HN Explorer

Tell HN: An update from the new Tindie team

85 points by altairprime ↗ HN
Received by email tonight about two hours ago:

Dear Tindie Community,

My name is Gongyu Su, and I am writing on behalf of the new Tindie ownership team.

First, we sincerely apologize for the recent downtime and the disruption it caused. We understand that many buyers and community members were left without clear information during the transition, and that this created frustration and concern.

Tindie is now owned by EETree LLC, a Washington State company. Our team took over Tindie because we believe it remains an important platform for makers, hardware creators, engineers, and independent sellers around the world. The recent transition was more complex than expected. Tindie runs on an older technical framework with many connected services, and the migration from the previous operating environment to the new one took longer and caused more disruption than anyone wanted.

We know this was not the experience the Tindie community deserved.

Our immediate focus is to stabilize the platform, resolve payment and order-related issues, and support sellers and buyers through the transition. If you have an order-related concern, please contact Tindie support so the team can review your case directly.

WHAT WE ARE FOCUSED ON

Stabilizing the platform

Restoring reliable access for buyers, sellers, and the community.

Resolving open issues

Working through payment, refund, and order concerns case by case.

Investing for the long term

Renewing attention, support, and improvements for the community.

We also want to be clear about our long-term intention: we did not take over Tindie to let it fade away. We took it over because we believe it deserves renewed attention, investment, and support.

Tindie has always been more than just a marketplace. It is a place where independent creators, makers, and hardware enthusiasts can share useful products, tools, kits, modules, and ideas with the world. We want to preserve that spirit while improving the platform step by step.

Over the coming weeks and months, we will share more about our plans and will listen carefully to feedback from sellers, buyers, and the broader community.

Thank you for your patience and continued support. We know trust must be earned through action, and we are committed to doing that.

Sincerely,

Gongyu Su

On behalf of the Tindie Team

20 comments

[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 34.8 ms ] thread
mdrzn
It's not clear to me WHY it was taken over.. Were there issues with the previous owners?

Also WHO are the new owners? The "About us" page has ZERO info on them. I wouldn't touch the new platform with a 30foot pole, so I guess it's time to find a new alternative marketplace.

Edit: on https://www.linkedin.com/in/gongyu/ it claims that the company name is "EEree LLC", in the email it's magically "EETree LLC"

somemisopaste
The lack of clear communication and transparency around this whole issue has been appaling. I've moved to Lectronz and will wipe out my store on Tindie as soon as they resolve payouts.
pushedx
I can't think of a worse first impression for the new owners of a marketplace that relies on buyer and seller loyalty than taking down the entire platform for weeks without any clear timeline or reasoning.

It also gives the impression that they have no idea how to set up a staging environment or seamlessly migrate to a new backend with a double write approach. Just spells trouble all around.

ramon156
If there were a time to compete, it would be now ;)
MIL-STD
Personally, I trust EETree LLC, a Washington State company, a digital powerhouse to the information super highway foster technological innovation and progress to digital future bridging to the electronic divide.
orsorna
>and the migration from the previous operating environment to the new one took longer and caused more disruption than anyone wanted

I mean, this is unacceptable by any metric. Downtime for a platform like this means lost revenue. If Amazon was down for weeks at a time how do you think that would affect them as a retailer? So at this point I can't imagine what the mystery purchasers are getting, certainly not a steady revenue stream? I can't imagine the user data is that valuable for such a niche market focus. Over the coming weeks and months, I will be delighted to observe more embarrassing fumbles from your nameless owners, and whoever you are because I suspect your given name is false as well.

[deleted]
(comment deleted)
sen
EETree LLC seems to be a shell company owned by EETree Info & Tech Limited in China (https://www.eetree.cn).

I'm not sure what that means as far as payment processing etc, apparently sellers were all cut off with money owing and still have no explanation.

Also the AI-generated blog post on the Tindie site (under the name/account of assumedly-previous staff?), and the post above that says absolutely nothing about what's actually going on...

It looks from the outside like a Chinese tech blog just randomly bought Tindie, broke the site while moving it to their own servers, and now are trying to figure out how to run it?

keremimo
> Our team took over Tindie because we believe it remains an important platform for makers, hardware creators, engineers, and independent sellers around the world.

How does this even explain why they "TOOK OVER" Tindie?

pjc50
Nobody seems to be using the word "bankrupt", but I'm getting the impression that's what happened here? Sudden un-announced sale?
adampunk
This is the kind of statement that gets made when everything is awesome.
l-one-lone
Disclaimer: I’m the founder of Lectronz, a hardware marketplace based in the EU.

This email leaves a lot of questions unanswered, especially regarding the long-term stewardship of the maker community. While I wish the new team at EETree LLC luck in modernizing the stack, "stabilizing the platform" after a two-week blackout is a tough starting point for earning back seller trust.

For makers who are concerned about the current uncertainty or the move to a new ownership structure, I want to reiterate that there are independent alternatives. We built Lectronz specifically to provide a modern, stable home for the OSHW community with a few specific goals in mind:

Data Sovereignty: We have a built-in Tindie importer. You can use it to rescue your product data, photos, and stock levels right now so you aren't "locked in" while waiting for the new team to stabilize their infrastructure.

Transparent Payouts: We use Stripe for daily payouts. There are no "disbursement windows" or mystery ownership of your funds.

Regulatory Focus: Being based in the EU, we’ve already solved IOSS/VAT. This allows sellers (inside and outside the EU) to keep shipping without their customers getting hit by surprise fees.

Our focus is on being a lean, developer-led platform. We aren't backed by large parent corporations or shell companies—just a dedicated team and a Discord/GitHub where you can talk to us directly.

If anyone needs help backing up their Tindie store data or has questions about EU shipping compliance, I'm happy to dive into the technical details here.