Question 1

What does a customer see when they scan the QR?

Accepted Answer

The phone camera opens the care page directly — no app, no sign-up. They see your business name at the top, your contact email, the business-approved photos of their piece, the specs and materials, your written care instructions, a download link to the same QR, and the recommended maintenance cadence for the category. From there they can email you, save the page, or hand it to the next owner when the piece changes hands.

Question 2

What happens to the record when the piece changes hands?

Accepted Answer

The QR stays live. When the new owner scans the same code they land on the same care page — same specs, same written instructions, same photos the original buyer saw. Behind the page, the maker swaps in the new owner’s contact so future care requests and questions route there, and the maker’s record itself stays owned by the maker. Nothing on the piece has to be reprinted, so a resale, a gift, or an inheritance just works: the relationship carries over without you lifting a finger.

Question 3

Can a customer send a service request with photos?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The care-request button on the page accepts up to 3 photos per request alongside text fields (name, email, optional phone, optional topic, message). Photos are uploaded through `/api/care-requests` (R2-backed, 20 MB max per file, JPEG/PNG/WebP) and stored on the `CareRequest` row as `photoUrls`. The maker sees them on the care-request detail page; the buyer-side notification to your bench contact email threads the photos in alongside the message.

Question 4

How does the Founders Discount work?

Accepted Answer

During the first 90 days of /pricing going live, every catalog tier (Solo / Growing / Professional) ships at a 30%-off rate. Sign up inside that window and the discounted rate is locked in for the lifetime of your subscription — every Stripe renewal keeps the discount while your subscription stays continuously active. After the window closes, new signups pay the standard posted rate. The exact feature-row numbers and dollar amounts live on the pricing page.

Question 5

How do the three plans (Solo / Growing / Professional) differ?

Accepted Answer

Solo runs up to 10 published care pages, one category template, and one profile — built for one maker with one bench. Growing extends that to up to 50 published care pages and adds switchable category templates as your work broadens. Professional unlocks unlimited published care pages, all sixteen category templates, and bulk QR export for the whole bench. The Founders Discount is a 30%-off rate applied to any of those tiers — it is not a separate plan. The exact feature-row numbers and dollar amounts live on the pricing page.

Question 6

Which plan works for a single maker with a small catalog?

Accepted Answer

Solo. It runs up to 10 published care pages, one category template, and one profile — built for one maker with one bench and a focused catalog. Upgrade only when a feature you have not paid for is the bottleneck — most commonly the 11th page or the second template. Upgrade when the second template is the bottleneck, not before.

Question 7

Who owns my records and my customer data?

Accepted Answer

Your business records — your profile, your care pages, your service logs, your photos — are yours; you take it with you when you go. The participating business controls its customer relationship and is the data controller for any customer-submitted information; Makerstead processes and stores that information on the business's behalf. We do not resell, sublicense, or train models on any of it; sponsor placements are off the roadmap.

Question 8

What happens to my pages if I cancel?

Accepted Answer

There is a 90-day grace period after cancellation. During that window every published care page stays live, QR scans keep resolving, and you can still export everything in standard formats (CSV, JSON, PDF) — so you can move the relationship to your own infrastructure, hand the bench to a successor, or simply walk away with a complete archive. After 90 days the pages come down and the QRs stop resolving; nothing of yours is held past the courtesy window.

Question 9

Where does my data live if Makerstead shuts down?

Accepted Answer

The same rule from the Privacy Policy holds: your business owns the records, Makerstead is the processor. A shutdown means a written notice — minimum 90 days — and free CSV / JSON / PDF export available throughout the wind-down. The same 90-day published-page window applies, so customers can save their care pages before the QRs stop resolving. Your data leaves with you; the care page is held up only as long as the wind-down window allows.

Question 10

Which kinds of work is Makerstead built for?

Accepted Answer

Sixteen categories today — eight maker kinds (furniture & wood, metalwork, ceramics, jewelry, leather, glasswork, textiles, carving & turning) and eight trade kinds (HVAC, plumbing, electrical, handyman, welding, auto/moto/boat, RV, landscaping). The care-page builder, the spec grid, and the recommended maintenance cadence change with the category you pick — no furniture-shaped box for HVAC work. Every published record ships with a print-ready 2"×2" QR structured to fit standard label stock, tucked in the paperwork envelope or affixed to a hidden face of the piece.

Question 11

Can customers be added without an email?

Accepted Answer

Two paths, two answers. From the buyer side, yes — each piece has its own `/products/[slug]/accept-transfer` page where the new owner types in their name and email to update `currentOwnerName` and `currentOwnerContactId` on the Product without needing to sign up. From the maker’s inbound care-request inbox, email is required: that form collects a working contact because Makerstead needs to route the request back to you, so `CareRequest.email` is non-optional there.

Question 12

How do maintenance reminders fire and what do they cost?

Accepted Answer

Cadence math lives in one place — `src/lib/business/maintenance-cadence.ts` — so the cron and the UI cannot drift: monthly = 30 days, quarterly = 90 days, biannual = 180 days, annual = 365 days. The first reminder anchors on `publishedAt`; subsequent reminders anchor on `lastRemindedAt` and slide forward by exactly one cadence. The daily cron (`jobs/maintenance-reminders.ts`) sweeps pieces where `nextMaintenanceDueAt` is past, so each fire lands on its anniversary day. Scheduled maintenance reminders are not on by default in this release. When they are on, the cost to the maker is $0 — the receipt is a buyer-side ping that the next check-up is due.

Question 13

What is a Makerstead QR record?

Accepted Answer

A 2"×2" QR stamp on the paperwork envelope (or tucked onto a hidden face of the piece) that opens a public, maker-owned care page on the owner's phone — no app, no signup. Behind the QR sits the care page the maker wrote: business name, contact, approved photos, specs and materials, written care instructions, a maintenance cadence, and a button to email the bench. The buyer scans once and saves the page; the maker owns the record and the customer relationship, end to end.

Question 14

What happens if a customer loses the QR code?

Accepted Answer

Three recovery paths, no reprint needed. First, the maker can re-print the same QR from the bench dashboard at any time — it points to the same record, so reprints never go stale. Second, the buyer who lost the code can recover the same record from any phone by visiting `/products/[slug]/accept-transfer` and entering the piece slug plus their contact — the page they see is identical to what the QR would have shown. Third, the live care page itself includes a download link to the same QR, so any owner can save it again in seconds. Nothing on the piece has to be re-stamped.

A care record for every product, project, installation, equipment, and service.

Three steps, one record that outlasts the sale.

Two audiences, one quiet channel.

A template for the work you actually do.

What your bench looks like once you’re set up.

Everything your customer needs, in one place.

What a customer lands on after they scan.

Three live Makerstead care pages you can scan right now.

Try a sample maker record — six industries, end-to-end.

30% off, locked in for the lifetime of your subscription.

Your records. Your customer data. Makerstead hosts it; you own it.

Sign up, build your page, publish it. Done.

Open your bench in a few minutes.

Questions? We wrote them down.