Hi, recently with a friend we finished to build a MOC, and we were approached by some persons interested on it. No clear offer was made, but curiosity had us thinking and calculating for some time.

How you guys know how to price a selling MOC?

How it works, is by the number of pieces? rarity of pieces/color? amount of time on construction?

Greetings.

Personally, I wouldn't sell. But it has got to be cost of parts (including postage costs if yuo did it through bricklink, etc), plus time spent on it as a minimum.

It is fine to sell a MOC, but I believe price should be way more than the price just for the bricks. I mean it should be high enough, that you wouldn't think if you really need to own that MOC. Unless you build MOCs for constant profit.

Just the price of the bricks and shipping propel a lot of MOCs into the expensive category. Then, there is the time it took to design it and build it. I just completed a MOC that has more than 9000 bricks from Bricklink, Lego store PAB, and online PAB. It took a year and two months to get it this far. If someone wanted to buy it, it would have to be in the four figure range just to get me to even consider.

Dont forget to charge for anything you ate and drank when building as well.

I've been offered cash for my modular MOCs on a few occasions. When these offers have come from other AFOLs they have been reasonable in terms of the amount ($0.12-$0.20 per piece), when they have come from the general public they have been woefully inadequate ($0.02-$0.05 per piece).

I think any offer need to obviously cover the actual brick cost of the MOC, but should also cover some degree of your time and effort.

Disclaimer: So far I've not accepted any offer for any of my MOCs.

Hi, recently with a friend we finished to build a MOC, and we were approached by some persons interested on it. No clear offer was made, but curiosity had us thinking and calculating for some time.

How you guys know how to price a selling MOC?

How it works, is by the number of pieces? rarity of pieces/color? amount of time on construction?

Greetings.

A useful way of arriving at a rough approximation is to take the materials costs and double it, which will give you a built in manpower and time cost. Unless it is something really really unique and spectacular.

I once had a psychiatrist ask me if I could make money selling MOCs.

I told him "I can't, they're my babies".

Never did see him again after that.

I don't know if I'd sell one either after my flesh had grown back.

But think of it this way, instead: What would it cost you/ motivate you to recreate that particular MOC for someone? I would do that - with a bottom line of cost of bricks; and of course, a very realistic budget for Tanqueray, tonic water, lemons, and jazz music. For that alone, I'm there... You may be different, though.

Seriously though, the initial build is very hard to estimate in terms of value - simply because there is so much blood, sweat, and tears involved with those builds that are near and dear to us. However, building it again, second time around, it'd be much easier to think in terms of actual cost/ profit and the effort involved. I'd be more objective in re-building, and it would really ease that feeling of having "sold a child", so to speak... because it'd be a clone I was bartering away.

Edited January 22, 201510 yr by notaromantic

MOCs price are not merely from the (cost per hour x hours spent in building it) + average parts cost.

The culminated years from horning the building skill/techniques must be factored in too.

MOCs price are not merely from the (cost per hour x hours spent in building it) + average parts cost.

The culminated years from horning the building skill/techniques must be factored in too.

That experience can be factored into the cost per hour. It's what most businesses that charge by the hour do. For basic work that anyone can do, the cost per hour is low. For experience work that only an experienced professional can do, the cost per hour is high.

Edited January 22, 201510 yr by MAB

I would start more holistically and think about how much you want for it and how much you would pay for it - the cost of bricks will already be figured in because most of us have the price of bricks in the back of their mind 24/7 anyway. In the end it's like a work of art and it's very hard to put a price on that. More important that the price of bricks is how much is the concept and design worth? Think of yourself as the designer not just the manufacturer.

I'd also make sure I had enough evidence that I was the one that built it, you don't want someone else going around showing off your MOC and claiming it was their own build.

I look at a MOC as a piece of artwork, not just a collection of bricks and time.

What is the value of an art piece?

Andy D

The cost can be a lot more than people think.

I've sold two creations through Creations for Charity last year, both that had like 100-150 pieces (I didn't even count) and each sold for $125 dollars--incidentally to the same person (The first one was submitted by myself, and the second was actually a commission). Granted the "selling price" may have benefited from the fact that the money did not go to me but to the charity; however it still goes to show what people will pay and what people should pay. I think looking at the builds as works of art is what helps value them--because really that's what they are; I don't think commissioned builds are really for anything but display--heck if you start playing around with them they could fall apart! It is Lego after all!

For me it really depends on a few factors--I don't consider my physical building time to be that "valuable" in most instances; because as some may know, I build at a very quick pace (Both of those builds were made in an hour or so-- if I worked hourly, I'd make like 8 bucks); but I do consider my skill and status as a well-known Superhero themed builder to be valuable. Likewise the parts could increase the cost, but I don't consider that as much when I have say, excess amounts of the pieces that I'm using; so it's not a big deal to me "giving" them away without an intent to buy replacements later. I do add in the cost of figures--as being a Superhero vignette-builder, the figures are really important to the look of the build.

Incidentally, if you (or anyone else) is ever approached (seriously) about a commission piece, you should try to build/accept one if possible. It's a very unique experience compared to a regular build--or a build that someone wants to buy after the fact. It can be a lot of discussion about what the benefactor wants and what the artist can deliver. It's a very renaissance-like experience. And it's incredibly fun.

I thank you all for your information and sugerences.

After so many answers and point of views, I start to have a different perspective.

Something never crossed my mind was the approach as art. It is very interesting.

Once again thanks for giving advice.

I will put it to good use, if the opportunity arises on the future.

Greetings.

Im a bit late to the conversation but I'm with Andy D and a few others in regards to treating your MOC as a work of art. I used to sell some of my artistic works and the price varies on how much time and passion one puts into your creation. It is hard to find to charge an adequate amount for something that isn't neccesarily quantifiable. My artwork has always been a part of me and for that reason I end up missing my works.

However if one receives a commission, I find that my heart isn't into the project as much as it would be if I were making for myself to realise my vision. It creates unnecessary pressure as well since your 'on the clock' to complete the project and whether your client will like the result or not. If you want a simple estimate then by all means use how much you paid for parts as a base line to the cost. For anything else it's really your discretion.

I think it has a lot to do with the buyer and the type of build you did. supply and demand my friend. I know people who have built MOCs for large corporations..... for marketing or aesthetic purposes. I know Ford has commissioned some in the past to create some of their models, not in full-scale, but large and have paid handsomely for it. In those cases the demand or need is very high. But unless you are building for some large corporation or very rich indivdiual, I think that you are unlikely to be able to ask what everyone is discussing here. MOC with thousands of pieces and man hours can creap even into the five digit numbers, and there just are not many willing to pay that kind of dough for a MOC. I remember that recently a car, working and everything was recently created out of LEGO with the price far surpassing the cost of an actual car!!!

I think we have to remember that building probably should be done as a hobby and remain that way. Not likely to be a great economic boon. Yes, there are some that make dough from their MOCs, but they are very specific MOCs to the buyer specifications and it really takes out an element of creativity .....