Sourcing parts

[murtaughf3]

Disclaimer: I’ve not reached MOC builder status yet, not sure I ever will and I defiantly have to instructions.

 

I apologize if this type post isn't allowed, I"m just trying to find out some information to better help the Technic community. I completely understand if this needs to be deleted. I've been debating posting this for a couple months and just decided to go for it. 

 

For the MOC builders, a couple questions. Do you source parts from Bricklink/Brick Owl and if so do you find yourself ordering from several stores or do you get lucky and only a couple stores? Or do you prefer to order from Lego directly? I ask because I have a Bricklink store and am considering focusing mostly in Technic parts.   Technic is my favorite line and I can just look at Technic builds for hours. For those that don’t know part out value of Technic sets is extremely horrible. This is why a lot of Bricklink/Brick Owl stores don't part them out. So this would defiantly be for the love of the theme. My thought is I’m not a great or average builder but if I could supply builders with the largest selection and help to minimize the number of stores they had to order from. By helping save on shipping cost and fast delivery(faster than

Lego.com), would be a small way to contribute to the community. Thanks.

[keymaker]

delete

Edited May 28, 2021 by keymaker

[langko]

Personally it all depends.

Newly released parts (eg: the small yellow 21/22 yellow panels from the volvo, the red 3x13 curved panel in the ferrari, or the bunch of the new panels in the 2021 sets) are generally cheaper to buy direct from Lego than on bricklink. Parts that have been around for ages are cheaper to buy from bricklink. So if i have a good idea of what I need I'll order a bulk order from LEGO (the last few have taken close to 2 months to arrive so it's not worth it if you're only ordering a few pieces) and source the rest from bricklink. I've got a couple favourite bricklink stores were I can generally get most of what I'm after with only 1 or 2 orders. Rarer or more specialised parts I'll source from wherever I can get.

Amazon has some crazy sales on sets sometimes too, so sometimes I just buy that and use it for parts as well.

[Jurss]

Never had issue to get what I need from different sources.

Don't know, if You will be able to make a stock,that covers everything from technic and offer good, almost best prices. And You know, in technic models are used also system parts. So, they are also needed.

[Lipko]

I prefer getting parts from only a few places at a time, mainly because of minimum order limits and shipping.

If I was selling, I'd look at some of the most popular Technic MOCs with instructions and build up stock mainly from their inventory.

[howitzer]

If I need only a few parts, I will attempt to either find a single BL store with reasonable postage that can deliver those, or work myself around them so I don't need to make order at all. When needing more parts I've generally made a BL list and used the find store-feature to get a reasonable deal but if multiple orders to multiple stores are needed, the delivery costs can quickly get out of hand. Customs fees is also a significant consideration, so I try to make all my orders within the EU.

I've been building a large enough Technic collection for several years now, mostly by just buying sets. I'm still missing a lot of panels and liftarms in some important colours (most notably yellow and red) but otherwise my collection is pretty much complete for whatever I might want to build.