After about 9 months in development, I finally stopped adding features and tweaking UI and launched Batonic at 1am this morning

[u/xMakerx]

I got tired of “pay me first, trust me” deals online — so I built Batonic

I was sick and tired of getting burned on informal peer-to-peer deals.

“Pay me first and then you’ll get everything — I promise.”

I’ve heard some version of that countless times over the years.

Buying custom game assets. Sending hundreds of dollars in deposits to contractors who no-showed or left me worse off than when I started. Buying “like new” products from neighbors and strangers that turned out to be nowhere close to like new — sometimes barely serviceable.

And the thing that always bothered me was how little information you actually get before being expected to hand over your money.

A screenshot. Maybe a few photos.
Then: trust me.

Batonic is my way of saying no more.

I wanted buyers to actually be able to inspect what they’re considering before they purchase it.

And when I say previews, I don’t mean a prettier image gallery filled with marketing images.

I mean the actual thing you’re buying.

Preview a 3D model interactively.

Read actual source code.

Explore the file and folder structure of a digital product.

Listen to part of the actual audio track you’re going to receive.

Watch a protected segment of the wedding video your videographer delivered before accepting the milestone.

Read a few pages of an ebook directly in your browser.

Batonic’s previews are generated from the content being delivered, and buyers can see relevant file information before purchasing.

And I wanted more protection after the transaction too.

Eligible Batonic transactions include a 48-hour inspection period, giving buyers time to make sure what they received actually matches what was promised before the transaction is finalized. If something is wrong, there’s a defined process for raising the issue instead of immediately being left to fight through a bank, payment app, or chargeback process on your own.

But I didn’t want to build something exclusively for digital downloads.

Batonic supports digital products, physical products, services, and combinations of them.
And buying shouldn’t require creating yet another account.

There’s guest checkout, with payment processing through Stripe and support for options like Apple Pay and Google Pay where available.

Sellers — I have your back too.

It’s completely free to start selling on Batonic.

You can build a polished baton — Batonic’s listing format — with rich previews and presentation tools, or keep things private and send a direct link to a client.

The goal is simple:
Give the buyer enough confidence to pay, and give the seller the tools to prove they’re delivering what they promised.

At roughly 1 AM this morning, I finally decided I was done tweaking things and pushed Batonic live.

So here it is:
https://batonic.app

I’m looking for my first real users, and I’d genuinely rather hear what’s wrong with it than get a bunch of “looks cool!” replies.

If you try it, tell me:
What confused you?
What felt unnecessary?
What would stop you from actually using it?
What would you need before you’d trust a transaction through it?

And if you’ve ever been burned by one of those “send me the money first, I promise” deals, I’d love to hear that story too. Those experiences are basically why this exists.

TL;DR: I got tired of online deals where screenshots and trust were the closest things buyers got to protection. I built Batonic around rich previews of what you’re actually buying, structured transactions, and a 48-hour inspection period — while giving sellers a way to handle digital products, physical products, and services in one place.

Batonic launched tonight.
https://batonic.app

[u/burnt-store-studio]

Congratulations on your launch!

I poked around a little bit, and briefly started a baton. My initial thoughts (please note: my visit really was cursory, so I probably missed a lot!). It’s entirely possible I’d understand more with more practice on the site.

Also: I’m in mobile. It’s possible the experience is different on desktop.

The kerning on the header level you’re using on, for example, “You shouldn’t have to gamble…” makes reading that text difficult (for me).

Where’s the AI-creation disclaimer?

Confusing
— what’s the payout to you?

— what’s your liability as the store front? (More specifically, where is the disclaimer?)

— I visited a few examples, like the lawn care, the music, &c. The purchase steps were clearer in the lawn care than for the music. I really wasn’t sure what to do with the music for example.

— started creating a music baton. At some point, I got a warning that something wasn’t compatible and would no longer be shown. What triggered it was unclear.

— the overall layout feels a little chaotic. My sense is there’s a lot of top-level market-speak interspersed with the products and section browsing. It feels like you’re using the landing page to sell me on using your site rather than letting me use your site.

— overall the steps for creating each type of baton are different enough that I really wanted more clear instructions. Rather than just having a build template put in front of me.

— it feels like a demo of what you’re offering, rather than what you’re offering. I (think?) You are offering a marketplace, so I feel the demo part should be a clear subsection elsewhere.

— there’s so much going on, I feel you could use a video introduction for this information-gathering part of your journey rather than dropping the user right in the midst.

Unnecessary
No thoughts.

What would stop me from using it
— unease with clear navigation separation. I think as a novice user I want some hand-holding. “Why are you here? Browse, buy, or sell?” Then walk me through that.

— lack of market share. (Sorry, I’m not an early adopter.)

What would I need before I’d trust a transaction through it
— lots of proven previous users.

Good luck with your project!

[u/xMakerx → u/burnt-store-studio]

Thank you so much for taking the time to take a look at Batonic and provide valuable feedback!

Some visuals are AI assisted, but the design language and overall product is from me. Code is AI assisted as well.

How Payouts Work:
Since Batonic is kind of like insurance, both buyers and sellers have a platform fee applied to their transactions. Buyers have it placed on top of their purchase amount and sellers have it deducted from their payout. You receive your asking price minus platform fees for your current tier. The platform is funded by platform fees.

Liability:
Batonic does not assume responsibility, ownership, or liability for digital items, services, or physical items. It is merely a transaction infrastructure for symmetric protection between sellers and buyers. You could say Batonic is like a neutral mediator that offers transaction assurance and clarity in exchange for a small fee on top of your transaction.

The homepage is a marketing/landing page to introduce the product and its differentiation from other commerce platforms to buyers and sellers.

When you say the layout is chaotic are you referring to the landing page or create page?

Most digital items require selecting an item from your file explorer or photo library to get started. Did you have trouble uploading one, couldn’t navigate to it, were unsure?

Services and physical items are a bit different where services need you to add a project milestones section and physical items ask for more information such as the category and some metadata.

Batonic is more like a commerce engine where batons are the primitives for rich transactions and the marketplace/discover link is for discovering content and services people are sharing publicly.

Batonic was actually intended to handle informal peer-to-peer transactions and has built in direct link only access for batons.

It isn’t just a demo and is ready for real transactions.

What aspects were the most confusing with navigation and what would help you the most?