MAB

Painting doesn't really work for LEGO as tight fitting parts rub against each other when assembled/disassembled and you tend to look very closely at LEGO due to the scale.

I doubt it, as sellers only pay 3% fees so getting 5% back for buyers is unlikely. If they do then I will be buying a lot of LEGO from myself.

This is where using the favourite/least favourite feature for stores is useful. Or check back what feedback you have left in the past. There has always been a bit of an issue with sellers vs historians at bricklink. Sellers are the real customers of BL as they buy services from BL. Whereas historians have primarily been responsible for maintaining the catalogue. So the catalogue tends to be historically accurate rather than seller friendly. For example, remember parting out the sets wit the original brick built Groot. Because he didn't fit in with the definition of a minifigure, he wasn't allowed in the catalogue so couldn't be sold through a catalogue entry and had to be parted out or listed as a custom item. It was easier to sell him instead on ebay. Similarly the historians have gone down the route of everything that was in a new box should be included in the set and where parts were on sprues with one piece used in minifigures, the additional sprued parts are in the main inventory and not extra parts. Whereas they don't need to be included if the set is used, even though they are listed in the main inventory. They have also got into a bit of a mess with minifigures. Since SW droids were classed as minifigures, the definition was extended to many characters without any minifigure parts. So now we have teacups, furniture (even without faces), cars, planes, single bricks, etc as minifigures.

I guess anyone that doesn't use bricklink very much and doesn't read emails from them. They have put up many warnings about it. It also isn't enough to have a LEGO account, users will need to actively link the two and presumably this will require users to log in and do it. Personally, I don't think it is a bad thing to delete old inactive accounts where the user hasn't logged in or responded to emails for years. In fact BL had a big clearout of inactive accounts about 10 days ago. We know this as lots of stores saw the number of 'fans' of their store drop dramatically before and after the maintenance period. I am a bit surprised it is not on Brickset, as they tend to be quite good for retaining multiple names for these sets where different locations had different names. Obviously much of the early work on Bricklink was done by Americans and as the site is (and was then also) American they tend to favour North American set names. I think at the time, they did not consider it valuable enough to keep such data and it is only through fan sites that some of this has been brought back into being available. For older sets, there are far better places to find instructions than LEGO itself! I don't think the data itself is at risk as many people keep copies of the full catalogue. But one thing for sure, the usernames of the people that submitted specific information will eventually be lost, as if they are no longer active and the accounts are de-registered, then the submitting names get changed to the bbXXXXXX format and the original submitting username is lost.

I don't think this is due to being over sensitive about the name but rather their database for old sets is poor. Those sets had different names in different locations. The bigger shock for me is that they actually have instructions available when many sets of the 80s and 99s are missing on the LEGO site. They still use the word Weapon in sets like 9591 Weapon Pack or 70617 Temple of The Ultimate Ultimate Weapon, so it is clearly not banned.

I'm a BL seller and I'm not at all worried by the account integration. It simplifies the management of accounts and since kids use other LEGO sites and they are based in Europe, it means that they have to protect the data more than BL does. I hope it also cuts down on the spam that has plagued the BL forums in the past few years from the 100s of new accounts set up every day, and also stop all the new spam accounts claiming to be from LEGO or BL admin tricking new users into making bank transfer payments to confirm their accounts. I cannot see them trying to kill off the secondary market on BL as often they do not compete on price with BL sellers vs PAB for new and frequently cannot sell the parts people want to buy (retired sets, minifigs and licensed parts). If they want to compete on price for basic parts then they can go for it and reduce PAB prices. And if they do want to compete by making anti-competitive features for sellers, then they will just drive those sellers and eventually the buyers elsewhere.

I was having a look around. Under the SNOT section, you have the bag tag cube as a SNOT piece, but don't list the die cube (BL = 64776pb01). The latter is just as good.

You can buy cheaper parts. Especially on the secondary market, popular parts are expensive whereas unpopular parts are cheap. Even for the same part, popular colours will cost way more than unpopular colours. So if you want to buy cheap LEGO then build in colours that are less popular with adults.

I assume the standard flippers would be used for frog feet.

I guess it is just an extension to what they have been doing in online PAB where they have theme based filters making it easier for people not used to using PAB. I did quite well out of the older (trial) build a minifigure online where it was fixed price for a minifigure plus accessory. I got lots of dual moulded legs and animals such that the individual parts were selling for about 2.5x what the fixed cost per figure was.

If there is another big LOTR set releasing next year then presumably it will be available for at least another two years after that if it follows what they have done with Rivendell. That should give long enough to save up for it once released so long as you don’t have to buy on day 1, and so you might as well buy whichever sets you want most while they are current.

I guess it is because LEGO is easily identified as a toy popular with educated readers, already reasonably expensive and foreign.

Being a Creator set is nothing special in this case. It depends on whether the pieces are good for MOCing in the style of the builder. If someone doesn't like the style of a creator set then it might be down to the parts it uses. Creator sets are getting better, but I used to find they contained too many blocky parts (like 2x2 and other 2xY bricks) to fit my style where I predominantly use 1xY bricks for walls. For many years, the best Castle MOC part pack sets (for me) were Star Wars sets. They tend to be grey, have a wide range of detail parts and had desirable minifigures that could be sold for almost the set price and often more than the purchase price if bought at a discount making the parts close to free. In contrast, I'd rarely buy Minecraft sets for MOCs even if the colour scheme was OK as they contain mainly 2xY bricks, with constant repeats Steve, Alex, zombie and skeleton figures that are worthless.

If parts are played with a lot, at least they tend to yellow fairly evenly on the sides as they get built and rebuilt into different things. Whereas the sets built once and left on a windowsill are going to yellow unevenly. I wonder if humidity is a problem for the bricks (as opposed to paper and cloth). In my last house we had a pond and when I cleaned it out we found what I assume was meant to be a boat. From the pieces, I reckon it was made in the 80s. The pieces were scratched but the colours were great. So maybe storing them in underwater mud is the way to preserve them! There is a lack of oxygen and it is reasonably dark.

While inevitable, there is the issue of timescales and human lifetimes. Prolonging damage can be good enough, even though it is inevitable in the long term. And walls painted black to stop any reflections. And maybe UV filter film on the windows for any light that does get in.Temperature controlled too, as cool but stable as possible.

I feel the same about the horse faction, I don't think I'll bother buying them on PAB. They are too close to Crown Knights. If they had been different colours then they might have been a bit more interesting. I'd prefer to see existing factions expanded rather than one or two new prints for lots of new factions.

LEGO sometimes made boxes like that with the sets inside as a special so that retailers could have an "exclusive" product to advertise. It could be different retailers in different countries. Sometimes they were also used for prizes, either from LEGO or a retailer. As to value, I haven't a clue. To a LEGO packaging collector it might be interesting but to a regular LEGO collector, I doubt it is much more than the individual sets.

Nice build. But I think you need to get rid of a king. Or is one a lookalike decoy to protect the real king from the serpent knights?

But not so silly for a cheap 1x2 brick or plate. All the cheap parts in my store (under 5p) come as lots of ten or more. If a buyer doesn't like it, they can shop in another BL store that has a different business model. Some people don't mind selling one of this and one of that, but I do. That is a positive of BL, you can pretty much sell how you like and there are not too many restrictions. Why is trying to see something from another person's point of view a bad thing to suggest, especially if you don't agree with them? Viewing something from another view can help understand it. It isn't doomed to end. There are plenty of buyers willing to place orders at BL. Selling of both new and used LEGO is still pretty decent. Not as good as during covid, and it is harder to make money on new sets now so many investors are in the game. But there is still enough to be made to make it worthwhile, depending on the buy in price. That is kind of the point though. If you have a wide range of product that customers want then you can charge more for the same items than a small store that can only supply 10% of what the customer wants meaning they have to shop in multiple stores. Similarly, if you have something scarcer, you can charge more than for a similar item that is common. I occasionally get people asking whether I would price match a (typically small) store's price for a part. Why would a seller with bulk of a part price match another seller that has one a part that they price so low just to get rid of it? Especially for a part that is typically used in quantity and not as a one off. As to normal parts being thrown away, I disagree. That is where bundling 10 5c parts together to make a 50c sale makes it worthwhile selling. There is no need for those cheap parts to disappear if they are relatively quick to sort and store as well as to pick. There are positives of paypal, such as integration into bl so you don't need to constantly check bank accounts, especially if you have multiple transactions in a day for the same amount. BL also made it (or stripe) pretty much mandatory wherever they need to collect tax. There are downsides of course, namely the fee. But then there are downsides of bank transfer, especially when new buyers see a great deal on a high priced set from a very low feedback seller and send that stranger a bank transfer payment. It has been good and bad. International buying has become more expensive anyway and I often see complaints about International shipping prices within the EU too. The VAT charged makes it worse to import from the EU and presumably the same is true for EU buyers buying from the UK. There is also the hassle of dealing with customs/VAT forms and there are frequently complaints in the BL forum about VAT being collected twice, on BL and again on import. But the UK is a decent sized market. And many of those buyers have stopped or reduced buying from abroad due to the higher shipping costs and the extra VAT, so they tend to buy from UK sellers. I used to sell a little (maybe 5-8%) to the EU. I turned off International shipping completely a couple of years ago and I don't think it has impacted on my sales. What would have sold to the EU or USA still sells to UK buyers. As above, there are ways to make money from cheap parts. It is not cost effective to take 30 or 60 seconds picking a 1c part. But taking the same time to pick a lot worth 50c is cost effective. Personally, I only sell cheap parts if they are new and parted out from sets bought in multiples. That way, there is no searching to identify what parts are, no need to look up prices, etc. Sorting 20 small sets and selling off cheap parts in 20s is reasonably efficient. If I buy used lots, I can usually identify the set quite quickly (I rarely buy completely random bulk, I look for bits of sets). Then, I part out the set excluding all parts and scan down the inventory 6 month average price list for anything valuable enough (including minifigures) to look for in the bulk, then select and store that if found. Plus I pick out any parts I know sell well as bulk, especially if they are stacked together so quick and easy to find. But there is no way I'd sort 1000s of parts looking for 1c items. The rest goes into a bag of bulk and sold on a local market place by weight or volume. Indeed, customers that browse stores tend to do this especially for low value parts. If I need 10 of a penny part and see the seller has 50, I'll probably buy all 50 as I'll probably use them in future. And I have replacements if there is an issue with any of them I think wants lists have made the issue worse. If a buyer has a wants list of one of this and one of that, then they tend to create shopping carts based on the wants list rather than browsing the store. For some sellers, that business model works and I am more than happy for them to get the order as that is the type of order I don't want. The minimum lot value helps me accomplish that.

Try running a store and you'll soon realise why some sellers have average lot values. Once you get your first 200 lot order with one part in each lot and you make a few pennies on each part, you then spend a 2-3 hours picking to make 3-4 Euros/dollars/pounds just for about 25% of that to disappear in BL fees, paypal fees and other costs like bags and mailing supplies. I find that parts under 5p are not worth selling individually. I bag them in 10s so if someone wants 1, they have to buy 10 or 20 at once. And I use a minimum average lot value of 50p. I don't think it affects the orders I get and if it does, I only lose the type of orders I don't want anyway so it is not a big deal.

Presumably because people have bought it and built it and written a review of it yet, or haven't modified it yet. There is some discussion of the set here and here

They redid Bag End, bigger and more expensive than the original for new fans and older ones that want a bigger set. I wouldn't rule out redoing the Simpsons house to cater for new fans.

Did you read all the responses on your previous thread ? I doubt they read the instructions incorrectly, as the instructions don't say to punch holes. I imagine they wanted a hole there to use the sail in a different way.

This looks more like a minifig storage solution than a display.

Yes, there are many costs associated with printing the manuals as well as indirect costs such as higher transport costs. Plus BDP buyers have shown that they don't mind not getting them, as these sets continually sell very well, often selling out despite no printed instructions.