I have a great idea for a product. It's an add-on to an existing product. I believe there's a market for it. Similar add-on products exist, but nothing exactly like this one. I think it might make money.

However, it's a physical product that would need prototyping and fabrication, using techniques that I'm not familiar with. Most likely some kind of plastic injection molding. The product is so simple that it's essentially a single molded piece of plastic, which, in large quantities would cost pennies per unit to manufacture, but could be sold for as much as 20-30 dollars per unit, retail.

And I would have no idea how to get into the retail channels for this product's market, no idea how to market it, nothing.

Basically, what I've got is an IDEA. That's all I've got. I don't even know if the idea is patentable, because it's simply a variant on existing ideas. I can choose to keep this idea to myself and try to manufacture and market it on my own, or I could choose to give or sell the idea to someone else, someone established in the marketplace who already has the manufacturing back-end, and attempt to get something out of it that way.

I'm essentially in the same boat that you are, and have all the same questions.