your profile? Get better matches: what to tell Maker Waypoint.
Four questions behind each match
- Assortment fit: what connects your work to the store’s documented inventory?
- What your work could add: could a different style, price tier, size, or use complement similar products?
- Price fit: do comparable store retail prices make sense for your collection and wholesale terms?
- Customer and location fit: what supports a connection to shoppers’ needs or buying occasions, and what remains an inference?
Before you begin
Do I need a website or IndieMe membership?
No. You can provide photos and product details without a website. IndieMe and Academy memberships are not required. No ChatGPT account is needed. Anyone can prepare a profile and save or reopen their work. Live research requires an individual access code.
What does a Research Pass include?
A purchased Research Pass costs $19, includes three successful batches, and has no expiration. Your access code arrives by email after payment is verified. Read the Research Pass details and checkout availability. Daily capacity and retry limits may temporarily delay a search. Used batches are not refilled by a daily reset.
What does my pilot code include?
A pilot code allows three successful research batches, each with up to five potential stores. Five results are not guaranteed. Editing your profile, opening saved work, and downloading project files or PDFs do not use batches. A separate daily cap and retry limit control pilot research activity. A daily reset does not refill your code’s total batch allowance.
What should I verify before contacting a store?
Check current assortment and prices, whether the store accepts outside makers, submission instructions, purchasing or consignment terms, shipping requirements, and any territory restrictions. A source link documents where information came from; it does not guarantee the accuracy of every interpretation or that a store wants to buy.
Are my profile, photos, and results saved?
They remain in the current page visit and are not saved to an artist account or the application database. Refreshing or closing the page can erase unsaved work. Download a project file to keep your profile, photos, results, notes, and draft on your device, then open it in the finder to resume. Project files are not uploaded when opened. Purchase email addresses, payment identifiers, delivery status, access-code verification data, and usage counts are retained separately to deliver passes and enforce limits. Read how your information is handled. Live research sends your profile and selected photos to OpenAI, whose data-handling policies apply.
How do I save and reopen my project?
In your workspace, select Save my project and keep the downloaded Maker Waypoint project file (.json). Later, select Open a saved project in the workspace or on the homepage. This file is for reopening inside Maker Waypoint; you do not need to open or edit it yourself. You can save an unfinished profile, and opening a file does not run research or use a batch. Save again after making changes. Access codes and consent are not saved; check your code and review your profile before another search. The server still enforces your usage limits. Project files include photos and business details, so share them only if you intend to share that information.
What is included in the PDF?
Your collection profile, market notes, store results, fit explanations, assessments, notes, and any introduction draft. Photos are not included. The PDF is a report for your records; it cannot be imported to restore a session.
Will Maker Waypoint contact stores for me?
No. You review and send any outreach yourself. The tool can prepare an editable introduction draft after you add a specific, supported reason for the connection.