How long does it take for pieces from new sets to appear in Pick A Brick?

[zinnn]

I've been meaning to order something from PAB but I'm not sure if I should wait a bit longer until torsos from the new Medieval Town Square show up there?

Edited February 9 by zinnn

[Berthil]

Longer and longer .....

https://www.newelementary.com/2024/02/temporary-changes-to-lego-pick-brick-in.html

3 months is not an exception, with the overhaul in Billund may be even 4 so don't hold your breath.
And after ordering it can take up to six weeks to arrive (for standard items), so roughly half a year after set release.

Edited February 9 by Berthil

[JesseNight]

Somehow I always find myself back on Bricklink when needing stuff.
With PaB it's either too new and not available, too old and discontinued (I think), or insane delivery times. Not to mention ordering on PaB just cannot compete with Bricklink's Wanted List and availability search features. Kinda surprising if TLG owns BL now, that they don't make use of it for their own parts. I bet they would sell so much more.

As for the warehouse overhaul... Delivery of Standard parts has been long for quite some time so I only hope the changes will result in a more streamlined order handling in the future, making it worth the wait.

Edited February 10 by JesseNight

[MAB]

6 hours ago, JesseNight said:

Somehow I always find myself back on Bricklink when needing stuff.
With PaB it's either too new and not available, too old and discontinued (I think), or insane delivery times. Not to mention ordering on PaB just cannot compete with Bricklink's Wanted List and availability search features. Kinda surprising if TLG owns BL now, that they don't make use of it for their own parts. I bet they would sell so much more.

 

When they purchased bricklink, they said they wouldn't compete with sellers on the site. It would be detrimental if they did. For many parts they are more expensive and have poor turnaround times. And the narrow range of parts they stock means they wouldn't be able to fulfill many wants lists. But, just them going back on their word would drive sellers away to brickowl. BL would become PAB and brickowl would become the marketplace.

[JesseNight]

I suppose that makes sense, I wasn't around when the acquisition happened. And from a buyer's perspective, I figured it could have been nice, bc I find PAB quite a hassle to use.

[Mylenium]

23 hours ago, MAB said:

When they purchased bricklink, they said they wouldn't compete with sellers on the site. It would be detrimental if they did. For many parts they are more expensive and have poor turnaround times. And the narrow range of parts they stock means they wouldn't be able to fulfill many wants lists.

They couldn't if they tried. It makes no sense at all from the "How to run a big company." POV. They'd lose insane amounts of money.

Mylenium

[JesseNight]

14 hours ago, Mylenium said:

They couldn't if they tried. It makes no sense at all from the "How to run a big company." POV. They'd lose insane amounts of money.

I think they do now too. Recently made a pretty big order from BL sellers. Some parts would in fact have been cheaper on PAB.
So why didn't I use that? Because it would have been too time consuming to manually check every piece from my wanted lists. Not to mention the horror if something goes wrong and you just lose a big shopping cart.
There's always 2 sides to it... But with the features BL offers, why would anyone still use PAB?

[hsousa]

There are tools that you can get to streamline the PAB process. But yes, BL is mostly where I shop for OOS parts.

[Mylenium]

10 hours ago, JesseNight said:

But with the features BL offers, why would anyone still use PAB?

Some people don't know better and eventually even the biggest BL vendor will run out of stock. Different priorities. PaB basically guarantees you that within a specific period you get the parts, but only from a limited selection. Not that it works particularly well in practice, but that's a different story. And you need to put it in perspective: We as LEGO nerds may be willing and able to put up with the usability nightmare that is BL, but many others won't. Different strokes for different people...

Mylenium

[MAB]

15 hours ago, JesseNight said:

There's always 2 sides to it... But with the features BL offers, why would anyone still use PAB?

VIP points, GWP, better prices for minifigs and some exclusive prints, unlimited quantities of new parts. But for basic parts (and retired parts), BL is better.

[zinnn]

20 hours ago, MAB said:

VIP points, GWP, better prices for minifigs and some exclusive prints, unlimited quantities of new parts. But for basic parts (and retired parts), BL is better.

That's exactly the reason why I'm planning to place an order there. I guess I will wait for the next double points slot...

[Berthil]

On 2/12/2024 at 4:04 PM, MAB said:

On 2/12/2024 at 4:04 PM, MAB said:

There's always 2 sides to it... But with the features BL offers, why would anyone still use PAB?

VIP points, GWP, better prices for minifigs and some exclusive prints, unlimited quantities of new parts. But for basic parts (and retired parts), BL is better.

That and no handling costs, no shipping costs when above EUR 55.

 

Edited February 16 by Berthil

[JesseNight]

 

4 hours ago, Berthil said:

My advice is to look at PaB and order there if you are patient enough, BL is a money drain on shipping/handling costs, especially when orders are not big enough. The TLG PaB more and more is holding parts in their collection longer or restocks frequently. It has become part of their business model besides sets. The Bricklink Designer Program is also proof of that as these parts technically come out of the PaB. That said, some prices in the PaB of parts are too expensive for what they are unfortunately.

That goes for BL as well, and I agree on it being a money drain, it's what I mentioned the other day on my first fairly big order.
(to summarize briefly, I paid 6 to 12 cents a piece average on official LEGO sets I've bought in the past months, while on BL orders it's been more towards 60-70 cents a piece and that doesn't include rare pieces)

I've considered PaB for sure, but too many parts weren't on there and after a few days messing with what I find a rather annoying system (no wanted lists, carts not saved or lost), I gave up on it. I don't make a deal over spending a bit of time, but this was running in the days... time I'd rather spend doing something creative.

 

On 2/12/2024 at 10:41 AM, Mylenium said:

We as LEGO nerds may be willing and able to put up with the usability nightmare that is BL, but many others won't.

What do you mean "usability nightmare"? Sure I had to learn how to work it, but I can't imagine handling big orders without these wanted lists... unless willing to spend days doing all that manually in your own lists, that is.

Edited February 13 by JesseNight