this post was submitted on 11 Jun 2026
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[Rant] It's frustrating when models are ONLY priced with vendors in mind (piefed.social)
submitted 2 days ago by WhatTheDuck@piefed.social to c/3dprinting@lemmy.world
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$10 for a single model... or $20 a month for four models? For some flexi toy with 20 separate variations that only have tiny changes?

I recognize this is a pretty minor issue in the grand scheme of things. There are plenty of alternatives - both free and paid. It's just a frustrating trend I've been noticing. I'm all for supporting artists and recognizing the time and effort it takes to create the model. I have a handful of Pateron subscriptions/donations.

I don't sell anything. I print for myself and for gifts. Not everyone wants to sell prints at flea markets, but it feels like that's the assumption now.

Side rant: It's annoying how the first thing EVERYONE says when seeing your prints is that "you could sell these!!" I know they mean well, like it's a compliment, but it's annoying when it's insisted on as if they were the first people make such a profound thought.

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[–] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 11 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Side rant: It’s annoying how the first thing EVERYONE says when seeing your prints is that “you could sell these!!”

Yeah, let me tell you about selling your own prints. Let me tell you all about that. There is way more complication and many more moving parts than anyone expects at first glance. Or, even, after a good second look.

Everybody thinks you need to find a way to monetize all your hobbies now. It's "HuStLe cUlTuRe!!!" You have to make your own decision on that point. Do it because you want to, not because you expect to make any kind of money at it.

I'm doing it because I want to. You couldn't stop me, even with a wall.

[–] WhatTheDuck@piefed.social 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Agreed with ALL this.

People will just keep repeating it. Every. New. Print. "You could sell that!!" My coworkers can't comprehend just enjoying a hobby for the sake of it.

(I've offered to print things at cost; they're not repeating it in a "I want one" kind of way).

[–] esc@piefed.social 7 points 1 day ago

It's even worse for functional parts, people sell broken stls and when asked to fix them or export into step so I could fix them they start screeching some bullshit.

[–] Zahille7@lemmy.world 19 points 2 days ago (1 children)

On the other hand, the amount of conventions I've been to and seen multiple 3D printed toy vendors in one venue, each sharing the majority of designs/prints among them, I can totally understand why someone would put a paywall for their designs.

I've seen so many identical flexi-dragons, "knitted" Pokemon, Mandalorian Mario characters, and fidget bullshit that none of it is unique anymore. Hell, toy companies have started selling those shitty 3D printed flexi-dragons on actual stores like Walmart because people actually buy that literal trash.

[–] WhatTheDuck@piefed.social 5 points 1 day ago

Yeah, I don't blame artists for wanting a piece of the pie. Most artists have tiered payment options so licensed vendors pay more, but Hobbyists seem a bit lost in the crossfire sometimes. The AI slop model grift is getting worse too, which just rubs salt in the wounds.

[–] MrQuallzin@pie.eyeofthestorm.place 12 points 2 days ago

I found a creator who designed a LOT of beautiful tuned flutes and whistles. Huge assortment, large variety of shapes sizes and (musical) scales.

I only bought a single design, and I'd love to buy more, but it'd cost hundreds of dollars to get the sets I'd like just for myself.

It's hard to support creators when they do that.

[–] daannii@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Most of my models have free licensing and all of them are free models.

The ones without open licensing are remixes so I can't grant that. With the exception of one model I have restrictions on selling online only.

I don't have a ton of models and maybe nothing you are looking for. A few toys. A few functional things.

But I wanted to make free models for people who can't afford licensing.

I'm also on printables thingiverse cults3d but my makerworld account has more stuff posted on it.

The stl files are also on makerworld. Just click the down arrow next to "download 3mf" (green box) and select STL files.

I have detailed tutorials for my big projects like the cat clock and Harry Potter egg.

I get points when you download from makerworld (if you have a makerworld account) Which I use to buy filament. So I can make more free models.

So there is a reason I keep my makerworld account more up to date. To try to encourage downloads from there.

For example . I used up 4 rolls of filament to design my cat clock and it took me about 100 hours of design edits.

Plus I spent ~$50 on hardware for it.

It's a free model. But I earn back some of my expenses by points on makerworld.

I make models as a hobby but I try to not spend too much to design anything. Cat clock was the worst offender. But it's a pretty cool model (eyes and tail move)

Anywho. If you like anything I have , just scroll to the bottom of the description where I list if licensing is free.

Like I said. Most of my originals are with 1 exception. The cat clock. Online restrictions only.

But remixes have some restrictions because they aren't fully mine.

https://makerworld.com/@Daann_ii

[–] WhatTheDuck@piefed.social 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Thank you for the perspective of being a designer, and for all the work shared with the community.

I'm definitely thankful for Makerworld's incentives, and it shows with their abundance of great models.

[–] daannii@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

Yeah the incentives are very good on makerworld.

I actually got my printer (A1 and ams) from points I earned from one model of mine that' was popular (jumping spider).

100% paid for with points.

I was able to buy a A1 mini and ams lite a year later for my nieces and nephews. Though I think I'll be taking it back cause they never use it.

But still. Was pretty cool I could buy all that with points from my free models.

Some people say I should sell them but on cults3d you can see how much people sell their models for and how many were sold.

I earn more making them free. It's just the money is Bambu gift cards. I believe you can exchange points for actual money now but it's like 30 cents on the Bambu dollar. So, I'll just buy filament with it.

[–] TootSweet@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I don’t sell anything.

Good on you. In the realm of 3D printing, if I were to start a business based on 3D printing stuff, I wouldn't feel bad about, say, commissions for printing something the client found elsewhere on demand or commissions for designing a model. (I suppose theoretically a "3d printer repair service" would be something I'd be ok with charging for as well.) But I definitely couldn't feel good about selling models or prints (as opposed to selling my labor and potentially a little bit for raw materials and wear/tear on my printer) that I'd previously designed/printed. I think probably one of my conditions for model design commissions would be that I could publish the model under a CC BY-SA license.

"Information wants to be free." Something I deeply believe.

[–] Scrath@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

I have designed a couple of things and whenever I publish them I make them CC BY-NC-SA. I don't think I have designed anything people would be interested in selling but I explicitly do not want people to mass produce and sell my stuff. There's already more than enough plastic in the world and the popularity of 3D printers and the amount of gimmicky models I have seen are not helping that issue

[–] TootSweet@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Totally valid. And I tend to think CC BY-NC-SA is probably used more commonly than CC BY-SA. And I'd imagine folks tend to see that NC option and wonder why anyone would ever want to not do that. (I can certainly see why people would be like "Great. That's all permissive licenses need: more Capitalism /s.") Just to explain why I don't usually use the NC (and please don't take this as shade by any means):

When Linksys took a bunch of GPL'd code (including the Linux kernel), compiled it, stuck it on hardware, and sold that hardware to end users, they violated the terms of the GPL. The GPL has no non-commercial license terms, but it does require that the source code (or at least a written offer of source code) be conveyed along with any compiled versions -- including compiled versions on devices sold. Copyright owners for some of that GPL'd code were able to go to Linksys and force them to release the source code of much of what was running on the devices, which enabled the creation of the first versions of OpenWRT (As well as off-shoots like DD-WRT and such).

Something similar is going on in the courts now with regard to smart TVs. With luck, we'll have open source software distros for TVs similar to what OpenWRT is to routers.

If the GPL had forbidden commercial use, we wouldn't have the cheap routers that an ordinary consumer could run OpenWRT on that we do. (And cheap devices and greater availability means more people engaging in the community, submitting PRs, and otherwise contributing and enjoying the freedoms afforded.) In short, commercial use can be a feature in service to end-user freedom. It's not always strictly a bad thing for permissively-licensed works.

So, that explains why I almost always go for GPL licenses when writing software, but of course that doesn't speak to 3D models.

With regard to 3D models, I'm just hoping that by allowing commercial use, it ends up raising some amount of awareness about things like Creative Commons and intellectual property reform in general. If I ever found someone was selling my models, as long as they give me attribution and inform recipients of the license, I'd feel good that at least a few normie non-nerds would have a chance of being exposed to the whole idea of Creative Commons and intellectual property reform in general.

Again, no shade. Just thought it might be germane.

[–] Scrath@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 day ago

That's a good argument. I wasn't aware of the history of OpenWRT. For software I generally used the MIT license in the past, though I am now shying away from it given that it seems a bit too permissive in my opinion. I should probably research the GPL licenses a bit to figure out if one of those suits my needs.

[–] JustEnoughDucks@slrpnk.net 0 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Sadly, people will still steal it and sell it no matter the license. Companies might be slightly more hesitant to steal it, but anyone selling at flea markets will not even give it a second thought.

[–] WhatTheDuck@piefed.social 1 points 1 day ago

That will always be a risk, but I wouldn't expect that from a "serious" average vendor. Maybe from a small-time seller, but they're not making much money regardless. I'd think most large print farms wouldn't risk their business to skimp out on license fees.

No real way to know regardless.

[–] Scrath@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 day ago

Yes, that is unfortunately true. Better some protection than none at all though

[–] TheButtonJustSpins@infosec.pub 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Reach out to the designer and ask if you can print one for personal use for cheaper. Many will work with you.

[–] WhatTheDuck@piefed.social 3 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Really? This would feel like an entitled overstep to me. No shade if that's what you do, it would just feel wrong to me.

[–] KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 16 hours ago

It really comes down to what the product is intended for. If these were only something that could be used for creating a product to sell, I would agree with you. But in this case it is easily something someone could want for personal use.

[–] TheButtonJustSpins@infosec.pub 1 points 18 hours ago

I mean, as you pointed out, people price with vendors in mind. If you're polite and respectful, I don't see an issue with asking for a pricing model that makes more sense for your use. They can say no or ignore you, of course, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

[–] viral.vegabond@piefed.social 3 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Yeah, I agree that would be frustrating. It's not really their fault though. Society has conditioned them to constantly look at things in an 'is it marketable' way. Having a broader perspective on the matter might quell some of your irritation about it, or at least give credence to it.

[–] socsa@piefed.social 1 points 9 hours ago

To me it just comes off as someone saying "that's cool, but what's the point if you aren't making money? Seems like a waste of time." It's just very dismissive.

Like, if you grow tomatoes, nobody goes "damn you could sell these." Because everyone understands that having a backyard garden is a hobby, with the benefit that you get some decent tomatoes, though at fairly high cost compared to just about any other source of tomatoes.

[–] WhatTheDuck@piefed.social 2 points 1 day ago

I understand, which is why I don't really blame the individual artists. The 3D printing community has grown tremendously with modern 'user-friendly' printers, so naturally there's been a shift in demographics. It also doesn't help how much AI slop grifters are around now too. I just hate the general trend.