Cuusoo is back ... sort of

CCC

Since Lego transfered their cuusoo platform to their own website, bricklink are now sponsoring a new cuusoo ... cuusoo brick.

https://cuusoo.com/brands/cuusoo-brick#what-is-cuusoo-brick

And here you only need 100 votes to make it ... to the bricklink moc shop.

MorkMan

Sponsored by Bricklink. Huh, they are really going for the gold with this sort of partnership with TLG.

binaryeye

MorkMan said:

Sponsored by Bricklink. Huh, they are really going for the gold with this sort of partnership with TLG.

I don't believe LEGO is involved.

CCC

Nope, it's a bricklink cuusoo partnership.

EddieDoesntMind

Oh boy, I can't wait to see what the BL forum have to say about this.

EddieDoesntMind

Seems to be confusion on if it's Lego, BL, or fan-based, and talking about the broken English on the site.

mdelleman

Meh. More fluff from BL when they should actually be improving their marketplace.

waynegg

Sounds like they want people to create for free original projects BL can then sell...

CCC

The idea of the MOC shop is that the designer gets a few percentage of the total sale, but the instructions can only be part of a complete set. So a seller has to collect all the bricks together and sell their bricks plus the designers instructions. So good models are meant to drive brick sales.

But I don't think it has worked very well. BL has had to start a company in the US called SoHoBricks, and ordered large numbers of parts from US sellers and now sells the MOCs themselves, in an attempt to try to get the MOC shop off and running. Yet their customer service seems to be rather poor, with complaints about delays in shipping.

Shib

The bit that really doesn't make sense to me is that you can nominate stuff made by other people.

Cuusoo-brick-FAQ said:

3. Can I nominate brickworks built by someone else ?

You can nominate brickworks by others, but you must mention the page where you quoted from. Please upload image using URL quotation.
Your project will be a curated proposal.

This just screams of asking for trouble to me. If anything I built was put on there I'd tell them to get lost. They as essentially adding an additional step to the review process that is completely unnecessary. If you think someone should put a project on there suggest it to them, don't post one for them.

CCC

^ The bad thing about that is that some MOCs may get nominated by others, make 100 votes, original designer not contactable or declines, and then the design gets copied by others and submitted to MOC shop anyway.

andhe

I think allowing the submission of other peoples ideas is a risky area. There's bound to be someone who submits an idea and either claims it as their own or just fails to acknowledge the source.

Huw

I've been discussing the issue of submitting others' models with Chris McVeigh, who found several of his models on the site. He sent them an email and they removed them promptly, but it does seem to be arse about face: he should have been asked for permission before they were made public, not have to remove them himself afterwards.

thehornedrat

Thanks CCC for clearing up how this website works.

Hmm, now to make money of CrowKillers! :EVIL: JKJK!!!

Tongue-in-cheek aside, I think they allow third party nominations to allow them to increase the volume of items for sale, so they can have a long enough 'long tail' of products for sale to be financially viable.

LEGO can also revive DESIGN byMe and put 'em out of business...

Steve_J_OM

An absolute train wreck of an idea allowing the work of others to be submitted.

binaryeye

Raise your hand if you thought, when news came of BrickLink's sale 18 months ago, that the first two major changes would be a MOC shop and a half-baked CUUSOO clone.

I fully expected a facelift to the site within the first six months. If their roadmap goes according to plan, it will have taken two years. I honestly don't care one way or the other because it works fine for me as-is. But considering the main complaint of new users is usability, I thought they would have addressed that first.

CCC

I certainly didn't. Although the moc shop was touted as test bed for BL2.0, although the amount of effort and money they are throwing at it, it does seem to be a driving force.

Something I've noticed recently is a lot of new users. I don't know if they are advertising more effectively, or just word of mouth.

The automated cart should be a good thing, if it comes along in January as it is meant to. Although I cannot see it being as good as brickowl's one, since they are missing dimensions in real units, having just studs instead.

CCC

I've just been having a look at what items there are on this site again.

Peter Reid's turtles have been submitted, by someone else, no doubt without permission... https://cuusoo.com/projects/6175

It is also interesting to see that the designer of the Piano has submitted his design to bricklink's cuusoo even though it is in the review stage with Lego.

https://cuusoo.com/brands/cuusoo-brick#curator-picks-today

So it wouldn't surprise me if lego don't pass it, as he is now touting it to other businesses.

binaryeye

CCC said:

Peter Reid's turtles have been submitted, by someone else, no doubt without permission... https://cuusoo.com/projects/6175

It's a bit odd they say "This design is made by a creator, but is not commercialized yet [...]", considering there's a turtle in the Exo-Suit.

I think it's only a matter of time before this concept gets shut down or seriously curtailed after someone threatens legal action.

LordofLego

I only saw 4 projects... Glitch or no interest?