[POLL] What would you Pay for Instructions?

[efferman]

i want to build the etf mining truck in real and i think about a way to earn enough money for it. one possible way would be to make instructions for my 9395 tow truck moc and for my U 400 moc

what would you pay for it?

[Alasdair Ryan]

I prefer the unimog,I would pay 10 euros.

You would struggle to make good instructions from LDD,so if you need any help with any of the other software you can always ask me.

Edited August 4, 2014 by Alasdair Ryan

[Traktor]

Even though both of these are great MOCs, I would not really pay for just a modification, at least not 5 Euros, maybe 1 or 2 Euros.

[Saberwing40k]

I'd pay about 5 euros, but not for LDD insteructions. and by the way, might you have gotten that model from somewhere? Well, it'll be a race to the finish.

[sapo117]

10€ for Unimog

[kristl]

@Traktor

It's not a modification, take a closer view, both models are designed from scratch, the reason the tow trucks cabin in almost the same as the offical one's is because it's a really good design from Lego and it doesn't need improving.

@Efferman

I've paid 10 Euros before for Jurgen's backhoe, in my opinion your models are just as complex and for those who think that 10 Euros is too much should know that 10 Euros is pocket change compared to the cost of the Lego parts for such a model. And as said before, the instructions are huge investment of time and require a certain compensation.

[Blakbird]

How much I would pay for an instruction depends completely on how badly I want to build the model. In general, if I want to build a Technic model I'll assume it is at least 1000 parts and the author has probably put at least 100 hours into the creation of the instructions, so I would usually be happy to pay $10-$15. I may pay more for something really special. On the other hand, if I don't want to build the model I will probably not buy the instructions for any price. Exception would be a very low price (like $2). Then I might buy it just to have it in my library.

These are both really good models and a lot of effort would be needed to create instructions. Good luck!

[Kronos]

10 euros is pretty standard and fair.

[IJsmuts]

i build the supercar from nathanael kuipers (instructions were free) and getting all the parts from BL cost me a small fortune (i wanted to keep te supercar on display as well as my silver champion and off roader) so i dont buy these moc instructions anymore, but in this case i would love to make a downpayment for the building instructions of the etf mining truck I want to see that monster alive and a projecs like this needs support! Getting the building instructions after would be realy cool ('though i prob can never build it..)

[Ape Fight]

Just voted 'nothing', saw the results and realised my vote can probably be discounted (sorry!). By that I mean I wouldn't ever build someone else's creation (I might pinch techniques etc., but I can do that from the pictures). However, whilst I don't see the point of building someone else's model, I do see that plenty of people love to build others' creations, and if I were one of them I wouldn't expect the instructions to always be free. As such, maybe the 'nothing' option can be discounted, as it's a different meaning to 'free'.

Edited February 12, 2013 by Ape Fight

[efferman]

i build the supercar from nathanael kuipers (instructions were free) and getting all the parts from BL cost me a small fortune (i wanted to keep te supercar on display as well as my silver champion and off roader) so i dont buy these moc instructions anymore, but in this case i would love to make a downpayment for the building instructions of the etf mining truck I want to see that monster alive and a projecs like this needs support! Getting the building instructions after would be realy cool ('though i prob can never build it..)

very cool idea, a crowdfunding platform for big lego projects ,but this would be nothing for me. too much pressure to make it final and lego is fun for me and not work.

[Meatman]

For me to pay for instructions for a model, I need to see 3 things.

1.) The model is visually impressive

2.) The model brings new techniques and ideas to the table

3.) The model functions properly

[kristl]

@ApeFight

From what you wrote it sounds like you should't even build the offical models because they were designed by Lego and not by you... I can't help to wonder where a man would get the skills to build MOC-s if we would never learn from building something from somebody else..

Edited February 11, 2013 by kristl

[Milan]

@ApeFight

From what you wrote it sounds like you should't even build the offical models because they were designed by Lego and not by you... I can't help to wonder where a man would get the skills to build MOC-s if we would never learn from building something from somebody else..

I have never built an official Technic set, nor bought someones instructions (and never will), and yet I consider myself able to make some MOCs. Check ApeFight's creations on Mocpages, he can build MOCs, too.

Find something in real life you like, try to build it, try again, and again, and again...best way to learn it. You can always search for inspiration on BS or Flickr.

You would also be much more proud on yourself for building it yourself, using your ideas and your unique approach, rather than paying someone else to do the hard (and most interesting, challenging and rewarding) work for you.

Edited February 11, 2013 by Milan

[Rishab N]

I would pay 5 euros

[Ape Fight]

I have never built an official Technic set, nor bought someones instructions (and never will), and yet I consider myself able to make some MOCs. Check ApeFight's creations on Mocpages, he can build MOCs, too.

Find something in real life you like, try to build it, try again, and again, and again...best way to learn it. You can always search for inspiration on BS or Flickr.

You would also be much more proud on yourself for building it yourself, using your ideas and your unique approach, rather than paying someone else to do the hard (and most interesting, challenging and rewarding) work for you.

Thanks Milan : )

[dvsntt]

I feel that $5 (or 5€) is a reasonable price for PDF instructions of a nice MOC. At least I would be more inclined to purchase it for $5 rather than 10. In fact I'd probably buy several for 5 and none for 10, so I think business wise you might also see more profits at that price level.

[efferman]

many different opinions

I feel that $5 (or 5€) is a reasonable price for PDF instructions of a nice MOC. At least I would be more inclined to purchase it for $5 rather than 10. In fact I'd probably buy several for 5 and none for 10, so I think business wise you might also see more profits at that price level.

sounds wise what you say.

what do you think about free instructions with an aggreement "pay what you think its worth" ?

[Milan]

what do you think about free instructions with an aggreement "pay what you think its worth" ?

Perfect.

Or:

make plain and simple instructions (good photo-sequence, with needed parts sorted beside model for each step and on each picture, is fine) which would be free, and easy to do.

and HQ instructions in PDF, which you can sell, for those who want HQ.

But IMO it is important to leave the choice for the people.

If everybody could do this, no one could say that he spent 100+ hours on HQ instructions and that he wants to be payed for that.

[davidmull]

I've just payed €10 for jurgens pf backhoe instructions, his models are proper mocs though so i don't mind, iv payed a total of €228 for parts for this moc so 10€ more doesn't really matter.

[Anio]

I did a pretty good experiment on that matter.

I did some UCS models, and Frousmoul, a friend, did some nice professionnal instructions for them (you may see some pages here : http://www.setechnic.com/notices.html to judge the quality ; see the ref with "ST" )

By a matter of principle, we choose the symbolic price of 5€. Well, to be honnest, this can be considered as free when compared to the amount of work. And then I explain that each "buyer" can pay what he want depending how he wants to support our work etc.

We sold a number of instructions that can be considered as significant.

Average amount of money we get per instruction : 11,35€.

I would conclud from that that about half of people play the game with a price that is significantly higher than the symbolic price we ask.

We also know that we could have get much more money with a price at 10 or 15€ per instruction. But that is not what we aim at.

Edit : what sounds kind of wrong to me is when someone pay a very little amount of money for instruction to "cut" the costs.

And then buy parts for an amount between 200 and 700€ (at least for my MOCs) to reproduce the model. I don't mind, but isn't it kind of curious ?

Seriously, thanks to the complete inventory, just with orders, a buyer saves A LOT of money compared to the guy who design the model first. I mean he avoid the long and costly trial and error process. It could make sense to pay the seller of the instruction with an amount of money that is more or less proportionnal to what each people "saves" thanks to the "well executed work".

Edited February 12, 2013 by Anio

[efferman]

thanks for sharing your experiences. it makes the decission more easy for me. how did you solved the payment? paypal or something different?

[Anio]

thanks for sharing your experiences. it makes the decission more easy for me. how did you solved the payment? paypal or something different?

Paypal, you have fees if the buyer did not support it. But even with fees, it is much more convenient when you have to deal with a lot of buyers (especially when you just release a new instruction).

Bank transfer by IBAN is also a possibility. But you have to wait about 2 days before getting the money. And when you have a lot of buyers, you may be lost (what payment match to what buyer ? not easy to say...). So, I suggest to use IBAN, only when you are not in a hurry.

Edited February 12, 2013 by Anio

[DLuders]

@ efferman: Have you contacted NYChase to see if you could market your Building Instructions through the MOCplans website (which will be online soon)? Maybe he has a feel for how much Lego Technic building Instructions would command in the marketplace....

[Alasdair Ryan]

@ efferman: Have you contacted NYChase to see if you could market your Building Instructions through the MOCplans website (which will be online soon)? Maybe he has a feel for how much Lego Technic building Instructions would command in the marketplace....

I think that's got more to do with the maker of the model and not the seller of the instructions.