It's confirmed: pre-orders for the five sets from the 9th wave of the Bricklink Designer Program will open on October 6, 2026, at 5:00 PM. We also have the final visuals for these five products, along with their respective retail prices. Sets that receive at least 3000 pre-orders will be produced in 30.000 copies and will be available no earlier than March 2027. A reallocation of available stock may be made between the most popular sets and those that are less popular, for a total of 150,000 units. No reprints are planned, and a maximum of two sets per household per set is allowed. The pre-order period will end on October 12, 2026, at midnight.

As a reminder for those interested, each creator receives a 5% commission on the net sales and also receives five copies of the final product. If one or more of these proposals does not reach the 3000 units required to go into production, the creator retains all rights to it and is free, for example, to sell the instructions themselves.

This is a topic that comes up regularly in discussions among fans and deserves to be addressed in detail to clarify the figures and get a more precise idea of ​​the lucrative nature of participation in the LEGO Bricklink Designer Program as well as the LEGO IDEAS initiative: how much do fan designers whose ideas or creations are commercialized actually earn?

The answer is provided by LEGO and it varies depending on the platform concerned, as the rules currently in force are different for the two initiatives.

On one hand, there's the LEGO Bricklink Designer Program, with its generous compensation set at 5% of the product's pre-tax retail price, but with a fixed print run known in advance. Each set is produced in 30.000 units, with a slight upward variation possible in recent waves if the overall production quota allows, making the creator's earnings easy to determine.

For example, for a set sold for €269,00 including VAT in France, the price excluding VAT is obtained by subtracting the VAT, which is 20% of the retail price. This product is therefore invoiced at €224,17 excluding VAT per unit. We can then calculate the revenue generated by the sale of this set, assuming it reaches 30.000 units: 30.000 x €224,17 excluding VAT, or €6,725,100 excluding VAT.

We take 5% of this amount, we obtain compensation of €336,255 paid to the creator in the form of royalties.

Another example that corresponds to a consistent price for a product from this program: for a set sold at €349,99 including tax, or €291,66 excluding tax, the commission will therefore be €437,490.

Regarding the LEGO IDEAS platform, LEGO is less generous on paper, only contributing 1% of the product's pre-tax retail price as compensation. However, unlike the Bricklink Designer Program, where LEGO markets the creation as is without dedicating months to its design staff and without significantly investing in marketing or utilizing all its sales channels, the LEGO IDEAS platform only allows users to select ideas submitted by fans.

However, the production run of these products is not limited, and the marketing period for some of these sets can easily extend over several years. LEGO never discloses the production volumes, so some extrapolation is necessary to get an idea of ​​the potential payment to the creator of the selected idea.

Let's imagine that the set in question is a huge success and is sold for several years before being permanently withdrawn from shelves. Let's imagine that, for example, a total of 300.000 copies are sold, which isn't inconceivable for a very popular product that, over time, would accumulate ten times the volume of a Bricklink Designer Program set that sells out in a few hours upon its release.

Let's take the example of the set sold for €269,00 including VAT in France. We obtain the price excluding VAT by deducting the VAT, which is 20% of the retail price. This product is therefore billed at €224,17 excluding VAT per unit. We can calculate the revenue generated by the sale of this set: 300.000 x €224,17 excluding VAT, or €67,251,000 excluding VAT.

We take 1% of this amount, we obtain compensation of €672,510 paid to the creator, all of which is paid over several years via a quarterly accounting of sales.

If you think I'm being a bit too optimistic about the sales volume, the same calculation based on 100.000 sets sold at the public price indicated above gives a compensation of €224,170 paid to the creator.

The result: a winner on the LEGO IDEAS platform will have to hope that their product sells enough to reach the compensation level of a fan designer whose construction was selected as part of the Bricklink Designer Program with a more modest but pre-determined fixed print run.

In any case, these figures largely explain the current enthusiasm for both platforms, beyond the satisfaction of seeing one's idea or creation commercialized. A simple, well-presented good idea or a successful design on Stud.io that has garnered votes or pre-orders can ultimately translate into very significant sums of money.

Please note, and I repeat, LEGO never discloses its sales figures, and we can only estimate the numbers for LEGO IDEAS sets. No one has accurate figures except LEGO and the fan designers themselves, who obviously know how many units are sold during the product's lifecycle.

Remember that these revenues are obviously taxable, with tax rules varying according to the beneficiary's status.

As expected, the sale of the remaining stock of products from the 6th wave of the Bricklink Designer Program has begun at this address.

As stated by LEGO, your order will not be confirmed until you receive a shipping confirmation for the product(s) ordered.

You can add the various products in stock directly to your cart via the links below:

If you missed the crowdfunding phase of series 6 of the Bricklink Designer Program launched in October 2025, know that you will have the opportunity to possibly obtain one or more of the sets from this series through the upcoming sale by LEGO of the remaining stock.

We do not yet know how many items will be included in this catch-up sale, but we do know that you will need to be ready from August 17, 2026 at 17:00 PM to try to obtain one copy, and not one more, of one of the sets that will be offered for sale.

Please note that the sale will take place at this address . You will need to select the desired set and then pay for your order on the official online store. If you want a different set, you will need to repeat the entire process by returning to the Bricklink page, which will list the sets for sale.

Don't get your hopes up, this sale will last only a few minutes at best. You'll need to be quick and a bit lucky to have any hope of getting one or more of the items that will be offered. We don't know the quantities available or which items will be included; they will be boxes from the list below:

Bricklink, which is gradually becoming Brickosoft, confirms that the various series of sets in the Bricklink Designer Program will change their name in 2028 with the arrival of "waves" replacing "series".

Out with series 12, 13 and 14, in with waves 1, 2 and 3 of the year 2028. Bricklink announces a maximum of 3 waves per year and confirms that series 9, 10 and 11 will not be affected by this very cosmetic change in nomenclature.

The packaging for the sets will also change, with the new logo appearing on predominantly blue colored boxes that will undoubtedly integrate much better into the LEGO retail ecosystem. Each wave will see the packaging of the relevant sets adapted to highlight the color scheme of that wave.

Thus, in 2028, sets from wave 1 will feature a purple insert, those from wave 2 a green insert, and those from wave 3 a red insert. This will eliminate the "serious" and very understated look of these products in favor of the visual identity of classic LEGO sets.