All my designs are uploaded under a noncommercial license, so I appreciate this person reaching out about selling. However, I noticed a couple red flags and was wondering if anyone else has experience with situations like this.
The user’s account was created very recently on Printables, and has no activity on the website (probably just because they saw a model of mine and had to create an account to message me)
I visited the EngineDIY YT channel and somehow they have 360k subscribers despite their most popular video having only 35k views. (Seems sketchy and possibly botted)
I’d say to stear clear of them. If you are really considering selling your makes, you’ve got plenty of different well established and verified options, starting with Printables’ own online shop, and going through MediaMaker, CGTrader, etc, to Etsy and even Amazon. There are plenty of safer options to choose from.
Lets suppose you agreed.
How will you know how many items they have sale?
I would make an agreement with a fixed month fee enabling the sales of this model on each of those month. No payment one moth, no right to show the item for sale.
I still wouldn’t go for it. Why would you ask?
First reason, go through their entire T&Cs [Terms of service– EngineDIY]. Many of the clauses stated therein are clear alarm bells to me.
Second, they are established in China. Try enforcing your IP or commercial rights against them, should they decide to go “haywire” on you.
Third, see their contact email address [chongchong200953@gmail.com]. It’s obvious that’s not a corporate or professional email. Most likely, this “company” is made up by one or a couple more of guys, trying to make a name for themselves. They might be legit and lack funding or not be that concerned by having a dedicated mail server, but for me it’s another alarm bell.
Forth, go through their Shipping and Delivery and their Return Policy… that’s, for me at least, another dead ringer.
Lastly, do a thorough research on their company via multiple search engines, verify if they are really registered with the Chinese Trade and Commerce Chamber, their stats and financial history, whether there are negative user/customer reports on them, eventually, contacting the Chinese regulatory authorities for confirmation on their existence and compliance with the applicable laws.
Going through all their available info, couldn’t find anything related to their registration, address, phone or postal contact, nor any reference to them being subject to a specific Chinese jurisdiction.
All in all, I’d definitely say “pass” to their offer.
Their website was registered in 2018 and they have Trustpilot reviews starting in 2021. The first thing I would do is ask him if you can contact him through a @diyengine.com email address to verify he’s really with them. If he is talk about what the details of the partnership would be. If what he offers sounds good I would go for it. If at ANY point he asks for any money from you for ANYTHING it’s a scam.
** update - I just saw Drakko’s post, his research was more thorough than mine… yeah, probably take a pass lol.
Thank you all for the detailed advice! I’ll look through everything before going any farther, but I probably will end up passing. The potential for a couple bucks doesn’t really outweigh possibly getting scammed
My thoughts exactly. While making a buck or more could be very tempting, especially if you only have to supply the files, while the other party handles everything else on your behalf, the risk of being scammed and ripped off, including tarnishing your designer reputation and credibility , is way to high (in my opinion) and it appears that you don’t have any real redress means to defend yourself and your work in case of abuse or (plain) theft. So, while I do recommend you to go through the entire process I’ve described in the post above , so that you reach a conclusion by yourself, this will also help you learn how to test future proposals like the one you’ve received, to determine the potential risks for you and, eventually, how to mitigate or avoid them.
I’ve just looked at their web site, I do not see them as being overpriced. They are charging what the market will pay. Their stuff is quite well made, a local steam museam bought 50 or so of their coffeee cup stirling enginesfor resale. I’ve no idea what they have seen of yours on printables. I would contact them via their website, and ask for more info. on how they want to proceed. If your printables thing is not selling, you have nothing to lose by talking to them. You can easily design other models if they rip off this one, but they have started off by asking first.
