Super expensive Bricklink shops

[Feuer Zug]

@MAB I understand your position and agree with it to a point. I've also seen sellers put lots out for each set. The only way to get the full quantity of the part is to buy a dozen lots, but due to this, it lowers the average lot value. Then the only other way to raise the value it to buy an overpriced minifigure or set from them. If they didn't dilute the average lot value by separating it by each set, I would be able to meet the requirement to buy. When I'm looking for hundreds of plates for a project, this can add up quite quickly to meet normal minimum purchase and lot values.

[MAB]

2 hours ago, Feuer Zug said:

@MAB I understand your position and agree with it to a point. I've also seen sellers put lots out for each set. The only way to get the full quantity of the part is to buy a dozen lots, but due to this, it lowers the average lot value. Then the only other way to raise the value it to buy an overpriced minifigure or set from them. If they didn't dilute the average lot value by separating it by each set, I would be able to meet the requirement to buy. When I'm looking for hundreds of plates for a project, this can add up quite quickly to meet normal minimum purchase and lot values.

My point was really to highlight that what looks like unfair or scammy behaviour to a buyer it is not necessarily done to be deceptive, it is done to run the store in the way the seller wants. And that will mean that some buyers cannot buy what they want as they want to place an order that the seller does not want to deal with.

Sometimes sellers have multiple lots of the same item because they don't consolidate lots, especially if they keep part out a set and keep the lots of the parts from the set together, rather than storing them with other of the same part. It is easier to part out like that but can be annoying for buyers. If you cannot reach a average lot value due to it, then it is worth asking the seller if they will allow the order to be placed (by dropping the constraint, you place the order, they reinstate the constraint). If they won't, then they lose the order.

[danth]

I was trying to buy parts for a MOC on Bricklink recently, and when I tried to manually select which shops, I couldn't check out due to the "average lot" requirement in some shops. That was super annoying. I already spent the time to pick the shops and confirm prices were okay, and then didn't hit the unmet requirement until I went to check out. I didn't even know about "average lot" requirements until then. 

It might be better if there was just an earlier warning that a store selection will have unmet requirements. 

Luckily, the auto-store select actually worked perfectly -- it avoided the expensive stores AND any unmet requirements. Did they improve the algorithm recently? Because I swear it didn't work as well before. 

But anyway. I'm not convinced that the "average lot" minimum is conducive to what Bricklink is all about. Because the solution, for me, was to not use those stores. If everyone had "average lot" requirements, very, very few people would use Bricklink. The whole point of Bricklink is to buy the bricks you want, and if a store doesn't let you do that, seriously, what is the point? I'd much rather just pay a service fee, or pay higher per-piece prices. Like, whatever the cost is to get the parts I need, just charge me that. Don't make me jump through weird hoops that only serve the seller. Like, I'm paying you to go find me the exact pieces I need, so don't tell me no -- do it and charge me what makes it worth it to you. 

It's why I go to hardware stores that sell loose bulk nails instead of Home Depot. I'd rather pay $1 for the 5 nails I need than $5 for the box of 100 I will never use. 

Edited February 27 by danth

[jval]

On 2/26/2026 at 2:51 PM, MAB said:

But then if the store also has minifigures or other expensive hard to find items, the average lot value is usually reasonably easy to hit. I have something similar for my store although my average lot value is only about 1 Euro. Most of my orders received are for minifigures and bulk parts where I would expect a normal buyer to easily reach the average lot value for every lot. But I also have lots of low quantity parts of cheap parts that I don't want, so I price them cheap and even if the whole lot is bought it wouldn't reach the average lot value. So customers placing a regular order for more expensive parts can easily add the cheap lots to an order they were already placing and I don't mind the time picking cheap parts when the customer is placing a more valuable order. However, I don't want to deal with customers buying multiple lots of small quantities of penny parts if they are not buying anything expensive. That type of customer would not be able to place an order due to the average lot value. If they decide to least favourite my store then it is not a big deal since I don't want the type of order that they want to place. The cheap low quantity lots are not there to lure in buyers, they are priced low so that they are likely to sell to a buyer that is placing an order anyway.

In that particular store there were not logical prices, the cheap parts were just to lure customers.  The hard to find items were much more expensive than competition. I do not really care to pay a 20% or 50% more for parts that I need, or buy bulk to meet criteria, but I do not like to pay 5x the price, regardless if I can affort it or not.

Another type of scam I've also encounter are super lots. I still remember some years ago, some stores that had super lot for 40190-1 - Ferrari F138 polybag, 40192-1 - Ferrari 250 GTO polybag, 40193-1 - Ferrari 512 S polybag, 40194-1 - Finish Line & Podium polybag, 40195-1 - Shell Station polybag & 40196-1 - Shell Tanker polybag, 6 small sets (Shell promotion). A good price for all 6 sets is let's say 60 to 80 euros for a seller. These stores had the 5 of the 6 items at 0,01 euro and the last one in a ridicuruls high price more than 100 euros. The 0,01 euro prices were just to lure you in their trap shop. 

And the last type of scam I've encounter are lots with low price, but with a bulk quantity restriction. But the available quantity is less than the bulk quantity. 

[MAB]

1 hour ago, jval said:

Another type of scam I've also encounter are super lots. I still remember some years ago, some stores that had super lot for 40190-1 - Ferrari F138 polybag, 40192-1 - Ferrari 250 GTO polybag, 40193-1 - Ferrari 512 S polybag, 40194-1 - Finish Line & Podium polybag, 40195-1 - Shell Station polybag & 40196-1 - Shell Tanker polybag, 6 small sets (Shell promotion). A good price for all 6 sets is let's say 60 to 80 euros for a seller. These stores had the 5 of the 6 items at 0,01 euro and the last one in a ridicuruls high price more than 100 euros. The 0,01 euro prices were just to lure you in their trap shop. 

That shouldn't really be a problem as they are highlighted with a (S) in the price guide, and superlots were removed from being shown by default in searches over a decade ago because of this behaviour.

1 hour ago, jval said:

And the last type of scam I've encounter are lots with low price, but with a bulk quantity restriction. But the available quantity is less than the bulk quantity. 

Presumably they had more, and they sold some that brought the total down. However, you should be able to check out with the remainder even if under the bulk lot requirement, that is how it used to work. If it isn't, it might have been broken and a bug introduced.

[JesseNight]

2 hours ago, jval said:

Another type of scam I've also encounter are super lots. I still remember some years ago, some stores that had super lot for 40190-1 - Ferrari F138 polybag, 40192-1 - Ferrari 250 GTO polybag, 40193-1 - Ferrari 512 S polybag, 40194-1 - Finish Line & Podium polybag, 40195-1 - Shell Station polybag & 40196-1 - Shell Tanker polybag, 6 small sets (Shell promotion). A good price for all 6 sets is let's say 60 to 80 euros for a seller. These stores had the 5 of the 6 items at 0,01 euro and the last one in a ridicuruls high price more than 100 euros. The 0,01 euro prices were just to lure you in their trap shop. 

And the last type of scam I've encounter are lots with low price, but with a bulk quantity restriction. But the available quantity is less than the bulk quantity. 

These are not scams, just regular marketing trickery that every business in the world does and that's perfectly legit. And that you are perfectly fine to refuse to buy from them. I don't like it either, but it's how business works nowadays with the amount of competition there is when trading on a worldwide scale.

Use the tools you have. Blacklist stores that you don't agree with prices or practices, and move on to the best deals for your wishlists. And if all offers disappoint, be patient and wait for better.
If you want something really rare, you may have to accept paying premium or not getting it at all.

[anothergol]

On 2/28/2026 at 3:58 PM, JesseNight said:

These are not scams, just regular marketing trickery that every business in the world does and that's perfectly legit. And that you are perfectly fine to refuse to buy from them. I don't like it either, but it's how business works nowadays with the amount of competition there is when trading on a worldwide scale.

You could still question the legality (especially in Europe where the consumer is generally more protected) of BL now being owned by Lego, meaning that 
-Lego has "insider" (well ok not exactly because the info was already public before) price knowledge & can (& appears to) use that to decide of prices of items when they appear on their own B&P a few months later
-totally controls the offer in a shop that's displayed as a legit "offer & demand, free" market (this could totally be used to deceive BL sellers as well btw. Lego can easily fake scarcity in B&P or PAB walls, get scalpers to buy in bulk, and then decide to flood the market. Any company can do that, but here Lego also owns the marketplate, that's very unusual).

On top of being known not to be friendly with competition in general.
Big software companies have been fined for less than this. But of course Lego parts is a niche-enough market. And I don't think that the Lego group has any interest in the pocket money that BL must be generating. I'm nearly sure they only bought BL in order to keep it locked to Lego items, where it could easily have been extended to sell the recent competition as well.

Edited March 2 by anothergol

[MAB]

10 hours ago, anothergol said:

I'm nearly sure they only bought BL in order to keep it locked to Lego items, where it could easily have been extended to sell the recent competition as well.

I think one of the hey reasons they bought it to get hold of the "AFOL Designer Program" which turned into the "Bricklink Designer Program". That has been a huge money spinner for LEGO.

 

Every reseller, whether they are a long term investor or a scalper, and whether they buy parts from PAB online or through sets, knows that LEGO can make as many of their parts as they want and can easily manipulate the market by doing so. However, you have got  to ask yourself why would they try to get a reseller to invest in a lot of stock then undercut them. Even if someone was investing millions (in whatever currency), they are nothing compared to LEGO. If LEGO tried to get them to buy expensive stock then undercut them, they don't really gain anything in the long term.  

[Feuer Zug]

The funny thing is for me, I'm usually not buying parts that people care about. I probably cornered the market on lime green plates about a year ago working on my airport. I used the plates to get the runway tiles up to the height I needed. I has problems with two retailers using the average lot values issue. In the end, I found one retailer selling all that I needed in one place, but paid a penny more per piece. Yes, it added up when buying hundreds, but the consolidated shipping actually helped. Still, the other retailers had what I wanted, just split apart enough I couldn't meet their requirements. All the time wasted trying to get the order figured out because they are playing games.

[anothergol]

19 hours ago, MAB said:

If LEGO tried to get them to buy expensive stock then undercut them, they don't really gain anything in the long term.  

I'm not saying they would do have any interest in doing that, just saying they have the ability to.

In fact I rather have a problem with them NOT willing to do that. Let's take a recent example: I needed the saucer (38799) in light grey, only appearing as 1pc in the expensive Shelby set. Result, while not expensive, BL shops only have a couple. But SOME shops, all in Hungary (safe to assume that Lego has factories there lol), have thousands! And that saucer in grey just doesn't wanna appear on B&P.
So, as I don't wanna have to deal with expensive shipping and avg lot value crap, I bought a cheap small chinese set that had them (for less than a BL shipping price alone).

Edited March 3 by anothergol