Advice on Publishing Premium MOCs?

[amorti]

Hi all,

I'm a novice Rebrickable author. So far I just have this MOC published (with permission of  @piterx) :

https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-83960/A_morti/fast-street-bike-self-balancing-rc-motorcycle/#details

I made it a Premium MOC priced at 5€.

• It's a pretty unique MOC being one of only two self-balancing motorcycles I could find on Rebrickable, and being the only one using a Buggy motor and having rear suspension.
• It doesn't have a huge piece count, but a lot of work went into it from Piterx and from myself so, in my inexperienced opinion, it's worth a fiver.

It was published 06/08/2021, since then it's had ~700 views, 51 likes, 15 followers, and "only" 3 sales.

Questions:

• are those stats normal/good?
• is the presentation good?
• is the price right/fair?
• as a Rebrickable user, what would prevent you from wanting to build/buy this MOC?

Appreciate any tips, particularly from the more experienced MOCers on here 

Edited August 18, 2021 by amorti

[msk6003]

I have same curiosity. I made 1:10 large size AE86 RC driftable

model and selling in rebrickable for 15$. It got 98 likes and 4,140 view and almost 1,000 view in first day but only 3 sold. I know 44777 pure plastic wheel is very rare but as far as I know this is only AE86 in 1:10 scale and can drifting even that size.

[amorti]

1 minute ago, msk6003 said:

...wheel is very rare...

There's almost nothing rare in mine.

I did use some rare tyres, but it states in the description that it works just as well with the same size scrambler tyres, I just like the look better.

[keymaker]

I am not such an experienced builder, but I do have some experience with selling MOCs on rebrickable (for example my UAZ 3151). I would say that advertising is very important. I mean you should consider buying Desinger plan on rebrickable. Also apart from advertising your MOC here, I would recommend to show it on FB lego technic groups, own yt channel ofc, instagram etc.

 

P.S. I am pretty sure I saw you on nicjasno streams, where you are often present viewer

Edited August 18, 2021 by keymaker

[amorti]

13 minutes ago, keymaker said:

I am not such an experienced builder, but I do have some experience with selling MOCs on rebrickable (for example my UAZ 3151). I would say that advertising is very important. I mean you should consider buying Desinger plan on rebrickable. Also apart from advertising your MOC here, I would recommend to show it on FB lego technic groups, own yt channel ofc, instagram etc.

 

 P.S. I am pretty sure I saw you on nicjasno streams, where you are often present viewer

I don't have instagram. I do have a YT channel, but it doesn't have much presence. Piterx's has a bit more, and he's linked the instructions from his video of the bike. I've posted it on a couple of FB groups, maybe I should join some more just to spam them :D

IDK about the Designer Plan. I'd probably want it to pay for itself which (at the moment) seems unlikely. Maybe more likely if/when I upload some more bikes on there.

Yep, I am often on LPE Power's streams, however not so much since it went to Twitch as the notifications don't seem to work for me, not to mention been busy with this MOC and moving house. He's a top builder and I learn a lot from him.

[ScT]

I don't want to overly criticising, but the images you have on rebrickable are the same angle of the bike in every photo, with varying colours.
Perhaps some different angles, or an "action" shot would help a little?

[amorti]

1 minute ago, ScT said:

I don't want to overly criticising, but the images you have on rebrickable are the same angle of the bike in every photo, with varying colours.
Perhaps some different angles, or an "action" shot would help a little?

It's not overly criticising, it's a constructive feedback, and I thank you for it :)

I mostly wanted the pictures to illustrate that you can do it in a lot of colours, but you are right they could be considered boring. Apart from that my laptop is old and slow, it won't take much effort for me to give some different angles.

Are people not more likely to click the 3x videos for action shots, though? Or have I lost readers with the identical pics before they even get that far?

[ScT]

6 minutes ago, amorti said:

It's not overly criticising, it's a constructive feedback, and I thank you for it :)

I mostly wanted the pictures to illustrate that you can do it in a lot of colours, but you are right they could be considered boring. Apart from that my laptop is old and slow, it won't take much effort for me to give some different angles.

Are people not more likely to click the 3x videos for action shots, though? Or have I lost readers with the identical pics before they even get that far?

Perhaps combine the colour pictures into showing multiple models side-by-side in one image with those different colours?

As for the videos - for me, the page opened on the "comments" section, so i didn't initially see the videos. (Had to swap to Details tab).Edit: Just saw you linked to comments directly, which explains it :)
I can't say if you'd lose people by then - as i routinely click everything on model pages.

Edited August 18, 2021 by ScT

[astyanax]

6 minutes ago, amorti said:

IDK about the Designer Plan

I upgraded to Designer Plan 2 weeks ago. I have 1 premium MOC published this spring, a large B model. According to the "MOC analytics" feature, the promoted views average 3 per day (min 1, max 8), on top of 25 non-promoted views. No new sales since upgrading.

But a bit early to draw firm conclusions, of course :)

[GerritvdG]

It think it is a very nice model and nice that instructions have  been published, however, for most people on RB a buggy motor , servo and the buwizz battery are very special pieces. 
 

Furthermore the description could be improved. The reference to the mouldking build could puzzle some users. 
 

My advice would be to look at the presentation of experienced designers on RB like @nico71 and many others on this forum. Lastly, the price is fair for this unique model.

Edited August 18, 2021 by GerritvdG
Typo

[amorti]

13 minutes ago, ScT said:

Perhaps combine the colour pictures into showing multiple models side-by-side in one image with those different colours?

As for the videos - for me, the page opened on the "comments" section, so i didn't initially see the videos. (Had to swap to Details tab).Edit: Just saw you linked to comments directly, which explains it :)
I can't say if you'd lose people by then - as i routinely click everything on model pages.

Good point, I have edited the top post here.

I like the idea of combining them. Would shrink a bunch of basically identical pics, down to one. My laptop is gonna beg for mercy, but I'll do it :)

13 minutes ago, astyanax said:

I upgraded to Designer Plan 2 weeks ago. I have 1 premium MOC published this spring, a large B model. According to the "MOC analytics" feature, the promoted views average 3 per day (min 1, max 8), on top of 25 non-promoted views. No new sales since upgrading.

But a bit early to draw firm conclusions, of course :)

Seems like a poor value then...

7 minutes ago, GerritvdG said:

It think it is a very nice model and nice that instructions had been published, however, for most people on RB a buggy motor , servo and the buwizz battery are very special pieces. 
 

 Furthermore the description could be improved. The reference to the mouldking build could puzzle some users. 
  

 My advice would be to look at the presentation of experienced designers on RB like @nico71 and many others on this forum. Lastly, the price is fair for this unique model.

Thanks :)

You're right that those pieces aren't cheap. You can easily be at 250€ if using Lego/original Buwizz. I guess that's why the reference to Chinese parts. If you use a Chinese battery, servo, and buggy motor, the electrical parts become A LOT cheaper - much more accessible to most people. Maybe I should change that to be clearer that you can use cheap parts, but will RB accept that?
 

Done:

Quote

Update 18/08/2021: If anyone is interested in this model but doesn't have an original Buwizz, Lego Servo and Lego Buggy motor, please note you can also build this using alternative brand batteries, servos, and buggy motors. aFrInaTi0n's User Photos show a mod to use an alternative battery, with just a few basic parts.
 

 

Edited August 18, 2021 by amorti

[Mechbuilds]

Only way to achieve high sales on rebrickable is either to make the most amazing moc ever that surpasses everything made in there or lower the price to less than 10€ and accumulate more sales. 
People want things cheap. Pretty much 5€ is a price that sells more. over 10€ and the sales slow down.. over 15€ and you get occasional 1-2 sales per year. 

[astyanax]

1 minute ago, amorti said:

Seems like a poor value then...

Depend how much one wants to earn, your expectations. I expect Lego to remain a hobby, i.e., something which costs money (but brings rewards in other ways). My only expectation is that yearly sales can recoup the cost of the Designer Plan. If after a year this expectation is not met, I may downgrade the plan. Without RB I would've sold zero anyway.

[howitzer]

I'd put several photos of the physical build (in different angles etc.) first, and the colour variations last.

The price is probably fair, though I think I could build it just from the photos shown, with no need to actually buy the instructions. The most important thing preventing me from buying is, however, the lack of Buggy motor, PF servo and the Buwizz unit (along with few other parts), so it's not the model's presentation or design that is the problem for me, but the parts necessary to make it.

[amorti]

30 minutes ago, astyanax said:

 Depend how much one wants to earn, your expectations. I expect Lego to remain a hobby, i.e., something which costs money (but brings rewards in other ways). My only expectation is that yearly sales can recoup the cost of the Designer Plan. If after a year this expectation is not met, I may downgrade the plan. Without RB I would've sold zero anyway.

I would want it to pay for itself. Otherwise it feels like one of those diet shake schemes where you have to buy all the stock to get started, but no one's buying from you :D

31 minutes ago, Mechbuilds said:

Only way to achieve high sales on rebrickable is either to make the most amazing moc ever that surpasses everything made in there or lower the price to less than 10€ and accumulate more sales. 
 People want things cheap. Pretty much 5€ is a price that sells more. over 10€ and the sales slow down.. over 15€ and you get occasional 1-2 sales per year. 

Humbly, this model does blow away the competition, within the admittedly very small field of remote control Lego motorcycles.

28 minutes ago, howitzer said:

I think I could build it just from the photos shown

You'll find the steering neck a challenge, but it is probably possible.

It's another reason I don't want to show too many angles 

Edited August 18, 2021 by amorti

[astyanax]

4 minutes ago, amorti said:

I would want it to pay for itself.

With the cost of living here in Switzerland, it was never realistic to expect MOC sales would cover the time spent on making instructions. Unless maybe I had the talent, experience, and following of Nico71 or LoxLego, but alas that's not me. But even for them it must've been a long long road to reach break-even (assuming that they did -- I have no clue).

[Tcm0]

Here is my opinion. It might be very harsh but that's because I'm trying to help you. The instruction wouldn't interest me anyways because I'm not into bikes. I also never paid for instructions on rebrickable so far and I'm not sure if that will change because I think that it should be seen more as a hobby - not as a way to earn money. That's why I publish my instructions for free.

First of all, the build seems very simple. You can probably copy the build from the images and I don't think that the build itself is worth 5€. Even if it can't be copied from the image, I think that I could build something similar without too much work in a day max (yeah you've got some crazy angles but are they worth 5€?). There are other instructions on the page with much more value for the price in my opinion.
That aspect gets even worse because many people might find it "ugly". People tend to dislike obvious electronics and the hub in the middle doesn't look very good. I can imagine that there is no other way to mount it if the bike should still work, but it looks weird.

And now to the last point: you use many special/expensive parts that not many people have and the model relies on them. It might be better to make a build that uses Powered Up hardware because that's easier to get.

Edited August 18, 2021 by Tcm0

[amorti]

36 minutes ago, Tcm0 said:

I'm not into bikes. I also never paid for instructions on rebrickable so far and I'm not sure if that will change because I think that it should be seen more as a hobby - not as a way to earn money

I can live with the fact that some guys aren't interested in bikes, and some guys just won't spend money on instructions, and that's of course your prerogative. Clearly, you're not my target audience, and maybe I need to be more aware that my target audience is quite limited.
BTW, I'm not trying to get rich from this, I just want to let the hobby pay its way a little.
You talk like 5€ is a lot of money - is it? Honest question, I am an adult with a decent job so my value on money may be out of touch if a large part of RB users are kids or from countries with lower incomes.

36 minutes ago, Tcm0 said:

"ugly". People tend to dislike obvious electronics

I completely get that you wouldn't want to see a battery or motor poking out on a 1:8 scale model of a real car, but IMHO, you just have to get over it on this build.
It's not possible to put bodywork over the battery, because the battery is already 8 studs wide and needs to slide nearly 2 studs in both directions. At that point, the bike becomes very very wide if you put bodywork outside it.

36 minutes ago, Tcm0 said:

many special/expensive parts that not many people have

It does rely on the electric parts which aren't cheap (but can be substituted with Chinese parts for a lot less money), but as far as I can tell, nothing else on there is rare except the (not compulsory) tyres?
 

36 minutes ago, Tcm0 said:

better to make a build that uses Powered Up hardware

9v is plenty for these models, so it's definitely an option I could look into using the two-port battery box (which I don't have).
The one problem I see with P-up, is that the connectors stick out to the side, making the cables vulnerable. Sure it could be mitigated, but there would be more risk of damage than with the model as presented.
However, this type of model is never going to be able to carry the more common 6x AA battery boxes.

Looking at the PU components, I think it would be really tough to build. The XL motors are 9 studs long, which is a lot. Even the extra 1 stud of an L motor being an even 8 studs long, makes it pretty annoying to mount across the frame of a bike, as it will tip the balance to one side.

Edited August 18, 2021 by amorti

[Gumalca]

5€ for a 221 part model, that's bad value for money. I've spent more than 100€ on instructions on rebrickable, but never have I paid more than 1 cent per part. Mostly around 0,6 cent per part. But also I've never bought instructions for a moc with less than 300 parts, because such small mocs I can mostly reverse engineer. And furthermore I've never spent more than 10€ for a single moc, because 10€ is a lot of money, no matter how many parts the moc has.

Popular designers sell more on rebrickable. Have you considered to release some free mocs first, to get something like a fan base? There are so many bad premium mocs on rebrickable that don't hold together well, so people first must come to trust your quality before they spend money. With just a single moc people will not get to know you there.

Presentation is important also, for example you have no real photo in your photo gallery. There are too many digital designed only mocs there that have big flaws, so by showing that you actually build your model yourself you already earn a lot of trust in your quality.

The less view angles you show, the less interesting your moc becomes. And since somebody has already uploaded fan photos for your moc, you can't restrict it anyway.

I also agree about the special parts issue, I wouldn't have the necessary motors to build this. Many of the most popular premium mocs on rebrickable are alternate models for a good reason.

Advertising is important, but also hard. For example r/Lego on Reddit is putting restrictions against self promotion. I'm following the technic alternate group on Facebook, but it actually feels like spam, no interesting discussion there, just self promotion to make a few bucks.

I think it is good that you speak up here and tell how many sales you have, because as long as this information is not public there, a lot of people have illusions about how much money most mocs make there.

Edited August 18, 2021 by Gumalca

[Void_S]

Basing on my obesravations and my experience in selling the MOCs on RB, I noticed serveral moments:

1. The best-selling models are very demanded: usually they are good alternative builds or nice modifications/addons for the most popular sets.
   As a proove of this point, I have to say that my quite old model of semitrailer attachement for Mack Anthem still appears 1-2 times a month even since years.
2. Advertesiment is also required - depenign on the purpose of the model (nice-looking Creator set, or fantastically-enigneered Technic set) you should highligt these "kiling features" as best as you can (amazing photos are bets for "shelve sets", videos for offroad/on road action models).
3. Be original in making really unique models, or follow the trends but being the best among them.

Edited August 18, 2021 by Void_S

[amorti]

16 minutes ago, Gumalca said:

don't hold together well

 Presentation is important also, for example you have no real photo in your photo gallery. There are too many digital designed only mocs there that have big flaws

It's a good point. I know very well that this one is incredibly stable, but of course no one else does.
I only have a potato camera, but I'll put a couple of real photos in the gallery.

By part count I have to agree, it's expensive.
Humbly, I'd be impressed if anyone can reverse engineer what's going on around the steering neck to be just as sturdy, but yes I guess with patience it's possible.
I'll try dropping it to 3€, see if I get more bites.

 

Thanks for the feedback :)

Now with real (potato) photos, and price drop to 3€.
edit: oops, I included the 8L axle with stop which I snipped down to 6.5L on the front axle. It was damaged anyway, and only done to make it a little neater.

Edited August 18, 2021 by amorti

[LvdH]

Rebrickable is a massive site. You really need to build something groundbreaking for it to be a big success. I’m not saying your build is lame, I actually quite like it. It’s definitely something unique. But it’s in all honesty not as impressive as Bruno’s McLaren P1 or TLego’s Lamborghini Centenario, or Madoca’s MOCs for example. 

2 hours ago, amorti said:

Questions:

• are those stats normal/good?
• is the presentation good?
• is the price right/fair?
• as a Rebrickable user, what would prevent you from wanting to build/buy this MOC?

1. They’re quite normal as far as I am concerned. You can probably find some more motorcycles on Rebrickable and look at how many views it has gotten. Of course it says nothing about sales, but it can give you an idea of what reach they gain. 
2. In my opinion, it’s decent. The description is definitely good, but the video not so much. Mostly because of the portrait filming. 
3. I haven’t built it or seen the instructions (except the two sample pages), but it’s around what I would expect to pay for a motorcycle.
4. Quite simply, motorcycles don’t excite me. I’ve never built one or even own any of the official sets. The concept of your MOC is great though.

[JaBaCaDaBra]

2 hours ago, amorti said:

priced at 5€

Really 5?

I just bought Akiyuki's 5 Tilted rings instruction for 8,95

[amorti]

5 minutes ago, JaBaCaDaBra said:

Really 5?

 

32 minutes ago, amorti said:

price drop to 3€.

:)

[ScT]

@amorti I'm really liking the changes to the photos and the description, very nice, even with the "potato" camera, the build pictures look great anyway!

The new rendering with multiple colours was well executed too.

Not sure the price drop was needed - but then again i'm in Norway, and your instructions cost as much as some candy bars here, so...