Builder Quick Start Guide

You're one of the first builders we've invited to Stringed Collective, and we want your first experience setting up shop to be genuinely easy. This guide walks through what to expect at each step and how to reach us directly if anything trips you up.

There's no such thing as a dumb question here - you're helping us figure out the early days of this together, and we'd rather you ask than get stuck.

A quick note on timing: right now we're focused on testing this process out and working out any rough edges - we won't be formally launching with marketing and promotion for about a month. So there's no rush and no pressure to get everything perfect on the first try. Nothing goes live on the public site until we've reviewed and approved it, so feel free to explore, try things out, and see what works for your shop. Everything here is easy to change later.

Before You Start: A Few Things to Know

None of this is required before you begin - you can start setup anytime and fill things in as you go. This is just a heads-up on what's ahead, not a checklist you need to finish first.

Photos

• A Builder Card Photo - This photo will be the image used to introduce your storefront on our "Builders" page. It will also show up when your storefront is included in search results. You want it to be a polished representation of your brand - it could be a photo of you or your workshop. You want this to be a quality, well-lit shot of you at the bench or your space. This image beats a logo or empty background.
• A logo, if you have one (optional).
• A banner image for the top of your storefront page (optional).
• At least one clear photo per instrument you plan to list.

If none of the specs below mean much to you, that's completely fine - any decent photo works, and our system automatically cleans up and standardizes backgrounds for you. But if you're using a tool to prep your images, these will help you get it right the first time:

• Builder Card Photo - crops to a 4:3 ratio; aim for at least 1200×900px
• Banner - works best as a wide, landscape image, around 1600×400px (roughly 4:1); there's no crop tool for this one, so keep text or logos away from the edges
• Logo - square or wide works best; at least 500px on the short side, and a transparent PNG will blend into the header more cleanly than a white background
• Instrument photos - these are separate from the photos you'll provide for actual product listings. Good lighting and a plain background is always a good plan.

Need some help with these images? That's completely fine - tools like Canva (free) make it easy to crop, resize, and clean up photos without any experience. For writing help - your bio, policies, anything text-heavy - Claude, ChatGPT, and Google Gemini work well when you need a little help. And if you get stuck on any of it, just reach out. We're happy to help.

Your Story

A few sentences about your background and what makes your builds distinctive. This doesn't need to be super polished - buyers respond to authenticity. It's your passion for building that needs to shine.

Your Shop Policies

• Your return/warranty policy.
• Your shipping approach (flat rate, or calculated per order).
• If you take custom orders: your typical build timeline and deposit percentage.

Payment Setup

You'll connect a Stripe account so we can pay you for sales. This takes about 5-10 minutes and asks for basic business/bank details. You can finish this later if you want to get your storefront live first - but you won't be able to receive a real payout until it's done, so we recommend knocking it out early.

Walking Through Setup

Setup is 8 short steps. Only a few are required - the rest you can skip and come back to.

1. Foundation - your shop name, location, and basic legal agreements. Required.
2. Your Story - tell buyers about yourself and your craft.
3. Show Your Craft - upload your Builder Card Photo and any workshop photos or video. Optional, but strongly recommended - this is your storefront's first impression.
4. Your Business - years of experience, categories you build in. Optional.
5. Shop Policies - your returns, warranty, and shipping approach, plus a confirmation checkbox. Required.
6. References - if you have past customers willing to vouch for you, add them here. Optional, and verified references earn you a "Verified Builder" badge.
7. Payments - connect Stripe (see above). Not required to finish setup, but required before you can get paid.
8. Next Steps - a checklist showing what's done and what's left before you can submit your storefront for review.

Your First Listing

Before your storefront can go live, you'll need at least one complete listing - either a ready-made instrument or just check the box that you offer custom builds - both count. If you are adding a stock build, it needs a name, price, at least one photo, and whatever specs (wood, scale length, electronics, etc.) help buyers understand what makes your build worth a closer look. Once that's in place, you can submit your storefront for review.

A note on this one: this is one of the areas where we need your input in order to get this right. We know the product specs section needs some work to make it the best possible experience for buyers. We've taken a first pass at which specs matter most for showcasing the build, but we really want your input. If a field feels like it's missing something important, asking for the wrong thing, or just doesn't make sense for how you build - tell us. This is the section most likely to change as we learn from real builders, and your feedback here matters more than almost anything else in this guide.

Getting Approved

We will personally review every new storefront before it goes live on the public site - checking your profile, photos, and listing to make sure everything looks right. This isn't a gatekeeping step; it's just a quick sanity check to make sure everything displays properly before it's public. Most storefronts sail through with no issues. We'll be in touch as soon as it's approved.

Just a heads up, even after we review and approve your storefront, we don't plan to promote the site until we have enough builders and products to make it interesting.

How You Can Help Us

You're one of our very first builders, and that means your experience matters more than you might think. As you go through setup and list your first instruments, keep an eye out for anything that's confusing, missing, or just feels off - and jot it down as you go.

A running note in a Google Doc, a text, an email, whatever's easiest - share it with us whenever you have a few minutes, even if it's just a quick list. We'd genuinely rather hear about the rough edges now, while it's just a handful of us figuring this out together, than after we've opened the doors more widely.

Have a question this guide didn't cover - payments, shipping, custom builds, and the like? Check the Builder FAQ for quick answers.

Need Help? We're Right Here.

Seriously - reach out any time, however's easiest for you:

We'd rather answer five small questions than have you stuck on something that should've been simple. Welcome aboard.