BrickAA

Do you sell your MOCs?

Recommended Posts

Hello everybody.
I have a profile on Rebrickable with over 70 MOCs. Mostly cars. Of course the ones that I added when I just joined Rebrickable are pretty simple, the latest ones are more advanced, but this is not important I believe. The thing is that only few of them are for sale, all other are for free. 
And sometimes I ask myself why I upload them for free. I know that some people sell every single MOC that they have. Please don't get me wrong I don't think it's bad I'm just thinking about different approaches. 
In most cases when I build a MOC, and I suppose that people would like it I think that maybe I should charge for it. But then I think that only few of people would be ready to pay but I wanna share it too much, that I think no, won't sell it. I wanna anybody to see the design in all the details if they wish. Sometimes I just think, that a MOC is just too small to charge money for that. And really often I build something to sell. Not really succeed on this field, btw. 
What do you think about this? Do you sell your MOCs? 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

No, I never sell MOCs. I don’t even sell parts. This is due to two main reasons. At first, my MOCs tend to be rather large and therefore, too costly for most buyers. But foremost, I have parts that LEGO made a long time ago and are hard to come by nowadays.

Yes, I am an old guy, and I had many years to collect all those parts. And now I have the pleasure of it.

My advice: don’t sell your parts if you are a typical builder. There will be a moment you will regret it.

Unless you are a seller, of course.  

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 

 

On 11/22/2021 at 5:25 PM, Pinnacle said:

No, I never sell MOCs. I don’t even sell parts. This is due to two main reasons. At first, my MOCs tend to be rather large and therefore, too costly for most buyers. But foremost, I have parts that LEGO made a long time ago and are hard to come by nowadays.

Totally understand. Even small MOCs might appear expensive because of usage rare part. For large ones the problem becomes much more actual just because of amount of pieces.

On 11/22/2021 at 5:25 PM, Pinnacle said:

My advice: don’t sell your parts if you are a typical builder. There will be a moment you will regret it.

Unless you are a seller, of course.  

Good advice! I'm not a seller, so I hope I won't desire to sell my Lego.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I have sold MOC's in the past and very much like yourself all mine were vehicles and cars.

I have mostly sold them on eBay then one particular guy liked what I did so much he commissioned me to build 3 different other models for him. All were in the style of the old 6 stud wide Speed Champions line, models were

1967 Shelby Mustang 'Eleanor' GT500

Dodge Viper GTS-R

Lamborghini Murcielago

To be honest I didnt make that much money with them sourcing all the different parts needed of Bricklink from different sellers each vehicle set me back between £25 - £30 with postage I charged an extra £5 per model for my time as well, so its not something I was going to get rich quick at but I did enjoy doing it.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On 12/12/2021 at 6:58 PM, LegoMFP_David said:

To be honest I didnt make that much money with them sourcing all the different parts needed of Bricklink from different sellers each vehicle set me back between £25 - £30 with postage I charged an extra £5 per model for my time as well, so its not something I was going to get rich quick at but I did enjoy doing it.

Thank you for sharing! 
You sold models with bricks, right? I rather meant selling instructions, but I got your point.
Yeah selling sets could take much more efforts. But it's great that you had fun! In fact you built some Lego sets and had to pay nothing for that :D
I agree, that it not the way to get rich, but of course it always nice to cover you Lego expenses a bit.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi! And now, a completely different answer, a bit long but bear with me!

In 2019 I started designing Brickheadz as an exercise. I wanted to earn experience designing, using the programs, and also making a name for myself in the Instagram LEGO community. I didn't really care if the parts or colors existed, though. I posted a bit above 200 and rarely got requests for instructions. Some of my IG friends DID sell instructions, so it got me thinking. 

Starting in 2020 I started a new account exclusively for Brickheadz, all of them being buildable (as an added challenge) and in case somebody wanted instructions I could sell them. A whole year went by and I didn't really do instructions. In 2021 I decided to sell to earn some cash in the side, and posted instructions for Final Fantasy VII Brickheadz. These BLEW. UP. I got a lot of upvotes on Reddit and lots of sales. I tried to chase the high but it was never the same. I kept doing instructions and posted new series almost every week, but I never got day one sales like with FFVII. I kept posting, I now have 845 MOCs on Rebrickable, and I get sales almost every day. Sometimes a single build, sometimes bundles. Some lucky days I sell SEVERAL bundles. This has really helped me since now the money is for my family. 

Since I spend A LOT of time designing these and doing instructions for them, I don't really like giving away my work for free. To be honest, I see people giving away their instructions (heck, even some people who constantly upload tens and hundreds of FREE instructions) and can't imagine having put so much work behind them and giving it all away. You might call me cheap or greedy for wanting to sell everything, but the price I charge for them is not THAT much, and I rationalize it as giving my customers the XML list so they don't have to order each part individually, and the instructions so they can take out the guesswork behing how to build them. Also, when I have multiple sales of one build or bundle, I do discounts, or when customers buy lots from me I give them freebies.

The most important part would be to do this only if you enjoy it. Don't do it just for the sake of earning money or it will become a chore. 

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I have both sold & free MOC instructions (on Rebrickable).
I wouldn't advise anyone to bother with this for other reasons that enjoyment, because it is pocket money, never expect it to fund your time & money investment, or even come close. At best expect it to pay for some parts.

Do it for fun and just that. It definitely IS fun - until it's not. Especially making proper instructions, very time consuming, while sometimes just 5 people will look at them. As long as it's fun, it's fine.

I once suggested a quick & easy option to sell for charities, on Rebrickable. It's still not available but IMHO it would be nice to have. As long as it's not a real business and just pocket money, it'd better go to charities IMHO.

& for those who want numbers to know what to expect: my best-selling MOC has sold 430x, which I believe is A LOT to expect from Rebrickable. Most of my other MOCs sold from 3x [lol] to 10x. As for the free ones I can't know - no stats (I'd expect them to be more popular though).
Also, when you release instructions, expect your stuff to end up on AliExpress, it just WILL (and will sell more there than you ever will).

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    No registered users viewing this page.