Bricklink or Lego Pick a Brick?

[Kelso]

I'm working on a MOC but I need more parts, general bricks , ladders etc.

Ive once ordered from Pick a Brick and although a bit expensive it's perfect.

How reliable is Bricklink? Prices seem to vary a lot and are the 'new' pieces there really new?

Thanks in advance!

[peedeejay]

In general bricklink is cheaper if you put some time into finding the right stores with the right amount of stones and compare this including shipping fee etc. So far I've ordered over 50 times via bricklink and had almost no problem.

One time an order got cancelled because someone broke into the store owners house stealing almost all LEGO (ouch).

One time I received a wrong part (non LEGO door frame) which was immediately replaced by the seller.

Except for that I had no problems, very good quality bricks (I always order new bricks unless the only available ones are used). So far I also ordered only from shops in Germany with the exception of one store in Ireland.

Getting used to the site, managing your wanted lists etc. however takes some time and the overall interface is not really user friendly.

[Kodan Black]

I've had good luck with Bricklink thus far. I would suggest only doing business with a healthy number of reviews (some store with 4 reviews has less to lose than a store with 400), and take a read of any recent negative ones. Then make sure to fully read the store Terms and Conditions page.

I've seen a store list a minifig for $20 with no accessories and another list it at $6 with all the original accessories. You've gotta do some comparison shopping, but realize that cheapest isn't always best. Look at shipping prices, etc. to get a full understanding of what the costs are.

[talos]

All good advice above. I think BrickLink is the better choice, for most of my needs. Especially factoring in how long a PaB order takes to be delivered. You definitely must utilize the 'Catalog' information on BrickLink, to find the best prices. Then use the 'Search' to find the right seller. Definitely need to follow the learning curve on BrickLink.

[Timinchicago]

I use Bricklink more often than PaB and have not had any problems in the 20+ orders so far. Obviously which service you use depends on the specific pieces you are looking for.

I will say that the LEGO Bricks and Pieces service has gotten better, it used to be that you had to wait to get an estimate for your order. Now you see availability and the actual price per piece before you order.

Recently I needed 12 BURP's. Bricklink inventory was limited and expensive. When I checked Bricks and Pieces I was able to get them for a better price than Bricklink. This is generally not the case so it depends on the pieces you need. The one drawback from using LEGO is the shipping time tends to be longer than Bricklink.

[tkatt]

Also check out Brickowl. There aren't as many stores as Bricklink so the selection isn't as big. Other than that I feel it is better than bricklink in just about every way. The prices are about the same. It looks better, and it's quick to click through the filters to search for parts. But I think the biggest advantage is that the shipping charges show up in your cart, and the payment system is linked to Paypal. So there isn't any back and forth of emails to find out shipping costs and send the payment.

[Kodan Black]

I did do a PAB order via the website (as opposed to the instore variant) and it took ~ a month. Maybe your time is less since it comes from Slovenia and you are closer, but just be aware it will almost certainly take longer than Bricklink unless you pick a store out of country and select the cheapest shipping option. All of my Bricklink orders were in the US and even from the other side of the country took like 3 days.

[dr_spock]

BrickLink and BrickOwl depends on the sellers like eBay. You'll have to properly vet them. I prefer to use the Pick A Brick wall first if the part is available there. I try to use local BL sellers for small amounts for local pickups to avoid shipping charges which could end up more than the pieces. I would some times use PAB online when there is double VIP points and free shipping for large quantities.

[Kelso]

I just ordered a T7-O1 from a seller in the Netherlands on Bricklink to test it out, and also because I really want that cool droid. Hopefully all goes well.

But What I don't understand is how do they get those big ammounts of new lego bricks. Do they just buy sets and dismantle them?

[PaddyBricksplitter]

I use Brick Owl over Brick Link as it's just a breeze to use. I have found reliable sellers in my region.

Brick Link is very clunky and amature in it's functionality which puts me off. But it's got a lot of content. So it's worth "learning" to use for those hard to find items.

As dr_spock says it's like eBay regarding the sellers. My advice is to make small orders first to test em out.

[fred67]

I don't like brickowl. I understand the complaints about bricklink - the look and feel of the site is straight out of the 90s. I don't need bells and whistles, but we need better functionality.

However, the crux to using either site is the wish/wanted list functionality. I found BL a bit clumsy, but was able to figure my way through it and found it very useful. The BO wanted list was terrible, by comparison. BO looks a lot nicer, but a lot of the actual interaction with the site, building lists and searching, isn't any better than BL at all. And when I wanted to limit my wanted list to the U.S., and couldn't figure it out, I asked in the forum and got NO answers for several days (I stopped checking afterwards). By comparison you get answers to questions on the BL forum in minutes.

Having the complete payment option in BO is great... I know they are trying to roll out something like that for BL, but I have yet to see it. For everything else, I find BO has a prettier face, but doesn't work any better... and in some ways worse.

To stay back on topic, I agree with the others and, in particular, Timinchicago; The first choice is always the wall at the LEGO store if they have what you want, and you're nearby. Second, I look at both BL and S@H PAB; if what I want is uncommon, and I need a lot of them, it's actually often cheaper to S@H... but it does take a lot longer to ship. But those are rare occurrences when it's an odd part. There's also a LOT of parts that S@H just doesn't sell anymore, and of course, you can't buy licensed stuff from PAB (like licensed figures).

I have well north of 100 BL orders, and have encountered problems from time to time. Sometimes I'll be missing a batch, or a batch will be light (get 99 instead of 100 pieces). I only had one really bad experience with a guy who just disappeared for a couple of weeks without even invoicing me. That said, the good sellers make it up to you when the mess up an order, and I've only really had the one time where I was really unhappy.

By contrast, when you've had that many orders, there's bound to be problems (unfortunately). I can rag on BL, but I've had problems with S@H, too.

I guess, ultimately, all of these services are ok to use with some diligence... a lot better than ebay.

[Kodan Black]

I just ordered a T7-O1 from a seller in the Netherlands on Bricklink to test it out, and also because I really want that cool droid. Hopefully all goes well.

But What I don't understand is how do they get those big ammounts of new lego bricks. Do they just buy sets and dismantle them?

Yes, they'll buy sets on sale/clearance and part them out. They also will do PAB wall grabs and sell the pieces that way.

[ShaydDeGrai]

For me it usually boils down to the trade-offs between quantity and time vs. price.

I have the luxury of living within reasonable driving distance of five PaB wall locations (four stores and a Discovery Center gift shop) so if they happen to have the parts I need a cup is a quick and dirty solution (I also happen to be on good terms with one of the store managers who runs the wall so an unopened case of a particular part is also an option for really generic stuff that I just need in bulk) Same day gratification is the definite plus here. The down side is the limited and unpredictable inventory and the burning desire to take an hour or more to use up every void in the cup (sometimes with random parts you can't even imagine ever needing) just to make the price of the cup more justifiable.

The biggest advantage of BrickLink is that _somebody_ out there _somewhere_ has exactly the part you're looking for. I've seen parts and colors that TLG haven't made in years available crop up with fairly simple searches.

The other core advantages (more BL vendor specific) are, from my experience (and I have a fairly short list of preferred venders that I return to often), price and promptness. My BL suppliers almost always beat online PaB prices and most are very prompt fulfilling orders. I deal exclusively,with domestic, USA, vendors and often get my parts within 3-5 business days of completing the invoice.

The biggest down side to BL, for me, is that to get parts in the quantities I'm usually after I have to split things up over a half dozen vendors which results in paying more postage and, invariably, the order with the parts you need first show up in the last package to arrive.

I've never tried BrickOwl, but always generally assumed it was similar to BL with a few cosmetic modernizations. A number of my preferred suppliers are listed with both.

Online PaB, Parts and Pieces and Lego Education (often good for new Technic parts in quantity) have the advantage of quantity, vary widely on price and almost always take a lot longer than BL orders.

S@H PaB is usually significantly pricier than BL for small parts and the last time I ordered from them it took 7 weeks to get a box from Denmark; on the flip side that box included a number of lots where I had ordered several hundred of particular pieces that would have translated into scores of separate BL orders had I gone that route.

I've only tried Bricks and Pieces once and that was because for the particular items I was looking for, the price was actually competitive with BL and, again, I could get the quantities I was after from a single supplier. Shipping time was again a factor, but not as bad as my S@H PaB experiences.

I've had reasonable luck with Lego Education for bulk orders of larger technic parts (often beating BL prices) but they make up for it by charging PaB prices on the smaller stuff (20 cents for a gear that sells on BL for 3, 10 cents for a pin you could get 2 for a penny, etc.) so it really helps to be an informed consumer. The shipping is better than other official Lego parts channels though, usually about five to ten business days. BTW - while I _am_ an ex-educator, you don't need to be affiliated with a school to order from Lego Education, they'll sell to anyone with a credit card.

[Breakdown]

One thing that I do is keep an active shopping list.

If I need something rare well OOP, etc. I will go to Bricklink. Find the part, filter by my country, and then start riffling through everyone's stores trying to see just how many items I can stroke off my my want list.

I'm willing to pay a little more if the vendor has a good reputation with me, or if I can one-stop shop, in other words just pick up everything that I need at their store or a big lot of what I need.

I have two lots right now: one is 101 different parts and 838 parts total, another one has 43 unique bricks and 688 pcs total. Only in instances where parts are simply NOT readily available will I go out and place smaller orders/overseas orders.

[Kelso]

Thank you all very much for the replies!

I'm going to try out bricklink with some small orders, by sellers in my country with a high rep first to see how it goes.

The first order T7-01 droid has been ordered but I've yet to recieve an invoice.

edit: I have a hard time finding specific lego pieces on bricklink. How can I find out the names or ID's of certain pieces?

Edited March 5, 2015 by Kelso

[zux]

edit: I have a hard time finding specific lego pieces on bricklink. How can I find out the names or ID's of certain pieces?

Bricklink used different part numbering than LEGO. If you don't know part number or unable to find it in catalog I would advise you to search by set number which contains required part (could be in a different color). That way you will learn part groups, names and numbering.

[fred67]

What zux said... if you know a set that the part was in, look it up in bricklink's catalog. In the listing, it will show an "(inv)" link to go directly to the set's inventory. If you go to the catalog page instead, the upper right will have a link... for the 4504 Millennium Falcon, it looks like this:

This Set Consists Of:

971 Parts

5 Minifigs

(View Inv)

View Inv the inventory link.

You can also go to catalog tab, click on "parts" link, and just browse the whole thing... you never know what you'll find.

[Kelso]

Thank you zux and fred67, this helps me out a lot!

[Kelso]

Sorry for the double post but i'm in need of assistance regarding this.

I've received my order and it's perfect. How do I set the order status to received?

[Breakdown]

Click on "Orders"

On the left it says Buyers and right sellers.

Select: "My orders placed"

Under status you select the drop down for "Received"

[Kelso]

Under status it says paid, no option for me to change it.

[Breakdown]

Under status it says paid, no option for me to change it.

Probably "order of operations"

You're going to have to wait for the vendor to change their status to "Shipped" and then you'll have the ability to change to "Received"

[Kelso]

The seller just updated to shipped which let me change it to completed. My first bricklink order is a succes!

Thank you all for the kind help!

[Jared]

Just like what my friend Doctor S said, I'd go with PAB over bricklink.... UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS. I use PAB for bulk bricks and plates, because shipping, especially for the amounts I need, can get astronomically high, to the point where I'd basically be paying 2/5 of the order on just shipping alone. PAB is useful for bland, bulk, non-super-specific parts.

Now, there's quite a divide between bricklink. It's a great site, but only because of the length of time it has existed for, which by virtue gives it the most amount of variety. As everyone has said, you do need to compare shop, and be mindful of shipping. If one seller lists Darth Vader at $1.99, chances are he/she'll charge you at least $15 of shipping. So be mindful. Also, be VERY careful. It's earned the slang name "cracklink" for a VERY good reason. Just because Vader is listed at $1.99, DOESN'T mean you need to buy tons of random extra parts to meet the minimum buy and make your purchase. I'm not telling you what you should and shouldn't get, that's up to you my friend, but I once accidentally ran up a $60 order 90% of which was stuff I didn't even need, just bought to meet the store minimum so I could get a certain minifigure whom I'd always wanted, only to get it and realize it wasn't that great in the first place. Experience is a big part.

Other than that, go nuts!

[Aus_Robert]

I've been using Bricklink since 2008 and have had no real problems. You have to do your homework of course and not be afraid to ask questions.

I've had occasions where I don't get a reply but all that means is that seller misses out on a sale and perhaps future business.

There's not a huge market here in Australia for vintage sets/parts so most of what I have bought has been from UK and various countries in Europe. Postage varies wildly from country to country so if in doubt ask for a postage quote.