Pretailing means the selling of a small number of products online to test whether there might be demand for a larger number to be made. It allows a designer to recoup production costs for a limited manufacturing run of his product and to go with that success to a seek funding to pay for a larger number.
Pretailing platforms now exist, such as Quirky where you might find items such as a bed desk or a device to remove egg yolks from egg whites. Some might also regard crowdfunding sites such as...