2: Sometimes yes. What I pay depends on how much I want it. I did pay $13 for a lampshade design, but was then free to reuse it multiple times (which I have done) so design cost/print was low
3: Nope - they aren’t very good
4: Haven’t considered it
5: Not sure.
I do think it’s great to be able to show designers you value their work & by paying for designs. Equally it would be great to distribute that cost across many purchasers.
So if a designer would charge one $300 to do create a commissioned 3D printable design, then a way to approach this for a distributed cost model might look something like this:
A designer posts a locked design (let’s say lampshade cause I’m a fan of those right now) on a platform. Once 30 people have ‘paid $10’ for the design it is ‘unlocked’ and those 30 receive the design.
From then on anyone who want to buy that design can do so for $10 and receive it immediately.
If the predetermined threshold isn’t reached then everyone gets their money back sans design.
The benefits for the buyers are that they receive use of a super cool design AND designers are incentivized to create really cool designs cause they have the reassurance they will be fairly paid.
Designers may also be more inclined to throw in one ‘free to the community’ design every 6 months as thanks for support they receive. In turn more awesome designs are more regularly available & we’re supporting creators.
Hey @Nikki thanks for the feedback, that’s a really interesting idea you have regarding the commissioned design and it seems it might solve the problem of designers not receiving ‘adequate’ or fair reward for their efforts. That was one of the major problems I think there is in the current 3D content platforms in that there is a risk that a designer has put in heaps of effort but gets little reward for their work in the end (especially if it is an awesome design). I have tried to solve the problem a different way but I like your idea.
Hi Arnoldas, it is called www.trinpy.com, my idea was similar to Nikki’s in that I wanted to download great designs but they were too expensive to pay for one offs. So I thought if everyone paid a small amount to subscribe and get unlimited downloads then the percentage of revenue goes to the designers so the most popular designs could earn a lot of money continuously for their designs. I’d love to hear your thoughts about the idea because to be honest I don’t know if people will use it or think it is a good system for both downloaders and designers?
Hi Nikki, another user wanted to know about the website so I thought I’d just put it here for you because you seemed interested. I’d love to hear your thoughts about the concept because the idea you submitted seems a little similar.
Hi Arnoldas, it is called www.trinpy.com, my idea was similar to Nikki’s in that I wanted to download great designs but they were too expensive to pay for one offs. So I thought if everyone paid a small amount to subscribe and get unlimited downloads then the percentage of revenue goes to the designers so the most popular designs could earn a lot of money continuously for their designs. I’d love to hear your thoughts about the idea because to be honest I don’t know if people will use it or think it is a good system for both downloaders and designers?
1. I print more designs that are not my own than those I made.
2. No, but if the design is very thought out and useful to me I would pay for it.
3. Yes I have uploaded my models to thingiverse.
4. Both, I do want to make money selling things I make and designs that I put a lot of time into. I also enjoy adding to the community and will add free models that were not time consuming for me to make.
5. It depends on what the other designs are going for and what people are willing to pay. For a completely unique design I would charge a few dollars more because of less competition. For something like a phone case where there are many designs I would try to stay competitive.
P.S. I have not put any of my 3D models for sale yet so I don’t know concrete numbers, these are just my general plans for the future when I eventually do start selling them.
Hi @yolandamui, thanks very much for your feedback, it is very helpful. Just a quick question, which option do you think you would prefer for selling your models?
1. Sell them for a fixed price everytime someone downloads them (for example $1)
2. Sell them for a fixed price and it doesn’t matter how many downloads you get (for example $100)
2. Not yet , a reasonable price lies in the uniqueness of the design, reasonable is a price wher a part of the design hours and full print fee is calculated. price calculation depends on the quatity you’r expect to sell!
3.Yes
4. Of course to make money
5. The problem is the ownership of your design, i tackle this by printing it on demand with my own printer, so they will be owner of the product but not the designownweship!
1. Yes 2. No. I would never pay unless I knew I could make hundreds on the return and there’s no way to know that. 3. No. I would if I make something cool not worth anything. 4. I would expect the lions share of profits if my model brings in money from ads/number of downloads, and I’d give the website a percentage, otherwise they would only get uploads of failed prototypes for example.
Hi @nino, thanks very much for your feedback, just a quick question regarding the ownership of the design problem you raised. Would you be more comfortable uploading your design if customers could only stream the design not download it or would you prefer just to sell the physical product only?
I would rather sell them for a fixed price every time someone downloads them. Making more money on a design in the long run is more important to me than getting a big up front payment.
Hi @domenus, thanks so much for sharing your site. Nice work on 3 tier subscription model.
I think the idea is great & probably a route I’d have opted for, but you started me thinking and I’ve seen some pro’s of a ‘unlocking’ route that may not exist with the subs model, but I might be wrong so do correct me.
The contribute X to ‘unlock’ or ‘community commission’ model means both customers paying for designs and designers creating the designs are incentivized to market and promote the service.
EG: I’m a designer & propose that I design a super cool planter. I upload a sketch or the design with an unlock fee of $100. It is now in my best interest to promote my design, & get supporters.
For the 2 customers who see the design and think ‘I must have it now’, it is in their best interest to share the design and convince other like minded people to invest too.
Apart from the marketing and promotion - can’t help thinking there are some great options here - the two groups are doing, the designers are also getting a fair rate (or at the very least a rate they believe to be fair for a particular design).
Either model could work and I think the questions to answer are whether it is quantity (unlimited downloads) or access to more affordable high quality designs?
Quantity I’d go for subs. Quality I’d go for distributing cost with a guarantee that the designer receives their desired base rate.
What do you think?
Thanks I’m enjoying the model provoking thread you’ve got going!
Hi @toymaker2, no worries I am enjoying it too! I don’t think there really is a correct model and I completely agree with the ‘unlock’ model in that the designer and customers are both incentivized to market and promote the design/service. I suppose one concern I would have with the ‘unlock’ model is if the designer had to focus much of their time and effort on the marketing of their potential designs rather than them doing what they are best at which is making awesome designs! And if they were only getting a few of their designs to the unlocked stage then their would be lots of wasted promotional time which might negate the ‘unlock’ fees they are receiving for their successful designs. But in saying that I think it sounds like an interesting model and who knows maybe that is the way forward? Or maybe some sort of hybrid system?
It seems like a really tough balance to ensure good reward for designers and still affordable designs for customers. I suppose with the model I am using now I am trying to distribute the rewards to the best designs so that they keep uploading their work for everyone else to use at a subsidised cost basically. Hmm very tricky…
2. I will pay for good ones or what I ordered. The design is unique, original and I want it.
3. Yes, I’ve already done so, but like you, no spams here
4. If I can “make money” from this that will be great, because do what I want to do and make my life better is always my target.
5. For this “earning thing”, I’m quite agreed with others, I mean get paid at a certain price.
Your questions make me want to share one more thing, that is now in China, the intellectual property is being protected much better than before, I’m sure there will be more and more oriental designers join into the community
1. Yes, but I design my owns too.
2. I will pay for good ones or what I ordered. The design is unique, original and I want it.
3. Yes, I’ve already done so, but like you, no spams here
4. If I can “make money” from this that will be great, because do what I want to do and make my life better is always my target.
5. For this “earning thing”, I’m quite agreed with others, I mean get paid at a certain price.
Your questions make me want to share one more thing, that is now in China, the intellectual property is being protected much better than before, I’m sure there will be more and more oriental designers join into the community
Hi Cui @Elric_Zufan, thanks very much for your feedback its great to hear form someone in China. I used to work with a few Chinese companies in my old job and we started to notice the change in intellectual property rights there. Is there much of a maker community already in China? I see there are a few listed as hubs but not too many.
Yes there are already some communities here in China, they have cool web sites, good UI experience, the 3D designs are usually from internet and are free to download. The jewellery models mostly are the ones which are getting paid, and the commissioned ones will be paid too. I think they are all focus on domestic market, usually there is no english version of web site.
You can’t see many chinese makers on the hubs, one reason I think is the language, 3DHUBS is in english, most people will not use it since it is not in our language (do not take alibaba as an example, it is a chinese company and being used to make international business, that’s a different story); the other reason I think, is the cultural background, “DIY and makers of things” are still new words for us (not like cooking, DIY of cooking is popular all around the world), this limits the market of individuals being very small, so the idea of 3DHUBS, “print in local”, will need more time to be accepted by chinese individuals, and this also depends on where you live, take Hongkong and Guangdong for example, in that area, the idea is much more popular than “China Inland"…I will stop blablabla, since there are still many things to say (like industrial market, 3Dprinting for foreigners who live in China, etc), it’s better to make a real report about this, like what 3DHubs is doing, maybe the report would prove what I’m thinking is right or wrong.
Anyway, I’d like to see more chinese makers on the hubs too ;-D
Thanks Cui, very interesting points you make. Yes I certainly noticed the cultural difference throughout my work and I agree it will take some time. Thanks for your feedback and point of view and for registering on my site
Hi StudioK, thanks very much for your feedback, just a quick question, would you consider paying more than $5 for a model if you really liked it or do you think that would be about your maximum?
