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| | | Author: | Cdg31  | | Posted: | Jun 17, 2023 09:39 | | Subject: | Selling mocs on ebay | | Viewed: | 195 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| Wondering what the rules are for selling the physical build of someone else’s
moc?
Without giving instructions. Maybe give directions to the designer link?
Not sure how this works. Just curious. Thanks for any help
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| | | | | Author: | SylvainLS | | Posted: | Jun 17, 2023 10:14 | | Subject: | Re: Selling mocs on ebay | | Viewed: | 52 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| In Selling, Cdg31 writes:
| | Wondering what the rules are for selling the physical build of someone else’s
moc?
Without giving instructions. Maybe give directions to the designer link?
Not sure how this works. Just curious. Thanks for any help
|
(Disclaimer: IANAL, not representing BrickLink or LEGO, not a plumber, maybe
a cat.)
You mean, you have a build of a model designed by someone else, one build only.
You’re not talking about selling multiple copies of the MOC / producing more
copies?
IINM, in the USA, that could fall under the First-Sale Doctrine ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-sale_doctrine
).
Especially if you are not reselling the instructions.
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| | | | | | | Author: | Cdg31 | | Posted: | Jun 17, 2023 12:25 | | Subject: | Re: Selling mocs on ebay | | Viewed: | 45 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| In Selling, SylvainLS writes:
| | In Selling, Cdg31 writes:
| | Wondering what the rules are for selling the physical build of someone else’s
moc?
Without giving instructions. Maybe give directions to the designer link?
Not sure how this works. Just curious. Thanks for any help
|
(Disclaimer: IANAL, not representing BrickLink or LEGO, not a plumber, maybe
a cat.)
You mean, you have a build of a model designed by someone else, one build only.
You’re not talking about selling multiple copies of the MOC / producing more
copies?
IINM, in the USA, that could fall under the First-Sale Doctrine ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-sale_doctrine
).
Especially if you are not reselling the instructions.
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Thanks. It has been a very tough topic to find info on.
Mostly see the piracy of instructions discussion.
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| | | | | Author: | Macaronis | | Posted: | Jun 17, 2023 10:17 | | Subject: | Re: Selling mocs on ebay | | Viewed: | 52 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| In Selling, Cdg31 writes:
| | Wondering what the rules are for selling the physical build of someone else’s
moc?
Without giving instructions. Maybe give directions to the designer link?
Not sure how this works. Just curious. Thanks for any help
|
First Rule about eBay is we Don't talk about eBay here.
Second... Look above
Third... The Correct answer is maybe you should reach-out to the designer first
just as a Courtesy.
Here's the Fine line in my view
Scumbag --- trying to pawn off someone's work to make your own Profit
Co-Sponsor --- Helping the designer with Parts and Logistics of their design
WITH permission.
which one would you rather be?
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| | | | | | | Author: | Macaronis | | Posted: | Jun 17, 2023 10:19 | | Subject: | Re: Selling mocs on ebay | | Viewed: | 46 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| In Selling, Macaronis writes:
| | In Selling, Cdg31 writes:
| | Wondering what the rules are for selling the physical build of someone else’s
moc?
Without giving instructions. Maybe give directions to the designer link?
Not sure how this works. Just curious. Thanks for any help
|
First Rule about eBay is we Don't talk about eBay here.
Second... Look above
Third... The Correct answer is maybe you should reach-out to the designer first
just as a Courtesy.
Here's the Fine line in my view
Scumbag --- trying to pawn off someone's work to make your own Profit
Co-Sponsor --- Helping the designer with Parts and Logistics of their design
WITH permission.
which one would you rather be?
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To be clear here I'm not looking at judging you or flagging right or wrong.
Just seems like a moral question. that may or may not offer consequences
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| | | | | | | | | Author: | Cdg31 | | Posted: | Jun 17, 2023 12:11 | | Subject: | Re: Selling mocs on ebay | | Viewed: | 50 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| In Selling, Macaronis writes:
| | In Selling, Macaronis writes:
| | In Selling, Cdg31 writes:
| | Wondering what the rules are for selling the physical build of someone else’s
moc?
Without giving instructions. Maybe give directions to the designer link?
Not sure how this works. Just curious. Thanks for any help
|
First Rule about eBay is we Don't talk about eBay here.
Second... Look above
Third... The Correct answer is maybe you should reach-out to the designer first
just as a Courtesy.
Here's the Fine line in my view
Scumbag --- trying to pawn off someone's work to make your own Profit
Co-Sponsor --- Helping the designer with Parts and Logistics of their design
WITH permission.
which one would you rather be?
|
To be clear here I'm not looking at judging you or flagging right or wrong.
Just seems like a moral question. that may or may not offer consequences
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Yes. That would be the next step Reach out to the designer
Perhaps get permission to create traffic to their own sites or links to get instructions
if wanted.
I plan to sell my own moc as a complete build in the future. Just wanting to
test out the water as far as selling on eBay goes. Definitely do not want to
step on any designers toes to get to that point though.
Thanks for all input.
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| | | | | | | Author: | Ra | | Posted: | Jun 17, 2023 10:56 | | Subject: | Re: Selling mocs on ebay | | Viewed: | 52 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| In Selling, Macaronis writes:
| | In Selling, Cdg31 writes:
| | Wondering what the rules are for selling the physical build of someone else’s
moc?
Without giving instructions. Maybe give directions to the designer link?
Not sure how this works. Just curious. Thanks for any help
|
First Rule about eBay is we Don't talk about eBay here.
Second... Look above
Third... The Correct answer is maybe you should reach-out to the designer first
just as a Courtesy.
Here's the Fine line in my view
Scumbag --- trying to pawn off someone's work to make your own Profit
Co-Sponsor --- Helping the designer with Parts and Logistics of their design
WITH permission.
which one would you rather be?
|
There are 3721... i mean 3722 messages on the forum that mention ebay directly.
I think it is about promoting or directing sales to your personal ebay listings.
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| | | | | Author: | popsicle | | Posted: | Jun 17, 2023 12:12 | | Subject: | (Cancelled) | | Viewed: | 76 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| | (Cancelled) |
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| | | | | Author: | UTLF | | Posted: | Jun 17, 2023 14:14 | | Subject: | (Cancelled) | | Viewed: | 51 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| | (Cancelled) |
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| | | | | | | Author: | Cdg31 | | Posted: | Jun 17, 2023 14:43 | | Subject: | Re: Selling mocs on ebay | | Viewed: | 34 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| In Selling, UTLF writes:
| | I've done it before, and I think it's fine as you're only providing
the pieces & not the actual instructions (which is what the MOC designer is selling)
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Thanks!!!
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| | | | | Author: | Shiny_Stuff | | Posted: | Jun 17, 2023 21:14 | | Subject: | Re: Selling mocs on ebay | | Viewed: | 40 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| In Selling, Cdg31 writes:
| | Wondering what the rules are for selling the physical build of someone else’s
moc?
Without giving instructions. Maybe give directions to the designer link?
Not sure how this works. Just curious. Thanks for any help
|
Selling MOC's is not so easy. Even for a build that contains 50 pieces or
less.
I know of a couple of people who have done it over the years and it can be far
more work than you think for very little profit, if any.
Let's say you have a MOC that contains a total of 50 pieces, 25 different
ones (2 of everything). If your goal is to make 20 exact copies, you have to
source each and every part, a total of 1,000 pieces.
You may have to deal with dozens of sellers, all with different quantities, prices,
and shipping costs. Some sellers may be slow, some sellers may not fill the
order correctly, some may slip in a few used parts when you wanted only NEW parts.
One package never arrived and is assumed to be lost.
You will have to do a lot of record keeping to track all expenses. You don't
want to lose money doing this, do you?
All it will take to derail this part of the process is for one single piece to
be rare or very expensive. And you need 500. What if you can only manage to
acquire 400? Do you make up only 16 copies? Now what happens to all the other
parts you bought but now do not need -- how do you divide that expense by
16 copies instead of 20?
If only you had access to some kind of factory to make each and every part you
need in the exact colors and the exact quantities. Y'know, like the LEGO
company has.
Then, of course, there will be actual SELLING of the finished kits -- once
you get that far. But, after several months you have only sold 8 copies out
of 16. Nobody is buying the rest and most of the time and money you invested
is gone and you never did make a profit.
In the end, you decide to just bust up your MOC kits and try selling the leftover
pieces to at least break even on the whole thing. Oh crap, those parts you paid
a lot of money for are now only selling for a few Pennies. Now, it's not
even possible to break even, you have lost $40 on just one part alone. Oh No.
Two years ago, this was a great idea. Now, you wish you never started the whole
mess. You go back to just building single MOC's for yourself and remember
just how troublesome and expensive building ONE could be.
__
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| | | | | | | Author: | Cdg31 | | Posted: | Jun 17, 2023 21:53 | | Subject: | Re: Selling mocs on ebay | | Viewed: | 36 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| In Selling, Shiny_Stuff writes:
| | In Selling, Cdg31 writes:
| | Wondering what the rules are for selling the physical build of someone else’s
moc?
Without giving instructions. Maybe give directions to the designer link?
Not sure how this works. Just curious. Thanks for any help
|
Selling MOC's is not so easy. Even for a build that contains 50 pieces or
less.
I know of a couple of people who have done it over the years and it can be far
more work than you think for very little profit, if any.
Let's say you have a MOC that contains a total of 50 pieces, 25 different
ones (2 of everything). If your goal is to make 20 exact copies, you have to
source each and every part, a total of 1,000 pieces.
You may have to deal with dozens of sellers, all with different quantities, prices,
and shipping costs. Some sellers may be slow, some sellers may not fill the
order correctly, some may slip in a few used parts when you wanted only NEW parts.
One package never arrived and is assumed to be lost.
You will have to do a lot of record keeping to track all expenses. You don't
want to lose money doing this, do you?
All it will take to derail this part of the process is for one single piece to
be rare or very expensive. And you need 500. What if you can only manage to
acquire 400? Do you make up only 16 copies? Now what happens to all the other
parts you bought but now do not need -- how do you divide that expense by
16 copies instead of 20?
If only you had access to some kind of factory to make each and every part you
need in the exact colors and the exact quantities. Y'know, like the LEGO
company has.
Then, of course, there will be actual SELLING of the finished kits -- once
you get that far. But, after several months you have only sold 8 copies out
of 16. Nobody is buying the rest and most of the time and money you invested
is gone and you never did make a profit.
In the end, you decide to just bust up your MOC kits and try selling the leftover
pieces to at least break even on the whole thing. Oh crap, those parts you paid
a lot of money for are now only selling for a few Pennies. Now, it's not
even possible to break even, you have lost $40 on just one part alone. Oh No.
Two years ago, this was a great idea. Now, you wish you never started the whole
mess. You go back to just building single MOC's for yourself and remember
just how troublesome and expensive building ONE could be.
__
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Yep. Totally makes sense. These are the things I want to figure out. My thinking
is though, concerning selling my lego collection, instead of selling bulk, it
seems if there is a market for custom modular builds, I could sell those with
less piece count than by the pound and have fun building it.
That is the main reason I was asking about building someone else’s moc. Basically
to do a test run until maybe I could come up with my own custom that I could
do a few of with just parts from my own collection.
Thanks a lot for your insight. I have been trying to learn more about the ins
and outs of the Lego business. Up til now I have only bought the Modulars every
year. Seeing all the custom builds is really inspiring though.
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| | | | | | | | | Author: | Shiny_Stuff | | Posted: | Jun 17, 2023 22:49 | | Subject: | Re: Selling mocs on ebay | | Viewed: | 35 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| In Selling, Cdg31 writes:
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Yep. Totally makes sense. These are the things I want to figure out. My thinking
is though, concerning selling my lego collection, instead of selling bulk, it
seems if there is a market for custom modular builds, I could sell those with
less piece count than by the pound and have fun building it.
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Building MOCs IS fun. Definitely. That is why LEGO bricks were created.
Trying to build MOCs exactly to someone else's MOC instructions can be challenging
and expensive. MOC instructions are often created digitally with little to no
regard to actual piece availability (or cost to obtain them).
If selling off your personal collection is your goal, I suggest you begin by
re-building the sets that you already own. Just doing that can be a big challenge
if your collection is large and the parts are in a bulk or unsorted state. And
then go from there -- if you find it nearly impossible to re-build sets that
you once owned, then consider how much more difficult it might be to build MOC's
when you don't even have some or most of the pieces required.
Or perhaps forget the selling part altogether. Just BUILD with LEGO. Build
what you like with what you have. Part of the challenge and creativity of LEGO
is exactly that -- building with what you pieces you have.
Then, come to BrickLink to buy more parts. That's why we are all here. 
Good Luck and Happy Building.
____
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| | | | | Author: | Cdg31 | | Posted: | Jun 18, 2023 10:49 | | Subject: | Re: Selling mocs on ebay | | Viewed: | 38 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| In Selling, Cdg31 writes:
| | Wondering what the rules are for selling the physical build of someone else’s
moc?
Without giving instructions. Maybe give directions to the designer link?
Not sure how this works. Just curious. Thanks for any help
|
I have come by eBay listings of sellers with their moc instructions stating that
no model can be sold as well. When does fair use take effect. I build a model
using my own bricks but placing it in my city I do not like the look of it. Can’t
I resell the model without the instructions?
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| | | | | | | Author: | jennnifer | | Posted: | Jun 18, 2023 10:57 | | Subject: | Re: Selling mocs on ebay | | Viewed: | 44 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| In Selling, Cdg31 writes:
| | In Selling, Cdg31 writes:
| | Wondering what the rules are for selling the physical build of someone else’s
moc?
Without giving instructions. Maybe give directions to the designer link?
Not sure how this works. Just curious. Thanks for any help
|
I have come by eBay listings of sellers with their moc instructions stating that
no model can be sold as well. When does fair use take effect. I build a model
using my own bricks but placing it in my city I do not like the look of it. Can’t
I resell the model without the instructions?
|
I personally would not try to sell someone else's MOC without permission
from the designer.
~Jen
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| | | | | | | | | Author: | Cdg31 | | Posted: | Jun 18, 2023 11:46 | | Subject: | Re: Selling mocs on ebay | | Viewed: | 39 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| In Selling, jennnifer writes:
| | In Selling, Cdg31 writes:
| | In Selling, Cdg31 writes:
| | Wondering what the rules are for selling the physical build of someone else’s
moc?
Without giving instructions. Maybe give directions to the designer link?
Not sure how this works. Just curious. Thanks for any help
|
I have come by eBay listings of sellers with their moc instructions stating that
no model can be sold as well. When does fair use take effect. I build a model
using my own bricks but placing it in my city I do not like the look of it. Can’t
I resell the model without the instructions?
|
I personally would not try to sell someone else's MOC without permission
from the designer.
~Jen
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Yes. That’s the best thing to do until I can get around to designing my own.
I just know a lot of people who would rather have the build instead of having
to purchase the bricks separately. Seems like there would be a market for it.
So maybe some awesome designers will be up for it Should even generate traffic
to their sites as well.
Thanks!!!
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USA, Alabama
France, Nouvelle-Aquitaine
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