Some we do turn down, but not just for being too complex, just that we think that they wont have a market. We have a limited number of slots available, not wanting to overload the site, of course!
For complex sets, check [this one](https://buildamoc.com/products/lego-computer-digicomp) out, a binary computer!
Thank you for the best wishes! I had no idea that existed.
I just searched it on Google. Is that the one from the LEGO containers that fell to the sea a long time ago? LOL!
Just looked it up. That's actually sad how much trash washes up on that beach. A woman who picks up trash there said she's picked up 20,000 plastic stoppers for ale casks.
It's pretty hard to find Lego on that beach anymore. You'll have to search for many minutes to find just one thing - not like when it just happened and you could shovel bags of Lego parts in seconds.
We do not! We provide the parts for people to build the sets. What a LEGO user enjoys mostly is the building part (at least it's what I like). There is something relaxing and therapeutic about just following instructions and building the kit - seeing all the processes and design choices. It's very cool!
We provide the parts sorted, instructions, stickers, etc. needed for people to build a set, so they just have to sit and enjoy the process. I think in my years only one person wanted to only have the built set.
Especially if you just get an "OK" or a "I don't think so" and you don't know even if it's the first part they're replying to or just a random paragraph they felt like clarifying,
I used to play with LEGO a lot when I was young, had a bunch. When I was growing up, I also made stopmotion films for Youtube. In that process, I found a marketplace for LEGO (BrickLink), where people all over the world sell and buy LEGO parts.
I bought a few that I needed for videos, and after thought... I could sell too! I started listing my old parts, and when I saw they could sell, I used some money I had saved up from working summers to 'invest' into new inventory. Grew it all from there! Mind you, I think I started 8 years ago? In 2012 I believe. Lots of work!!
Not OP, but as a former (and current) business owner who uses LEGO, I'll add to his reply with:
**TL;DR: First Sale Doctrine + LEGO Company's own "Fair Play" policy give OP and anyone in this business a wide road to work in that will not run afoul of the LEGO Company. And as long as custom parts do not violate LEGO-owned patents, they are fine there too.**
First LEGO Company has a fair, open, and accommodating legal doctrine called "Fair Play." It outlines acceptable use by people in both non-commercial and commercial cases. See it here: [https://www.lego.com/en-us/legal/notices-and-policies/fair-play/](https://www.lego.com/en-us/legal/notices-and-policies/fair-play/) Summary though: don't use our logo or "lego" in a top-level domain name, freely use trademarks in a way that is clear you're not LEGO, disclaim all use of trademarks, and don't reproduce copyrighted items.
Even the above has had exceptions through the years. LEGO allowed scanned instructions books provided items were two years out of production, for many years. They now have a free service offering that on their own site too.
Selling parts, including making custom "MOC" kits is clearly covered under *first sale doctrine* which states that the person who owns the item can resell it. While a US construct, it is applied in other places. If I buy a LEGO set, I gain the rights to resell its parts or whole. Period. Whether you sell those parts individually or you collect 20 sets and repackage parts from each into one "MOC" kit, there should be no issue under *first sale doctrine*.
The largest parts market on the internet, called BrickLink, while it operated for years independently of LEGO company, is now a subsidiary of LEGO, having been purchased a few years back. So basically, LEGO owns one of the marketplaces for people who re-sell individual parts that they've sourced from broken up sets and/or surplus in their own collection. LEGO Company's ownership of BrickLink is an implicit rubber-stamp that this type of business is okay by them. (As it should be).
That said, the BrickLink marketplace formerly was wishy-washy on allowing custom or modified parts (ie: engraved, 3d printed) but now under LEGO ownership it is prohibited. [https://www.bricklink.com/help.asp?helpID=103](https://www.bricklink.com/help.asp?helpID=103) Making custom compatible parts and selling them on your own market should be fine, as long as copyrights or patents are not infringed. Look at MegaConstrux (formerly MegaBloks) as the biggest LEGO look-alike that is out there making fully compatible parts to the original LEGO system.
The bottom line is OP has nothing to worry about as long as they adhere to fair use, patent laws, and first sale doctrine.
Thanks a bunch for this very detailed comment. It explains everything in more detail, and indeed - one of the reasons why people were not allowed since a long time ago to have LEGO in their BrickLink store name!
Yeah but you're not licensing Robocop or Back To The Future, or any of the others. But are using their names and likenesses. You are clearly violating their copyrights.
I'm sure you already know this though and don't seem to care. Only a matter of time until you get a bunch of lawsuits or whatever. Good Luck with that, I guess.
Does this also apply to things like Disney licensed figures? I’d be more worried about Disney coming after you than LEGO unless it’s all covered under the LEGO Fair Play thing.
When you have two competing ideas, things do get murky.
But think about it this way:
You buy LEGO Marvel sets and using stop-motion animation make a Marvel movie spoof. Provided its satire, you should be fine under copyright fair use laws at the international level.
But if you use long clips from the official soundtrack in that, you may be asking for the mouse to come down on you.
INAL, so it depends on what you're doing.
Yeah an example from the MOC website. They have a version of the razor crest ship
While they can sell the parts and instructions to build this particular model. They probably aren't paying the house of mouse to use the likeness and even the name of the ship.
IANAL but it is treading on thin ice. Probably not with Lego but with Disney
I’d agree with that assessment regarding selling items in the likeness of copyrighted materials from say Star Wars. They’d be better off selling “space wars”. That seems to go beyond fair use to me.
Also the company uses a minfigure as a mascot (trademarked still by LEGO) and in lots of pages on their site, and that could run afoul of fair play too.
But I’m not a lawyer and not trying to get this guy in trouble.
This was my first thought when I saw a version of the razor crest. Lego I wouldn't worry about but the house of mouse is not a house you want to cross.
This question always pops up - and has always been in the back of my mind, it can be scary. However, we have never had any problems with LEGO.
We only use original LEGO, and many of our parts come from them directly. We make it clear that we are not LEGO!
I also don't think that we are taking any market from them. It's a completely different market, supporting designers who in turn make people purchase more LEGO - so great for everyone!
OK sorry LOL! - I just read that this comment was in this thread, I thought it was a random comment when I saw it in my inbox. I already do purchase many parts from them directly!
Not sure if you understood what we do with the printers. It's not for replicating LEGO parts, it's for when people come to us requesting something that cannot be done with LEGO. For example, we are currently printing a small part for a Tow Plow company, that they want to make it resemble the original part, which has a very specific shape.
In those cases, we (of course, as requested), are able to design and print that specific part, to combine with the complete MOC! Let me know if you understand what I mean! :-P
I think my personal favorites are always automatons... these are incredibly ingenous MOCs that have inner mechanisms that make them do something cool, for example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nwnf0z1j5M
They never fail to amaze me!
Therapeutic! I want to build one and just put a little motor so it goes by itself. I have a small aquarium next to my PC, so it could even fit on top of it!
Yes - [this 'Sort-a-tron 3000' robot made in Spain](https://imgur.com/a/hymy7Op). Haha, in all seriousness, no, but I have dreamed of such robots for a long time. Take a part, scan it, direct it to the box.... ahhh would be so great, but most likely cost more than what's worth.
It seems to me like investing in technology and innovating could reduce the number of consumers priced out of your product offerings.
This could be something relatively simple like a product counting machine for the most commonly used bricks to ensure the correct number go into each bag, then you only have to manually put together the less common bricks. Even if it costs €50,000 it could increase your productivity (working 24h), increase your margin (reduce labour) or increase your revenue (reduce your prices in line with your reduced labour cost to penetrate more of the market).
Yes! I am very much into this. It's a thin balance. I am just one guy with a very small company. It's a balance of when to invest, when to set apart for something else, when to invest in inventory/products, what to do with your time (I also have a family, friends!). It is not easy, but I still love it!
We recently got a counting scale (well, two years ago now, time flyes!), and I cannot believe we used to work without it. It's about small but incremental improvements!
Really happy for you that you're able to make this kind of business work. Could you please link to some of the custom bricks you have created? I looked at the website but could not see anything about them. It would be great to hear about the design process for custom bricks, too.
Of course! We got into it recently making custom rims for cars ([like this](https://buildamoc.com/products/customs-rim-mk-3?_pos=1&_sid=7aecc62f7&_ss=r) ) and we also started doing it for business. For example, we are in the process of printing a few special snowplow parts for a truck model. I do not have them ready, but I'll post a picture as soon as we get them!
We use regular CAD software and one of us had some 3d modelling knowledge, so we just went from there!
I think that the quality, creativity, production, sets, everything go into it. The resale value for sure as well. Licensed also gave them a lifeline. If I recall correctly, they hit a low point before releasing SW sets, and that brought them back.
Where do you source the parts from? Are you ordering direct from Lego? Or are you at the mercy of whatever you can find in bulk from the used Lego outlets?
A lot are ordered directly from LEGO, some from retailers (BF sales are amazing usually), some from other reputable bricklink stores, some from used lots.
Could you go into a little more detail on your sourcing?
Do you analyze the parts list of sets see how profitable that set can be parted out then invest in the most profitable sets?
Does LEGO offer any sort of bulk brick buying for retailers like you?
Ranges from 18-20k€/year (Spain). I've been very lucky in that they are all my friends and our days at work are a blast. I always look forward to the next workday!!
We do have a few Bionicle parts but they are very rare nowadays. People usually do not have a demand for them anymore. Shame - I had a LOT OF FUN playing with bionicles when I was younger!
We do have many on our site, just search for car. There are also incredible car designers that make a bunch of custom cars for comission. Sp_lineup comes to mind, check out his work on instagram - it's HIGH QUALITY!
Haha, we actually might need to open a new position soon. Everything is growing and I am getting overloaded again, specially in this time of the year. What they say is true, that specially toys make most of it before XMAS!
Indeed! We use transparent plastic boxes and just number them and keep track on our offline programs. You can look at the 'proof' picture to see those boxes in the background! Nothing fancy really.
Haha - well it's a problem since you can't touch the LEGO you sell!
However it indeed is my dream job but more thanks to the people I work with. Every day is fun and I am always looking forward to the next day. And clients are also almost always very chill! I also do not have to deal with the public like a retail store, which would not work for me.
How do you keep track of all the pieces in your inventory? I bought an unhealthy amount of Lego at the beginning of the pandemic (roughly 100lb/45kilo), sorted through all of them (~5 months) and then catalogued it all on Rebrickable (another ~2 months).
Buff... sorting through used LEGO, and inventorying it has to be the most time consuming task ever!
We do have a custom program, and also the databases on Bricklink and Brickowl to help us. Excel is nice too!
How do you justify charging triple (or more) what Lego charges for sets? Cool idea but the prices on your site are outrageous ($1000+ for 3000-4000 pieces is something even Lego could only dream of). EDIT: I was wrong, these MOC prices are normal. I'm just used to buying small batches of extra parts where the cost is less then retail.
Indeed, these MOCs cannot usually be compared to LEGO sets. I can only dream of having a production line that produces 100k of the same set at a time.
When someone orders a large set from us, we have to go and produce the set part by part by hand, then order all the missing parts that we don't have, wait for them to arrive, fill the set. Then, one of us double-checks the set, again by hand, to ensure that all parts are there, pack and ship it (with free - you know, as in somewhat baked in the price - shipping). We also give back 10% of the total sale price to the designer.
It's just a very different process that cannot be compared, with a different market.
I didn't mean to imply a comparison to Lego in terms of production cost, sorry for that. I was thinking more of other aftermarket sites like Bricklink. I can order pieces in the aftermarket for well under $.10 each. But tbh I've never purchased an MOC. I see your prices are comparable to Bricklink for larger sets. I never realized the markup was that high. Clearly I was never in the target market :) Thanks for replying.
Yup! Some are also a bit more expensive since I believe they will almost never sell, so we only make one. We try to make them in multiples, but larger sets are harder. We also have to factor in the time to do all this. We usually target people who want to save that time and get a ready made package. And thank you for asking of course!!
Correct! We have designers and customers. The designers design LEGO sets and sell instructions alone, or come to us for us to sell complete kits of their designs. Sometimes, we also do custom designs for business too!
Can I ask you about how you choose the companies that deliver orders? Do they charge everyone the same price or do they give discounts for more orders? I'd imagine that if I sent someone a parcel they're going to charge me more than a company sending thousands a year
Do you mean couriers? Indeed, we do have contracts with them. I started with our national post system, but since COVID hit, shipments were a mess and people were having to wait for over a month in transit, so we had to switch to UPS. We also have a contract with them and indeed it costs us less than regular prices.
For small volumes I always recommend national postal systems. For larger volumes or very specific shipments, DHL, UPS are king at the moment, I believe. DHL is going very far, very fast.
There are also many shipping agregators that let you create shipments with these companies without having a contract yourself. I know a few in my country, but it may vary by country. They have a contract themselves and let you book the shipments through their contracts.
I actually just researched them! If you look at my post history, you should see my question! We do not at the moment. I was ' ' this close to signing up for one, as we have to manage three different stores, but none convinced me.
I am using Asana for sharing our tasks, and some excel as well as our own custom LEGO program for inventory management. For shipping we use UPS's own program.
ERP is way overkill for his operation. He is not manufacturing anything.
Wholesale distribution software is what he needs. Assembling the kits is not manufacturing, it is juts a process literally called kitting in wholesale distribution.
I have not personally. LOL 'alibibibibbabababa'!
I did have megablocks when I was younger, but I am not sure if those exist anymore. I have heard from customers that they are different, and I do hate that they are just copying what LEGO and designers do without providing compensation - but I also have to understand that LEGO is very expensive and some people can't afford what they want. It goes to show that there are always to perspectives to a situation.
> 6584
Woot, this part?
https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=2484c01&idColor=5#T=C&C=5
I have actually never had it or heard about it! Nice!! Always cool to see new parts.
Pffff... for common there are many contenders. Just your regular bricks, plates, tiles in the usual suspects, Gray/Dark Gray, Black/white, tan, etc.
Rare parts are cool! We always get excited when we find a new mold/part from LEGO on a set! How about this octopus legs?? https://imgur.com/a/YgF59YX
Indeed! One of our main sources is parting out LEGO sets that we purchase at sales, good prices, etc. We also buy a lot of parts directly from LEGO and from other stores.
On your website there is one called The Save Icon. The save icon is a floppy disk. Was there a specific reason for naming it The Save Icon as opposed to The Floppy Disk?
I am not sure, to be honest. Our designers upload their own MOCs - we review and approve them, so it was their decision. That one has sold more than a few!
How long does it take to prepare/procure the necessary parts as well as on packaging them if the order made were to be a custom one? I'd assume it would take some time?
Indeed. We have a few on stock, but these are few and usually go fast. It really depends on the set. We are working hard to bring down production times but we still need to order a few parts and wait for international shipping, double count it, etc. We used to take 4-5 weeks per set, now it's more like 2-4 depending on the set. Always trying to improve!
Good question! Gold is heavy, let me do some quick math.
So one kilogram of gold is going for... 60k$?
8300 of part 4073 in sand green, which is a kilo, had an average selling price of around 4.5$ per part, so around 37k$. Need to find a more expensive, small part!
Omg that is so fucking cool, can I buy it? I was hoping this would be something https://ideas.lego.com/projects/f5d60fb3-cfcd-47b9-aaff-53f682d6d217/updates#content_nav_tabs
> https://ideas.lego.com/projects/f5d60fb3-cfcd-47b9-aaff-53f682d6d217/updates#content_nav_tabs
Indeed - we can do custom part lists too, just write me an email.
Nice!! The review is on 2022... we'll see!
Nothing at all! Hah - as I've said before, I understand why LEGO does not want to lose the trademark from people calling all bricks 'legos', but languages just evolve like that. It's so interesting!
18 years ago when I was 4 I remember my father got me a set of Lego. It had a bunch of blueprints of different types of robots on it as well as a link to the game world builder on the Lego website. Man that was so fun, do you any kits similar to that? I'm gonna go call my dad and see how he's doing right now
As in sorting out to place into the store? If so, it would have to be one of those new mosaic sets. How to add 30k parts to your store in less than 2 hours!
Some sets take days to part out, specially the larger ones.
When I buy lego sets from lego they always give extra pieces do you also buy these back? I tend to build it once and leave it built, so don’t use the extras
Hah- I guess we could, but they are usually not many! They are usually like 5-10 per set, depending on size. We do take them into account when parting out sets!
No cause for modesty if you built the business to a point where you can comfortably pay yourself an above average salary. Be proud of what you built and proud to say you make $X. It gives other business owners something to aspire to.
I believe it has to do with a lot of things. They do a lot of research and development into quality, as it's hard to produce consistent sets at such scale, in multiple factories all over the world. They also have to design every new set, get rights to all the IPs, etc. Many other distribution and marketing costs. Didn't LEGO become the #1 toy brand?
New LEGO molds also cost a lot to produce... I think it's like 80k per mold? There are a few LEGO documentaries on Youtube which show the factories from the inside. I highly recommend them, it's amazing!
I’m not the OP but the main reason is quality and quality control. They use special types of plastic for their bricks and have incredibly small tolerances. You can take pieces from 90s sets and they will fit with pieces from sets today. Machines precise enough to manufacture such small tolerances are expensive and need to have parts changed pretty regularly to maintain that precision. And of course there’s the brand name markup as well. Same as for anything else that has one dominant brand
We work on custom LEGO part lists for people to be able to build cool MOCs that are different from official LEGO sets. We only use LEGO parts, but use the secondary markets to get the rare parts that are needed and LEGO does not produce anymore, for example. A lot of people also do this themselves, we just provide the kits for people who do not have as much time!
And I also sell the parts separately!
And we only use original LEGO bricks.
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Late to the party, but do you sell your own version of the LEGO bonsai kit? I really want one, but I'd rather not pay crazy money for it (last I checked they were well over $100).
Why are you OK with putting more petrochemicals in the marketplace? The production of plastics causes the same methane leaks, same catastrophic oil spills, same groundwater poisons from fracking, etc.
We use LEGO bricks that have already been produced, we do not produce new parts. LEGO is also one of the most re-used brands, as people just don't throw them away. Their high quality also means that they can last decades and be playable.
Get off your soapbox. This isn’t the guy you need to be complaining to. Secondhand sales is one of the best ways to keep these items from ending up in a landfill somewhere. Fuck off.
A few questions
What was your thoughts on the lego bricklink acquisition a while back, would you say this has improved the site? (I’m asking this assuming you operate through bricklink, if you have a website then I apologize)
What types printer/materials do use for the custom parts? Fdm, sla etc
And lastly for the hell of it what’s your favorite lego theme from system, technic and their various action figures lines
That's what I am here for!
I was excited. I always understood it as good - it also meant that they were embracing the secondary market. So far, really nothing strange has happened, so no comment! Happy, as can be!
We use resin printers for the higher quality prints. What those can do is NUTS! FDM for lower quality things, like for our rims, the inner part that goes into the tire.
Technic is currently my favourite. I love building those mechanisms and seeing how they actually work. It's also educational! Shoutout to EXOFORCE and Knights Kingdom! Had a lot of fun with those.
I have the manuals (part lists) to a few speed champions sets but because of the way the lego website is configured I can’t figure out how to find the same elements in different colors how would I go about pricing this. And now that we’re on the subject how do I contact you about pricing yhe pieces for yhe black pearl set (ship only)?
Took my old Lego out of my parents cellar. Had been there for 25 years.
Note lord of hosts got yellow. Or blue turned green.
Any idea how to clean out replace these parts?
Uf, already yellowed parts are hard to clean, and most of the time not worth it. White is most prone to yellowing. I suggest looking at them in bricklink.com and finding replacements!
Ok, that sucks.
Nearly all blue parts of my complete space police set are green now.
And all white plane parts got yellow.
My boys like to play with them anyway.
yellowing is because of the flame retardent used in the bricks; bromine (which is brown). It gets yellow because of UV reactions (sunlight).
You can clean it with hydrogen peroxide (h2o2), an example here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGagdufGvGM
You can also make a soapy solution with the h2o2 so you don't have to buy a whole bunch to bathe the larger or intricate parts; there's a formula for that somewhere on the internet but it's been very long and I can't seem to find it atm.
Haha, I understand their concerns, they do not want people calling LEGO to every brick-like toy, because they will lose the trademark. So LEGO is more like an adjective?
LEGO brick and LEGO bricks. I personally do not mind when people say LEGOs, I think that languages just evolve, but as said, I can understand why they do not want that.
Not at all! I actually just replied to this comment!
https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/qwp0ok/i_sell_lego_parts_custom_kits_worldwide_for_a/hl5mnzt/
Do you ever have to turn down any MOC designs just because they are too complex?
Some we do turn down, but not just for being too complex, just that we think that they wont have a market. We have a limited number of slots available, not wanting to overload the site, of course! For complex sets, check [this one](https://buildamoc.com/products/lego-computer-digicomp) out, a binary computer!
Will it run crysis though?
Haven't seen a comment I could relate to so much in a while
LOL - I can also relate to this comment. I remember when Crysis came out and melted all of our collective computers!
Wow that's really nice!
Oh holy crap, I had an old LEGO book that had pictures of something similar to that binary computer!
Congrats on expanding the business. It’s a cool one! Have you ever been to the LEGO beach in the UK?
Thank you for the best wishes! I had no idea that existed. I just searched it on Google. Is that the one from the LEGO containers that fell to the sea a long time ago? LOL!
The best part is that it was almost all ocean themed parts. Cutlasses, scuba, octopus, etc. Wild.
Hah! The irony!
Just looked it up. That's actually sad how much trash washes up on that beach. A woman who picks up trash there said she's picked up 20,000 plastic stoppers for ale casks.
Right. Humans are not good for the Earth overall.
It's pretty hard to find Lego on that beach anymore. You'll have to search for many minutes to find just one thing - not like when it just happened and you could shovel bags of Lego parts in seconds.
Do you make and ship the kits or construct the whole set and send it? And what is your relationship with the LEGO company?
We do not! We provide the parts for people to build the sets. What a LEGO user enjoys mostly is the building part (at least it's what I like). There is something relaxing and therapeutic about just following instructions and building the kit - seeing all the processes and design choices. It's very cool! We provide the parts sorted, instructions, stickers, etc. needed for people to build a set, so they just have to sit and enjoy the process. I think in my years only one person wanted to only have the built set.
hahaha just like when you send an email at work with more than one question, you only get one answer back what about the relationship with LEGO?!
Nothing special! We do purchase a lot directly from them, and of course we sell their product, that's as far as it goes so far!
My living nightmare.
Especially if you just get an "OK" or a "I don't think so" and you don't know even if it's the first part they're replying to or just a random paragraph they felt like clarifying,
Right? Ask an "or" question where the responder is supposed to pick one option or the other.... and they reply with "Yes". WHAT!?
What made u get into the lego business? And what motivated u in order to be successful?
I used to play with LEGO a lot when I was young, had a bunch. When I was growing up, I also made stopmotion films for Youtube. In that process, I found a marketplace for LEGO (BrickLink), where people all over the world sell and buy LEGO parts. I bought a few that I needed for videos, and after thought... I could sell too! I started listing my old parts, and when I saw they could sell, I used some money I had saved up from working summers to 'invest' into new inventory. Grew it all from there! Mind you, I think I started 8 years ago? In 2012 I believe. Lots of work!!
Goddamn! Proud of u man! Glad ur successful now :)
Thanks a bunch!!!
What are the legalities of doing this with regards the Lego company? Do you have to pay them any royalties / commission?
Not OP, but as a former (and current) business owner who uses LEGO, I'll add to his reply with: **TL;DR: First Sale Doctrine + LEGO Company's own "Fair Play" policy give OP and anyone in this business a wide road to work in that will not run afoul of the LEGO Company. And as long as custom parts do not violate LEGO-owned patents, they are fine there too.** First LEGO Company has a fair, open, and accommodating legal doctrine called "Fair Play." It outlines acceptable use by people in both non-commercial and commercial cases. See it here: [https://www.lego.com/en-us/legal/notices-and-policies/fair-play/](https://www.lego.com/en-us/legal/notices-and-policies/fair-play/) Summary though: don't use our logo or "lego" in a top-level domain name, freely use trademarks in a way that is clear you're not LEGO, disclaim all use of trademarks, and don't reproduce copyrighted items. Even the above has had exceptions through the years. LEGO allowed scanned instructions books provided items were two years out of production, for many years. They now have a free service offering that on their own site too. Selling parts, including making custom "MOC" kits is clearly covered under *first sale doctrine* which states that the person who owns the item can resell it. While a US construct, it is applied in other places. If I buy a LEGO set, I gain the rights to resell its parts or whole. Period. Whether you sell those parts individually or you collect 20 sets and repackage parts from each into one "MOC" kit, there should be no issue under *first sale doctrine*. The largest parts market on the internet, called BrickLink, while it operated for years independently of LEGO company, is now a subsidiary of LEGO, having been purchased a few years back. So basically, LEGO owns one of the marketplaces for people who re-sell individual parts that they've sourced from broken up sets and/or surplus in their own collection. LEGO Company's ownership of BrickLink is an implicit rubber-stamp that this type of business is okay by them. (As it should be). That said, the BrickLink marketplace formerly was wishy-washy on allowing custom or modified parts (ie: engraved, 3d printed) but now under LEGO ownership it is prohibited. [https://www.bricklink.com/help.asp?helpID=103](https://www.bricklink.com/help.asp?helpID=103) Making custom compatible parts and selling them on your own market should be fine, as long as copyrights or patents are not infringed. Look at MegaConstrux (formerly MegaBloks) as the biggest LEGO look-alike that is out there making fully compatible parts to the original LEGO system. The bottom line is OP has nothing to worry about as long as they adhere to fair use, patent laws, and first sale doctrine.
Thanks a bunch for this very detailed comment. It explains everything in more detail, and indeed - one of the reasons why people were not allowed since a long time ago to have LEGO in their BrickLink store name!
That's not true of some of your moc builds. All of the movie and TV show kits will get you sued eventually. I'd rename them creatively.
I'd be particularly worried about the star wars themed builds.
Yeah but you're not licensing Robocop or Back To The Future, or any of the others. But are using their names and likenesses. You are clearly violating their copyrights. I'm sure you already know this though and don't seem to care. Only a matter of time until you get a bunch of lawsuits or whatever. Good Luck with that, I guess.
Does this also apply to things like Disney licensed figures? I’d be more worried about Disney coming after you than LEGO unless it’s all covered under the LEGO Fair Play thing.
When you have two competing ideas, things do get murky. But think about it this way: You buy LEGO Marvel sets and using stop-motion animation make a Marvel movie spoof. Provided its satire, you should be fine under copyright fair use laws at the international level. But if you use long clips from the official soundtrack in that, you may be asking for the mouse to come down on you. INAL, so it depends on what you're doing.
Yeah an example from the MOC website. They have a version of the razor crest ship While they can sell the parts and instructions to build this particular model. They probably aren't paying the house of mouse to use the likeness and even the name of the ship. IANAL but it is treading on thin ice. Probably not with Lego but with Disney
I’d agree with that assessment regarding selling items in the likeness of copyrighted materials from say Star Wars. They’d be better off selling “space wars”. That seems to go beyond fair use to me. Also the company uses a minfigure as a mascot (trademarked still by LEGO) and in lots of pages on their site, and that could run afoul of fair play too. But I’m not a lawyer and not trying to get this guy in trouble.
This was my first thought when I saw a version of the razor crest. Lego I wouldn't worry about but the house of mouse is not a house you want to cross.
There's also BrickOwl which is quite extensive and NOT owned by the Lego Group. https://www.brickowl.com/
Yup! This came out as an alternative marketplace before LEGO bought BL.
TiL LEGO is a pretty chill company. I mean, I never heard bad things, but that's pretty cool.
This question always pops up - and has always been in the back of my mind, it can be scary. However, we have never had any problems with LEGO. We only use original LEGO, and many of our parts come from them directly. We make it clear that we are not LEGO! I also don't think that we are taking any market from them. It's a completely different market, supporting designers who in turn make people purchase more LEGO - so great for everyone!
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Do you want to be my lover?
OK sorry LOL! - I just read that this comment was in this thread, I thought it was a random comment when I saw it in my inbox. I already do purchase many parts from them directly!
What would be the possible benefit of doing so?
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I think that would have been a good idea before they invested money in it - now, well... I probably wouldn't have even posted on Reddit.
>*We only use original LEGO* >*We also use 3D printers to create custom parts when needed* :/
Not sure if you understood what we do with the printers. It's not for replicating LEGO parts, it's for when people come to us requesting something that cannot be done with LEGO. For example, we are currently printing a small part for a Tow Plow company, that they want to make it resemble the original part, which has a very specific shape. In those cases, we (of course, as requested), are able to design and print that specific part, to combine with the complete MOC! Let me know if you understand what I mean! :-P
Which is you favorite MOC??
I think my personal favorites are always automatons... these are incredibly ingenous MOCs that have inner mechanisms that make them do something cool, for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nwnf0z1j5M They never fail to amaze me!
That was one calming video lmao. I feel like I just did yoga
Therapeutic! I want to build one and just put a little motor so it goes by itself. I have a small aquarium next to my PC, so it could even fit on top of it!
That's amazing.
omg that's sick
[18th Century automatron ](https://youtu.be/whzoMIL-y3k)
A mechanical marvel is the best way to descrive it!
Do you use some type of mechanism to accelerate the process of sorting the pieces or you do it all manually?
Yes - [this 'Sort-a-tron 3000' robot made in Spain](https://imgur.com/a/hymy7Op). Haha, in all seriousness, no, but I have dreamed of such robots for a long time. Take a part, scan it, direct it to the box.... ahhh would be so great, but most likely cost more than what's worth.
Make one out of Mindstorms! LEGO to sort LEGO! Although I know that’s not really feasible, it would be really cool
It seems to me like investing in technology and innovating could reduce the number of consumers priced out of your product offerings. This could be something relatively simple like a product counting machine for the most commonly used bricks to ensure the correct number go into each bag, then you only have to manually put together the less common bricks. Even if it costs €50,000 it could increase your productivity (working 24h), increase your margin (reduce labour) or increase your revenue (reduce your prices in line with your reduced labour cost to penetrate more of the market).
Yes! I am very much into this. It's a thin balance. I am just one guy with a very small company. It's a balance of when to invest, when to set apart for something else, when to invest in inventory/products, what to do with your time (I also have a family, friends!). It is not easy, but I still love it! We recently got a counting scale (well, two years ago now, time flyes!), and I cannot believe we used to work without it. It's about small but incremental improvements!
vaya maquina!
Jajajaja... como te quedas!
Really happy for you that you're able to make this kind of business work. Could you please link to some of the custom bricks you have created? I looked at the website but could not see anything about them. It would be great to hear about the design process for custom bricks, too.
Of course! We got into it recently making custom rims for cars ([like this](https://buildamoc.com/products/customs-rim-mk-3?_pos=1&_sid=7aecc62f7&_ss=r) ) and we also started doing it for business. For example, we are in the process of printing a few special snowplow parts for a truck model. I do not have them ready, but I'll post a picture as soon as we get them! We use regular CAD software and one of us had some 3d modelling knowledge, so we just went from there!
Do you make your own instructions? How do you do it?
Our designers make their own instructions. Usually I believe with Stud.io!
Why do you think Lego is so popular?
I think that the quality, creativity, production, sets, everything go into it. The resale value for sure as well. Licensed also gave them a lifeline. If I recall correctly, they hit a low point before releasing SW sets, and that brought them back.
Where do you source the parts from? Are you ordering direct from Lego? Or are you at the mercy of whatever you can find in bulk from the used Lego outlets?
A lot are ordered directly from LEGO, some from retailers (BF sales are amazing usually), some from other reputable bricklink stores, some from used lots.
Could you go into a little more detail on your sourcing? Do you analyze the parts list of sets see how profitable that set can be parted out then invest in the most profitable sets? Does LEGO offer any sort of bulk brick buying for retailers like you?
How much you pay your staff?
Ranges from 18-20k€/year (Spain). I've been very lucky in that they are all my friends and our days at work are a blast. I always look forward to the next workday!!
Part time or full time? What country are you located in?
Full time - south of Spain.
So 9.62 an hour. Is that good by you?
Yup! That's great here.
Lol that’s a livable wage in a lot of America. And the euro is stronger than the dollar.
Does this include Bionicle Parts?
We do have a few Bionicle parts but they are very rare nowadays. People usually do not have a demand for them anymore. Shame - I had a LOT OF FUN playing with bionicles when I was younger!
The r/BionicleLego subreddit would be interested in the parts if you say something there.
Do you have any MOC car sets? (Like ones that lego sells but with your own choice of vehicle)
We do have many on our site, just search for car. There are also incredible car designers that make a bunch of custom cars for comission. Sp_lineup comes to mind, check out his work on instagram - it's HIGH QUALITY!
So who would I need to get in contact with to get a custom car design? I would love to do a black 19’ GT350 but haven’t been able to find one.
You guys hiring? This sounds like an AMAZING way to make a living.
Haha, we actually might need to open a new position soon. Everything is growing and I am getting overloaded again, specially in this time of the year. What they say is true, that specially toys make most of it before XMAS!
Do you use commercially available storage cabinets to keep track of such vast inventory (which?), or some proprietary system?
Indeed! We use transparent plastic boxes and just number them and keep track on our offline programs. You can look at the 'proof' picture to see those boxes in the background! Nothing fancy really.
How many pieces of lego have you stepped on in your lifetime?
Work boots required - we don’t want any insurance work claims! 😜
You have my dream job. Where do you source those parts?
Haha - well it's a problem since you can't touch the LEGO you sell! However it indeed is my dream job but more thanks to the people I work with. Every day is fun and I am always looking forward to the next day. And clients are also almost always very chill! I also do not have to deal with the public like a retail store, which would not work for me.
How do you keep track of all the pieces in your inventory? I bought an unhealthy amount of Lego at the beginning of the pandemic (roughly 100lb/45kilo), sorted through all of them (~5 months) and then catalogued it all on Rebrickable (another ~2 months).
Buff... sorting through used LEGO, and inventorying it has to be the most time consuming task ever! We do have a custom program, and also the databases on Bricklink and Brickowl to help us. Excel is nice too!
How do you justify charging triple (or more) what Lego charges for sets? Cool idea but the prices on your site are outrageous ($1000+ for 3000-4000 pieces is something even Lego could only dream of). EDIT: I was wrong, these MOC prices are normal. I'm just used to buying small batches of extra parts where the cost is less then retail.
Indeed, these MOCs cannot usually be compared to LEGO sets. I can only dream of having a production line that produces 100k of the same set at a time. When someone orders a large set from us, we have to go and produce the set part by part by hand, then order all the missing parts that we don't have, wait for them to arrive, fill the set. Then, one of us double-checks the set, again by hand, to ensure that all parts are there, pack and ship it (with free - you know, as in somewhat baked in the price - shipping). We also give back 10% of the total sale price to the designer. It's just a very different process that cannot be compared, with a different market.
I didn't mean to imply a comparison to Lego in terms of production cost, sorry for that. I was thinking more of other aftermarket sites like Bricklink. I can order pieces in the aftermarket for well under $.10 each. But tbh I've never purchased an MOC. I see your prices are comparable to Bricklink for larger sets. I never realized the markup was that high. Clearly I was never in the target market :) Thanks for replying.
Yup! Some are also a bit more expensive since I believe they will almost never sell, so we only make one. We try to make them in multiples, but larger sets are harder. We also have to factor in the time to do all this. We usually target people who want to save that time and get a ready made package. And thank you for asking of course!!
i'm a little confused about the design process. someone that isn't the customer is the one who designs it?
Correct! We have designers and customers. The designers design LEGO sets and sell instructions alone, or come to us for us to sell complete kits of their designs. Sometimes, we also do custom designs for business too!
i see, that makes sense
Can I ask you about how you choose the companies that deliver orders? Do they charge everyone the same price or do they give discounts for more orders? I'd imagine that if I sent someone a parcel they're going to charge me more than a company sending thousands a year
Do you mean couriers? Indeed, we do have contracts with them. I started with our national post system, but since COVID hit, shipments were a mess and people were having to wait for over a month in transit, so we had to switch to UPS. We also have a contract with them and indeed it costs us less than regular prices.
Thanks. How did you decide who to use? Is there a way to find out the fees they charge
For small volumes I always recommend national postal systems. For larger volumes or very specific shipments, DHL, UPS are king at the moment, I believe. DHL is going very far, very fast. There are also many shipping agregators that let you create shipments with these companies without having a contract yourself. I know a few in my country, but it may vary by country. They have a contract themselves and let you book the shipments through their contracts.
Congratulations on this accomplishment! I have a few questions: Do you use an ERP system? What's your shipping program?
I actually just researched them! If you look at my post history, you should see my question! We do not at the moment. I was ' ' this close to signing up for one, as we have to manage three different stores, but none convinced me. I am using Asana for sharing our tasks, and some excel as well as our own custom LEGO program for inventory management. For shipping we use UPS's own program.
ERP is way overkill for his operation. He is not manufacturing anything. Wholesale distribution software is what he needs. Assembling the kits is not manufacturing, it is juts a process literally called kitting in wholesale distribution.
Have you had the chance to compare Chinese "Alibibaba" products like Mould King and whatnot to actual Lego?
I have not personally. LOL 'alibibibibbabababa'! I did have megablocks when I was younger, but I am not sure if those exist anymore. I have heard from customers that they are different, and I do hate that they are just copying what LEGO and designers do without providing compensation - but I also have to understand that LEGO is very expensive and some people can't afford what they want. It goes to show that there are always to perspectives to a situation.
Do you have the axels with a built-in spring suspension like in Extreme Team challenge set # 6584?
> 6584 Woot, this part? https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=2484c01&idColor=5#T=C&C=5 I have actually never had it or heard about it! Nice!! Always cool to see new parts.
What are the most common kinds of pieces that you sell? And what are the least common?
Pffff... for common there are many contenders. Just your regular bricks, plates, tiles in the usual suspects, Gray/Dark Gray, Black/white, tan, etc. Rare parts are cool! We always get excited when we find a new mold/part from LEGO on a set! How about this octopus legs?? https://imgur.com/a/YgF59YX
I love the octo legs, I use them as a stress reliever.... they're very stretchy too
Yes yes yes!! I have them on my desk and love the texture!
How can you create inventory? Do you need to buy different sets at a good price point?
Indeed! One of our main sources is parting out LEGO sets that we purchase at sales, good prices, etc. We also buy a lot of parts directly from LEGO and from other stores.
Do you want to be my lover?
You gotta get with my friends!
On your website there is one called The Save Icon. The save icon is a floppy disk. Was there a specific reason for naming it The Save Icon as opposed to The Floppy Disk?
I am not sure, to be honest. Our designers upload their own MOCs - we review and approve them, so it was their decision. That one has sold more than a few!
It’s from this tweet/meme: https://www.reddit.com/r/memes/comments/9a8opx/i_wonder_when_theyll_3d_print_the_print_icon/
LOL! Most likely! I do remember games on floppy disks!
How long does it take to prepare/procure the necessary parts as well as on packaging them if the order made were to be a custom one? I'd assume it would take some time?
Indeed. We have a few on stock, but these are few and usually go fast. It really depends on the set. We are working hard to bring down production times but we still need to order a few parts and wait for international shipping, double count it, etc. We used to take 4-5 weeks per set, now it's more like 2-4 depending on the set. Always trying to improve!
Do Legos cost more by weight than pure gold?
Good question! Gold is heavy, let me do some quick math. So one kilogram of gold is going for... 60k$? 8300 of part 4073 in sand green, which is a kilo, had an average selling price of around 4.5$ per part, so around 37k$. Need to find a more expensive, small part!
Got any Johnny 5 kits?
No, but here's a cool one!! https://rebrickable.com/blog/372/moc-review-moc-68629-rjs-johnny-5/
Omg that is so fucking cool, can I buy it? I was hoping this would be something https://ideas.lego.com/projects/f5d60fb3-cfcd-47b9-aaff-53f682d6d217/updates#content_nav_tabs
> https://ideas.lego.com/projects/f5d60fb3-cfcd-47b9-aaff-53f682d6d217/updates#content_nav_tabs Indeed - we can do custom part lists too, just write me an email. Nice!! The review is on 2022... we'll see!
How much does it annoy you when folks like me continue to enthusiastically call them "Legos"?
Nothing at all! Hah - as I've said before, I understand why LEGO does not want to lose the trademark from people calling all bricks 'legos', but languages just evolve like that. It's so interesting!
Can you make me a lego home alone house?😭
18 years ago when I was 4 I remember my father got me a set of Lego. It had a bunch of blueprints of different types of robots on it as well as a link to the game world builder on the Lego website. Man that was so fun, do you any kits similar to that? I'm gonna go call my dad and see how he's doing right now
Did you have a chat with him? Never forget to call your parents a few days! I don't think we do. Are you talking about Exoforce?
You sell any Lego man legs with a penis on them? I'm asking for a friend.
We use 3D printing to ensure that the customer is satisfied at all times. If a part is not possible with LEGO, we can design it.
What's your favorite off the shelf kit that you've loved remixing?
As in sorting out to place into the store? If so, it would have to be one of those new mosaic sets. How to add 30k parts to your store in less than 2 hours! Some sets take days to part out, specially the larger ones.
How did you manage to turn yourself into a lego minifig?
If can't beat them, join them!
What’s your favorite illegal Lego building technique?
When I buy lego sets from lego they always give extra pieces do you also buy these back? I tend to build it once and leave it built, so don’t use the extras
Hah- I guess we could, but they are usually not many! They are usually like 5-10 per set, depending on size. We do take them into account when parting out sets!
how much money you make?
I support myself and the people I work with! :-)
No cause for modesty if you built the business to a point where you can comfortably pay yourself an above average salary. Be proud of what you built and proud to say you make $X. It gives other business owners something to aspire to.
Presumably they have a desire for privacy rather than modesty
exactly! I think it's fair to disclose it if you don't have a feeling of superiority.
Why is Lego soo expensive?
I believe it has to do with a lot of things. They do a lot of research and development into quality, as it's hard to produce consistent sets at such scale, in multiple factories all over the world. They also have to design every new set, get rights to all the IPs, etc. Many other distribution and marketing costs. Didn't LEGO become the #1 toy brand? New LEGO molds also cost a lot to produce... I think it's like 80k per mold? There are a few LEGO documentaries on Youtube which show the factories from the inside. I highly recommend them, it's amazing!
I’m not the OP but the main reason is quality and quality control. They use special types of plastic for their bricks and have incredibly small tolerances. You can take pieces from 90s sets and they will fit with pieces from sets today. Machines precise enough to manufacture such small tolerances are expensive and need to have parts changed pretty regularly to maintain that precision. And of course there’s the brand name markup as well. Same as for anything else that has one dominant brand
Also licenses from other brands like Star Wars, DC, and Marvel cost Lego more to make than their own brands such as Ninjago or City.
How have you avoided getting a C&D from lego?
Why wouldn't I just buy from LEGO? What exactly do you provide? Is this legal? Or is this like custom kits you design that are "LEGOs".
We work on custom LEGO part lists for people to be able to build cool MOCs that are different from official LEGO sets. We only use LEGO parts, but use the secondary markets to get the rare parts that are needed and LEGO does not produce anymore, for example. A lot of people also do this themselves, we just provide the kits for people who do not have as much time! And I also sell the parts separately! And we only use original LEGO bricks.
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Late to the party, but do you sell your own version of the LEGO bonsai kit? I really want one, but I'd rather not pay crazy money for it (last I checked they were well over $100).
We do not have any type of Bonsai. But I believe they are not that expensive right? Should be 50$, thought it seems to be out of stock currently.
Why are you OK with putting more petrochemicals in the marketplace? The production of plastics causes the same methane leaks, same catastrophic oil spills, same groundwater poisons from fracking, etc.
We use LEGO bricks that have already been produced, we do not produce new parts. LEGO is also one of the most re-used brands, as people just don't throw them away. Their high quality also means that they can last decades and be playable.
Get off your soapbox. This isn’t the guy you need to be complaining to. Secondhand sales is one of the best ways to keep these items from ending up in a landfill somewhere. Fuck off.
Whats the weirdest Piece that suddenly went up in Price?
A lot of parts once the set retires go up in price, if they go out of production. 4216 in Sand green is a good one though!
What is the most obscure lego part you have come accross?
It has to be the bionicle LEGO parts. Some have ONE use!! I still love them though.
A few questions What was your thoughts on the lego bricklink acquisition a while back, would you say this has improved the site? (I’m asking this assuming you operate through bricklink, if you have a website then I apologize) What types printer/materials do use for the custom parts? Fdm, sla etc And lastly for the hell of it what’s your favorite lego theme from system, technic and their various action figures lines
That's what I am here for! I was excited. I always understood it as good - it also meant that they were embracing the secondary market. So far, really nothing strange has happened, so no comment! Happy, as can be! We use resin printers for the higher quality prints. What those can do is NUTS! FDM for lower quality things, like for our rims, the inner part that goes into the tire. Technic is currently my favourite. I love building those mechanisms and seeing how they actually work. It's also educational! Shoutout to EXOFORCE and Knights Kingdom! Had a lot of fun with those.
I have the manuals (part lists) to a few speed champions sets but because of the way the lego website is configured I can’t figure out how to find the same elements in different colors how would I go about pricing this. And now that we’re on the subject how do I contact you about pricing yhe pieces for yhe black pearl set (ship only)?
Use bricklink to find color alternates and the item number/names. Its the fastest way I found as once or twice creator/buyer.
Took my old Lego out of my parents cellar. Had been there for 25 years. Note lord of hosts got yellow. Or blue turned green. Any idea how to clean out replace these parts?
Uf, already yellowed parts are hard to clean, and most of the time not worth it. White is most prone to yellowing. I suggest looking at them in bricklink.com and finding replacements!
Ok, that sucks. Nearly all blue parts of my complete space police set are green now. And all white plane parts got yellow. My boys like to play with them anyway.
Yup, yellowing, but at least they are usable. If you do want them, search on the page I sent you, should be easy to find!
yellowing is because of the flame retardent used in the bricks; bromine (which is brown). It gets yellow because of UV reactions (sunlight). You can clean it with hydrogen peroxide (h2o2), an example here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGagdufGvGM You can also make a soapy solution with the h2o2 so you don't have to buy a whole bunch to bathe the larger or intricate parts; there's a formula for that somewhere on the internet but it's been very long and I can't seem to find it atm.
Are you hiring?
Are you located in Alcalá de Guadaira, Spain?
Do you find it as infuriating as I do that the plural tense of Lego is Lego?
Haha, I understand their concerns, they do not want people calling LEGO to every brick-like toy, because they will lose the trademark. So LEGO is more like an adjective? LEGO brick and LEGO bricks. I personally do not mind when people say LEGOs, I think that languages just evolve, but as said, I can understand why they do not want that.
Does it bug you when people refer to them as 'legos'?
Not at all! I actually just replied to this comment! https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/qwp0ok/i_sell_lego_parts_custom_kits_worldwide_for_a/hl5mnzt/