Purchasing complete kit for Nico71’s products
If you like my creations, they are available to purchase for yourself or as a gift.
There are two way to buy complete kits of my models : with genuine LEGO bricks, or with aftermarket bricks (Chinese bricks)
Buying official product with Genuine LEGO Bricks
There are only one official retailers for Nico71’s products which use LEGO Genuine bricks : Buildamoc. He provides complete kits for my creations, including genuine and new Lego parts as well as PDF building instructions and stickers sheet if relevant. You will get the best quality bricks here as well as the high resell value.
See my collection here on Buildamoc.
Buying official product with non-genuine LEGO bricks (Chinese Aftermarket bricks)
Buildamoc is not the only store who sell Nico71’s creations. There are many others selling through Amazon, Ebay, AliExpress, and so on, which use non-genuine LEGO bricks but Chinese Aftermarket Bricks.
There is no problem to buy aftermarket parts, and is legal now, except for certain patented parts. The only condition is that the company who sell the products has acquire legally the right to do so and so the consent of the original authors to respect the copyright.
In this case, the sellers shall write that the models are officially licensed from the author or that he acquires legally the right (by a contract, often notarized). You must search the authorization of the original author on the page to see if he endorse this website or if the seller has just pirated its content (this is the aim of this page).
To easy searching on my creations : some companies have legally acquired the copyright to produce my creations and own the right to use the IP content for their own purpose, including making respect the copyright according their country regulations. Here are the lists :
- Articulated 8×8 Offroad Truck – Copyright owned by Ningbo DreamFish Tech Co., Ltd (Reg n°91330283MA2H49MF57)
- Citroen 2CV and Mehari – Collaboration between Buildamoc, Nico71 and Mehari Club of Cassis (VAT n°FR 73 385 081 161)
- Telescope – Collaboration between Buildamoc, Nico71 and MEDAS INSTRUMENTS (VAT n°FR83310914544.)
- Any creations with my Name made for CADA Brand – Doubleeagle Industry Limited (Reg n°91440515665033317L)
- Any creation with my Name on lesdiy.com (lesdiy.de), letbricks.com and middlebrick.com (HK Chuangteng Trade Co. Limited, Reg n°2035202)
All other stores that do not display clearly the author consent or the license acquisition proof or which do not appear in the list above are unauthorized and have simply pirated my creations or plagiarized my instructions.
How to make the difference between LEGO and non LEGO products
For the official Lego sets :
- Check on Rebrickable if it is an official set. If it is, compare the price with the official Lego product. If the price is too good to be true, it’s probably a counterfeit with unofficial Lego clone parts. Also consider the price relative to piece count. You should typically expect 0.07€ to 0.15€ per piece for genuine Lego sets.
- Look for an explicit statement about using Lego genuine parts. If it is not there, it is most probably aftermarket bricks. “bricks” or “blocks” are not Lego parts in themselves, look out specifically for the “Lego”.
- Don’t trust all reviews. Fake reviews are often short, unspecific to the product and may look odd due to robot translation into English. You can use Reviewmeta to check if they are true or not.
- Enquire on the Lego Technic Facebook page if the product is fake or not. There are many experts who can answer you.
Buying products composed of LEGO bricks is more expensive but the resell value is also more expensive and consistent over the time.
For other creations (MOCs):
- If the price is too good to be true, it probably uses Lego clone parts. Also consider the price relative to piece count. You should typically expect 0.10€ to 0.20€ per piece for independent designer sets using genuine Lego parts. Basically, a 2000-piece supercar for €100 in LEGO is just not possible.
- Look out explicit consent of the designer on the product page or the store webpage, even if you can see the designer’s original videos or pictures.
- Look for an explicit statement about using Lego genuine parts. If it is not there, it is most probably aftermarket bricks. “bricks” or “blocks” are not Lego parts in themselves, look out specifically for the word “LEGO”.
- These companies sometimes even embed the author’s YouTube video or pictures, or the Rebrickable ID (MOC-XXXX format). If so, check on the designer’s website if they authorize that particular trader. You can also contact the designed directly via their website or Rebrickable.
- Do a Reverse Image Search by downloading a picture. You should see what other websites use the picture, including the designer’s website.
- Enquire on the Lego Technic Facebook page if the product is fake or not. There are many experts who can answer you.
Buying products composed of aftermarket Chinese bricks is cheaper than genuine LEGO, but the resell value is also way cheaper and there are many brand and so not a unified quality.