I've never worked with one of these companies, either. But I'm involved with this sort of thing in my day job, and I've been to a few meetings of a local group here called "Inventors Roundtable". In particular, they've had the inventors of the snappbagger and some of the guys involved with turning the tugo cup holder from an idea into a product make presentations. The lady in the snapbagger video is the inventor.
$5000 is going to get you nowhere. I'm guessing you're going to pay that fee to this company and then they're going to be coming back again and again wanting more money. Most of which will go into their pocket.
If you truly have a unique invention (i.e., on that is novel, non-obvious, and useful) you will want patent protection. Mostly I'm involved in software patents, which are expensive and difficult. But even a straightforward mechanical patent is going to cost you $10-20K to get through the process.
You're going to need prototypes. Both these inventions, as well as what we do in my day job, involve several rounds of doing design work, building SW or HW prototypes, trying out ideas, then reworking whatever has issues. That tugo thingie went through several iterations. The first prototype was built from cut up Crocs shoes. Then CAD models and 3D printouts, with the printouts being tested in malls. Finally, after a few iterations, they had one that really worked, and a they made an injection mold and started cranking them out. You will have to work through this process, and it costs money regardless of the details of your product. The ONLY person who's going to put up this money is you.
Once you have a work-able product, you're going to have to market it. That means getting it in front of the right people to buy it for resale. The guys who came up with this piopod micro trash holder (its just big enough to stick in a finger) made some contacts, but then had to scramble to get initial photographs into a once-a-year catalog in order for the right kind of buyers to see it. For a product like this, the "right buyers" are Cabella's and Bass Pro. For the snapbagger, its people who run hardware stores, which means getting it at the national hardware show. I don't know what it costs to exhibit at a show like that, but I know its not $5000. That sort of show may not be appropriate for your product, but some sort of exposure like that, i.e., marketing, is absolutely essential. I'd actually say it may be more important than the inventions itself. Lots of people have lots of great ideas. Getting one into the public eye is a much more difficult task that coming up with the idea.
Then, you have to have something to sell. That means lining up a manufacturer and actually getting the product made. The snapbagger lady spoke about her experience getting them made in China. She tried several US manufactures, but none could do it cheaply enough to be profitable (the cost of the manufactured product from the manufacturer needs to be about 20% of your final selling price for the product to be profitable.) Whether its done in the US, China, or somewhere else, getting this set up is non-trivial. Even in my day job, where we have whole departments to deal with manufacturing, this is a HUGE task. On your own, doing something you've not done before?
Having found a manufacturer, and contracted for an acceptable price, you now have to have some made. Guess who pays for those? You do! Snapbagger lady spoke about her early days of having a garage full of these things. Guess what the unit of purchase is from a Chinese manufacturer? One shipping container. When I last heard from here, she had worked out a deal with Ace Hardware (or, one of the regional warehouses), and they were now being shipped directly to them.
Now, you might think, I can order a bunch, sell them, and get my investment back. Sorry, inventory is always a sunk cost. Whether its a store, a warehouse, a car lot, or a garage full of product, the money invested in the inventory never comes back. You will always have to replenish your inventory. So, whatever investment is needed to avoid "sorry, we're out of stock", is an investment that's going to be stuck in your inventory.
I'd recommend checking out "The Four Hour Work Week" by Tim Ferriss. He has lots of ideas, including names of companies, for getting a small product company off the ground.
The type of investment you're looking for is an "equity investment". Someone is buying into your company in hopes of a share of future profits. You don't get this type of investment on the cheap. This is actually one of the most expensive types of financing. Don't know how much of your own money is going into this deal, but if you're asking for "$900-$5000" my feeling is not much. Even if you're just wanting $5000 and offing a 10% share in your company, you're saying your company is worth $50,000. How do you justify that valuation? Typically that is done by having a proven track record of sales, or by having some protected intellectual property (i.e., a patent, or at least a filed patent application.) If you're at the point where you have nothing but an idea, you can't possibly justify a valuation of $50K. So, that person who kicks in $5000 is going to be looking for a much bigger cut than 10%. Venture capital investors in high-tech startups often take a very large cut, perhaps even a majority, of the company.
$900 to $5000 is credit card money, not investor money.
Be very wary of these invention companies. Hopefully, you understand better what its going to take to turn an idea into a product. Someone who says "for $5000, I'll make your idea real" is jerking your chain. That's only the initial payment. These companies don't make money from the products they sell, or, if they do, the inventor does not (because the company takes such a huge cut, there's nothing left for you.) They make money from all the "services" they're selling you, the inventor.
