Please help with my survey

Guys we are doing some market research and would really appreciate if you could give us 2 minutes of your time and help out with these surveys below.
Thank you

[www.surveymonkey.com]
[www.surveymonkey.com]

Both done

I wouldn't mind filling in a survey, but i would at least want to know where it is coming from, and what the plan is....

both done too!
though there is nothing confidential in the answers, i agree with Banjer... would be nice to hear what you intend to do with them.

The information is being used to try and find out if there is a market for selling designs to people to print. I don't think it will work well. Why pay for something that should always be free. I share all my designs and all I ask for is the credit that I was the initial designer. I don't get why all these companies are trying to get designers of printable parts to sell them to people that are new or people that don't know how. I personally can't see a situation in which I would spend my money for a design. That's just my opinion.

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There are plenty of pay model sites around. Some with quite expensive models too. A micro payment model site seems like something that should be viable and might be useful.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/27/2013 03:52AM by Greg Frost.

I'm not sure if its going to be micro or as expensive as the other sites. I just have a different way of believing on this industry. There are always companies trying to make a quick buck by simply putting a site together and charging for something I believe should be up to the owner. A lot of people want to keep their designs open source. So i guess you'll use if you want to and not if not. I just wish all this energy was put into something useful. That's all. More power to ya if you can make money being the middle man but I would rather deal with the designer myself.

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REPRAP SQUAD Wrote:
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> I believe should be up to the owner.

I couldn't agree more, but it also means that if the owner/creator wants to sell his stuff via a company the should be free to do that.

I highly doubt it would be free to sell your designs. The company has to make money somehow other wise they wouldn't be doing it in fortunately. They will either make money by charging a membership or the seller will have to pay per use. Or they will take a percentage from the buyer. It could also be a combination of all 3. That's the bad part about middle men companies. They drive up costs to make their bit of money.

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REPRAP SQUAD Wrote:
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> I highly doubt it would be free to sell your
> designs.

I was talking about free as in freedom, not free as in free beer.

And sure, a middleman drives up the costs, but it also frees the creator of a lot of hassle, giving them more time to create.
Personally, i couldn't be arsed with the trouble selling my creations online brings, so i publish them under GPL or CC, but others might want to use a service.
Take a look at sites like Etsy, they prove there is a market.

I agree I'm just stating my opinion and I think it mostly stems from the fact that I see warning signs of big business taking over the industry. I just don't want this great industry ruined. All these companies buying up every patient, copyright and name for a reprap product they can think of. Regardless I shouldn't be worried because we will always run the industry. It started here and I just believe it should stay here. I guess if you can help people out with a design buy andsell program then do it.

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I think it is a good plan to set up a site where one can download and buy STLs.

as long as the price is low and the models are tested and come with a good set of printing instructions.

but how would you prevent " illegal " spreading of these STL files?

It would be hard because as we've learned from the music industry, where there's a will there's a way. If people really want to spend the time, they will find a way to get around anti piracy protection. It happens everyday. I do however hope that they ask realistic prices for downloads as well as offer a free section for people who want to share their designs for no added cost.

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