"Is this normal for a merchant license?" Topic

I was looking at a Kickstarter and noticed the terms of the merchant license granted the right to sell prints indefinitely. However, selling painted prints was strictly prohibited. FWIW, this is from a successful creator with a solid track record of successful KS projects.

Now, I am not interested in a merchant license for these(not actually having a 3D printer) but I thought this was a bit odd. When I've looked at merchant licenses by other creators, I've never noticed this kind of caveat. Maybe targeting Chinese and Russian painters who sell on eBay?

I saw some nice looking 3D printed cavalry figures on Etsy. 3 for $8.00 USD, something like that.
With $245 USD shipping from Kazakhstan.
We are in strange times.

I've also seen some cannons for sale. I asked him if they were good for SYW or Napoleonics. "I don't know. I'm just licensed to print and sell!"
Literally.

So many 3D printers don't know or don't care whether or not they're accurate.

Caveat emptor.

Thanks for pointing out those points, gentlemen. I have only purchased 3D terrain, so far. Interesting.

I've purchased a few printed items on eBay and have been scrupulous about buying from either the creator or a licensed merchant. The only time I've been burned was getting some 17thC Puritan types who, on arrival, were armed with Colt revolvers and Winchester rifles. In my defense, the pictures on eBay weren't exactly clear.

However, my question is about purchasing the STL files themselves, and the curious caveat about not selling painted prints. The other restrictions on the merchant license makes sense, e.g. no alterations or modifications of the files. I'm just a bit perplexed at why you would be allowed to print and sell the figures in perpetuity, but can't paint the same figures an then sell them.

I've purchased many, many Kickstarter STL sets. Many of my purchases were at a higher price so that I "have purchased the rights" to print and sell the models. I have seen a wide variety of interesting restrictions across different offerings. While I've never seen this specific restrictions, it's not surprising on Kickstarter. There is no standard on the site for this and each creator seems to have a different variant of their generally not particularly professionally written licensing agreements. I'll guess this vendor may have plans to sell or license out the selling of painted ones at a different price point or doesn't trust random Kickstarter supporters to produce well painted models and may be afraid of some bad examples of their work bringing the brand now. Purely speculation.

Of course, you could sell the figures to a friend for a penny apiece who could then paint them and sell them…

Yeah, I thought would be a ridiculously easy workaround, miniMo. Again, I wasn't considering a merchant license, but if I were there would be no moral hesitation about selling them to a painting service.

ThunderAZ, I did wonder if it had something to do with artistic intregrity. I've seen a couple of KS that prohibit scaling the files above or below certain sizes (even for personal use) because the creator knows they won't look good, be too fragile, etc., and they don't want their name tarred with that brush. Completely understandable IMHO.

As for bad paint jobs, a well regarded traditional toy soldier maker (now long deceased) was known for his extreme reluctance to sell unpainted castings, even to his best customers. He was always happy to do a custom paint job, or even modify figures instead. Last year I found some "customer painted" examples where the would-be artist had managed to use matte acrylics, gloss acrylics, gloss enamels, and satin enamels all on the same figure, all apparently applied with a 2" sash brush. Caveat venditor indeed.

As an FWI I am licensed to print by three artists.

Medbury Miniatures, BattleCat and Bergman.

The first two charge me a monly fee and with that fee I get all their new stl files that they release and a discount on files that came out before I became a merchant. Bergman is a bit different he ask to be sent a montly donation for a charity which is sent to him and then he sends them on.

One time I paid (foolishly) $300 USD for a lifetime license to print a Rennainsance line of figures. They looked great painted up by a famous painter but they were crap.

Hope this sheds some light.

Do you have any influence over the accuracy of historical figures? Or do you simply use the files as presented?

I ask this because I was looking at some artillery on Etsy. I asked if these were SYW or Napoleonic. He replied that he had no idea! He just printed them.

Printers have little if no sway on the designer. Most don't know or care about history. That probably goes for a lot of printes too. Occasionaly peole have made suggestopns on the designers FB pages and occasionally they make the changes.