Purchase limits (and a rant)

[wermy]

Hey guys,
Someone had asked in another thread if we planned to do limits on things like the PCBs and 3d-printed parts (i.e one person can only buy X every batch or something). It honestly had not crossed my mind before so I didn't intend to. Then this happened:

"Hey there A sorry for my late reply.

Im a user from Helder & Wemy's forum, I contacted them couple of weeks ago to see If I could realize my project with their PCB and also use their images as example.

You can see in the image link I send you they allow me to sell pre-built units but they dont allow me to use their images ( which is okey ).

And im contacting you because they will only make a few availible to the public which is the reason why I contacted them and I have their permission.

Best Regards,
D"

rude.png (37.29 KiB) Viewed 13951 times

This is a guy from the forums who has contacted me before about setting up an online shop to sell completed mintyPi units. I told him it was fine with me. I can't (and wouldn't) stop people from selling stuff they make, and others sell completed GBZ units all the time. I told him he just couldn't use any of my photos or anything on his site, so that people wouldn't think it was "official" straight from me. He took that as permission to go around my and Helder's back, straight to the PCB manufacturer, and try to order 1000 PCBs (which we haven't even finished testing!). He sent them an image that Helder had posted of the latest prototype and said "I want 1000 of these."

So, in light of that experience, it seems prudent to put a limit in place, at least initially.

The other thing this made us stop and think about was whether/when to release designs for the PCBs and 3d-printed parts. The PCB designs are Helders, so it's up to him if/when he releases them. I *will* release the STL files for the case, I'll probably just wait a bit before doing so. It sucks because that sort of goes against the whole spirit of the 3d-printing and maker communities, but we kind of dodged a bullet by having the PCB manufacturer contact us and let us know what was going on. The guy above nearly had a business built completely off our work and designs without our permission, ready to go from day 1. That doesn't seem right.

We're still trying to figure this out, so I wanted to open up a discussion to talk about it and decide what's fair. The boards will be easy to put a limit on, since they will be in batches anyway. The 3d-printed parts will be a little harder to decide on how to limit, since I'll basically be cranking out as many as I can.

What do you guys think? Is this an overreaction? Hopefully it doesn't seem like we're being greedy. I know I've sunk considerable time and money into getting everything ready for this project, and to be frank, I was really hoping to recoup that and then some. That could be hard to do if there are lots of people like the guy above who want to sell huge amounts of them and profit off of it right off the bat.

[rodocop]

Definitely shady to go behind your back like that. Do what you gotta do, If you have a limit and/or don't release the files that is fine by me, since I only plan to build one for myself. I'm not in it to make cash. I plan to 100% purchase a kit when they are available. I'll happily to pay whatever price since you guys put in all the hard work. Kudos to you two, hanks for all the hard work!!

[HoolyHoo]

This is a damn shame. The board and STL designs are yours and Helder's creations. You should not feel bad about limiting or not releasing any files right away. I think all rightful members on this forum will not have any problem with that. It's only those that might want to take advantage that will. I think you should hold off until you recoup your investments and at a later time make your decision. By that time things will be more clear for you.

[drafterITA]

Definitely protect your intellectual property.. You had a super cool idea and, as you said, spent time and money to make it available initially for the users of this forum.
So a limit on a single purchase is just fair, and I'm also willing to pay a fair price for a kit, screen+connectors+pcb+3d printed parts, so that both you and Helder are not only encouraged to keep doing this but also get some cash for future projects.
Kudos

[Helder]

I was contacted this morning by the service rep from the fabricator saying if I gave someone permission to have boards I made available to them and of course I said hell no.

They deleted their order but not before giving me all the info Wermy posted above and I asked which board did they show her and it was indeed the Red mintyPi board attached to the LCD board, the damn thing was an old iteration that has changed but is still useful for testing nonetheless.

This sucks because it solidifies what I always knew to be true about people just wanting to cash in on other's work, take for example the plain GBZ board I released the files of the version I had and someone turns around and sells them for a little more than what I charged when I did sell them and also removes my name and logo but changed nothing else. So there will be limits and there will be no updates or images of any AIO of this board until it's been finalized and is ready for sale and this is likely to be the course of action for any of my projects heading forward.

All it takes is one bad apple to ruin the bunch, right Denzel?

[dryja123]

Nope, not an over reaction. I think a limit of 2 per person would be fair, until it's decided whether or not you want to mass produce the PCB for sale. I would want one for myself and give one away to my brother as a gift.

It would be a damn shame if one person bought the entire lot to turn a profit when there are hundreds of hobbyists who would purely enjoy building these and sharing the retro gaming / novelty joy.

Edit: perhaps a limit to 1 would be better suited for the first launch.

You guys should protect your intellectual property.

[Sirlias]

Definitely shady to go behind your back like that. Do what you gotta do, If you have a limit and/or don't release the files that is fine by me, since I only plan to build one for myself. I'm not in it to make cash. I plan to 100% purchase a kit when they are available. I'll happily to pay whatever price since you guys put in all the hard work. Kudos to you two, hanks for all the hard work!!

I agree wholeheartedly. I, for one, hope the limit is 2 not 1 but understand if it's 1 and will happily pay for shipping twice in order to get two. I also understand if we need to buy the 3d printed parts instead of having access to the STL files and will gladly pay for them as well. I think most reasonable people would agree.

[moosepr]

Wow, just when you thought you had seen it all!

There is always someone trying to make a fast buck, if it's not the 'pre loaded' SD cards for silly money then it's a pi in a box for 3 times the price of the parts.

You are well within your rights to limit sales, maybe even include the forum into it, so only users with more than a handful of thanks to there name can order one. Might limit it to real users maybe?

[Sirlias]

Wow, just when you thought you had seen it all!

There is always someone trying to make a fast buck, if it's not the 'pre loaded' SD cards for silly money then it's a pi in a box for 3 times the price of the parts.

You are well within your rights to limit sales, maybe even include the forum into it, so only users with more than a handful of thanks to there name can order one. Might limit it to real users maybe?

How many is a handful? Is it 9??... Because I'm hoping it's 9...

For...reasons.

edit: Thanks to this joke I'm now in double digits...I'm probably safe now...right?

[dryja123]

Wow, just when you thought you had seen it all!

There is always someone trying to make a fast buck, if it's not the 'pre loaded' SD cards for silly money then it's a pi in a box for 3 times the price of the parts.

You are well within your rights to limit sales, maybe even include the forum into it, so only users with more than a handful of thanks to there name can order one. Might limit it to real users maybe?

How many is a handful? Is it 9??... Because I'm hoping it's 9...

For...reasons.

edit: Thanks to this joke I'm now in double digits...I'm probably safe now...right?

Giving thanks because you added some levity to this discussion.