Polarlicht

New Bricks and Pieces site

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So they merged the Pick a Brick and Bricks and Pieces sites together. Now when i look for parts out of a specific set, not all parts get shown!

Does that mean that some parts are not available? With the old site, it at least showed when they were not available..

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50 minutes ago, Bricky Steamboat said:

Strange. Have you deselected the 'best sellers only' thingy?

I take it it's not a licensed piece or something to do with CMFs. What's the set/part?

Yes, its disabled by default.

I checked a couple of sets and not every part is listed.

This is the list for 42134... :sceptic:

vcrcU1K.png

Edited by Polarlicht

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Hmm...weird.

Other parts from that set are still on Pick a Brick, just don't come up against that set number. You might have better luck going the long way around and searching by part name or element number.

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Even more frustrating, there is really new stuff that slipped into the old B&P website (e.g. 1x2 half cylinders in white 68013) that I can't find by any route on the new merged site. 

A few other clunky things that need ironing out, e.g. can't see a "back to shopping" link on my shopping cart page.

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On 3/13/2022 at 9:11 AM, Polarlicht said:

So they merged the Pick a Brick and Bricks and Pieces sites together. Now when i look for parts out of a specific set, not all parts get shown!

Does that mean that some parts are not available? With the old site, it at least showed when they were not available..

Even on the old version, not all parts would be shown. It would usually be most of them. Some others you could call in for... Depending on CS rep.

The new merged version seems to have a very similar selection to what was on B&P at the end of 2021. For now, all 2022 parts (yes that's right, all, not just weird and esoteric stuff) have been removed, pending... Whatever policy decision Lego will make about which super-interesting elements will make it on there, and when. So, now is the time to pester Lego and tell them "please sell us all the cool and unique minifigure parts and other weird stuff; we will buy so much of it that it will be worth it to you."

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Finally had a good look around & put a list of parts together. One thing I really like is that it saves the list even if you close the window. Now....to the bad...the service fee & the separate parts sections.  I have a total of $18 worth of parts, which means I’d have to spend nearly half of that in service fees. Getting hit twice because some are best sellers. Pretty scummy for someone like me. I don’t do much MOCing, just some detail stuff for my town so anytime I’ve ordered from B&P it’s never been a very large amount. 

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Yes, those service fees are prohibitive for me too. I especially don't like the fee on standard parts. You have to wait 6 weeks and you get to pay an extra $7.00 to boot if you don't have at least $14.00 worth. It will take me a long time to accumulate enough wanted parts to avoid paying the "OUCH" fee.

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I don't mind service fees and the like too much. Keep in mind in Australia we have to spend $149 for free shipping anyway, so when I do a B&P order it is normally has to be for a large amount of things. I think people have been spoiled with getting a few pieces at low price, which would likely have been costing Lego money, so if we have to pay what it actually costs to make the pieces, transport the pieces, store the pieces, pick the pieces, and post the pieces then I think that is fair enough. It would be good to get "Best Sellers" from the non-best sellers store to avoid part of those fees though when most of what I order is not a best seller.

The website design I like better (parts properly sorted so I can find what I want e.g. all heads shown is a blessing) although I still want more parts on the page and better navigation between pages.

I just hope the selection gets back to what it was before including having new parts (I don't care if they are delayed, as long as they get there eventually). Even something like a 1 x 2 brick has had a heap removed from the old site. They were available in Australia a couple of days before the change, and now are down to 7 colours (and not including many available colours like white, blue and yellow). I tend to use B&P due to the range from one place, and the prices are on par to what I would pay when considering multiple overseas postage costs (Bricklink prices at Australian stores always seem to be way over what it costs from B&P and overseas so I only get from there things I really need in a hurry). If the basic range is not fixed then I would need to stop buying from there, but hoping the reduced range is only temporary.

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4 hours ago, timemail said:

I don't mind service fees and the like too much. Keep in mind in Australia we have to spend $149 for free shipping anyway, so when I do a B&P order it is normally has to be for a large amount of things. I think people have been spoiled with getting a few pieces at low price, which would likely have been costing Lego money, so if we have to pay what it actually costs to make the pieces, transport the pieces, store the pieces, pick the pieces, and post the pieces then I think that is fair enough. It would be good to get "Best Sellers" from the non-best sellers store to avoid part of those fees though when most of what I order is not a best seller.

The website design I like better (parts properly sorted so I can find what I want e.g. all heads shown is a blessing) although I still want more parts on the page and better navigation between pages.

I just hope the selection gets back to what it was before including having new parts (I don't care if they are delayed, as long as they get there eventually). Even something like a 1 x 2 brick has had a heap removed from the old site. They were available in Australia a couple of days before the change, and now are down to 7 colours (and not including many available colours like white, blue and yellow). I tend to use B&P due to the range from one place, and the prices are on par to what I would pay when considering multiple overseas postage costs (Bricklink prices at Australian stores always seem to be way over what it costs from B&P and overseas so I only get from there things I really need in a hurry). If the basic range is not fixed then I would need to stop buying from there, but hoping the reduced range is only temporary.

Service fees are fine, we had them before the change. It’s the double service fee though. I just want to buy parts & have them ship together. Now I’ll have to pay $7 or so more & wait for two orders that should be one. Just frustrating a bit. I am making a mountain out of a molehill here, albeit a very small mountain, as I don’t order a lot or often from B&P, but this change may cause me to look elsewhere. 

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New site up in Australia.. seems pretty good and they've done a decent restock on animals and things that I wanted.

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The rumor on instagram is that the pieces exclusive to newer sets will be added to the new online PAB shop 3 months after release of the sets.

Apparently TLG customer service said this in response to people asking where the newer pieces are!

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29 minutes ago, Tube Map Central said:

Given that there were 2022 parts getting on to B&P that are now vanished, that would look like rationing for the sake of rationing.

Or rationing to try and prevent resellers buying up all the stock for immediate resale on Bricklink at highly inflated prices

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1 hour ago, Tube Map Central said:

Given that there were 2022 parts getting on to B&P that are now vanished, that would look like rationing for the sake of rationing.

Right. Because of the 3 month delay, TLG will probably sell some higher number of sets to the people who can't be patient, but it's frustrating.

34 minutes ago, CastleRail said:

Or rationing to try and prevent resellers buying up all the stock for immediate resale on Bricklink at highly inflated prices

Setting a cap would help with this... but delaying 3 months just kicks the can down the road, right? And makes the pieces more expensive on BrickLink right off the bat since you can initially only source them directly from sets.

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I need 40x 68013 half cylinders in white, and 16x 68568 curved plates in light grey to move to the next phase of my MoC. Too many to get from sets, and I can't wait until July-August to get everything in, so the Bricklink sellers will indeed be cashing in because of TLG rationing.

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3 minutes ago, Tube Map Central said:

I need 40x 68013 half cylinders in white, and 16x 68568 curved plates in light grey to move to the next phase of my MoC. Too many to get from sets, and I can't wait until July-August to get everything in, so the Bricklink sellers will indeed be cashing in because of TLG rationing.

Rather than wait or pay up on Bricklink, I'm sure some will look to alt bricks on AliExpress, or at modifying existing bricks (spray paint!)

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18 hours ago, evancelt said:

The rumor on instagram is that the pieces exclusive to newer sets will be added to the new online PAB shop 3 months after release of the sets.

Apparently TLG customer service said this in response to people asking where the newer pieces are!

It's March 24th and I don't remember seeing any kittens, squirrels or any other 2022 pieces from January when I looked the other day. So this rumour is shot done.

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44 minutes ago, Maple said:

It's March 24th and I don't remember seeing any kittens, squirrels or any other 2022 pieces from January when I looked the other day. So this rumour is shot done.

Haha agreed - it's not holding up for Jan releases! There may be some delay associated with the merger still. The direct reference was regarding new releases moving forward (e.g., April releases would show in July, etc)

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Also, I think 3 months out from January is April! So we haven't reached that just yet

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2 hours ago, evancelt said:

Haha agreed - it's not holding up for Jan releases! There may be some delay associated with the merger still. The direct reference was regarding new releases moving forward (e.g., April releases would show in July, etc)

I think LEGO told some low end staffer to release this rumour to shut us up about the terrible changes that 98% of fans hate.

1 hour ago, evancelt said:

Also, I think 3 months out from January is April! So we haven't reached that just yet

Oh true, I'm jumping the gun a week. Hopefully they show up next Friday.
 

Edited by Maple

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I'm completely fine with the new site, including the new charging structure, except that I can't buy stuff that I could have bought if I had placed an order a week earlier before the conversion took place. TLG is completely within their rights to push small orders away from them, and towards Bricklink, where there are plenty of sellers willing to take them.

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The already slow service seems to be getting worse.  We are paying much higher 'service' and carriage charges on the new site but my orders from the new site placed 02 Feb 22  and subsequent are still 'in warehouse' almost EIGHT WEEKS later.

The new site promised them in 11-15 days , - big banner at top of the page - to make matters worse TLG completely ignore any emails on the subject.It certainly makes a slow boat from China look attractive!

The payments system is also all messed up - my order was well over the free shipping threshold and was paid with PP and VIP points combination.  When I got the order confirmation TLG had added shipping back onto the price?!?!?!

I complained and (a week later) TLG replied that I would not have been charged shipping even though all the emails and website account said it had been.

When I checked my pay-pal wallet it turned out that They had taken the cost less points but plus shipping but in two completely random amounts and then three days later refunded the shipping - the documentation still shows an invoice with shipping.

So.... I have paid the correct amount in the end (still not sure if the shipping was automatically refunded or because of complaint) but.....  I am a private purchaser but what if I was a BL store or a business using Lego???  The invoice is wrong (and they seem unwilling or unable to correct it), the chances of reconciling the random PP transaction amounts with orders would be very challenging if I was ordering more regularly.

Come on TLG this is basic stuff, a working e-commerce website and a warehouse that can pick orders in less than eight weeks is that too much to ask?

I have always had the impression that TLG never have really wanted to sell bricks out of sets but have thrown us a sop by selling off any overproduction as and when it occurs and that this is the explanation for the random nature of the available parts.

 

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1 hour ago, Plumber said:

 I have always had the impression that TLG never have really wanted to sell bricks out of sets but have thrown us a sop by selling off any overproduction as and when it occurs and that this is the explanation for the random nature of the available parts.

Agree, today TLG seems to be a design company that just so happens to make the raw materials needed for constructing its designs. It therefore has to price its sets accordingly to pay for its design. MOCers mess up its business model in all sorts of ways — I'm not very interested in sets, I just want bricks — and therefore there will never be an easy relationship with them. 

 

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