Quickest place to get bricks from in the UK?

Xefan

I've yet to actually buy individual bricks for building projects and have only ever bought sets which I've mostly bought from mainstream retailers.

Reading comments here over the years I've got the impression that things like Lego's pick a brick service can be quite slow, and many bricklink sellers with the best stock seem to be based overseas.

So my question is, if you want certain bricks quick, where is the best place to get them if the pick a brick walls in stores don't have them? are there sellers that have a quick turnaround- i.e. order one day and get delivered next day or do you tend to have to wait longer? are there suppliers with a good selection of bricks that would likely get them to me by the weekend if I ordered now?

I understand that there may be a bit of a cost penalty in this and I may not get the cheapest bricks, but I'm wondering where people tend to order from if they have an itch mid-week to build something that coming weekend but don't have the bricks to do so, is this reasonable or do you tend to have to wait a week or two to get all your bricks if you want to build something custom? Can anyone tell me what the normal turnaround is for Lego's online pick a brick shop to the UK? how does their other brick sales section compare in terms of speed?

cheshirecat

Your quickest bet is definitely some bricklink sellers - plenty I've used have sent out the very same day. In my experience the bigger sellers 'tend' to deliver quicker as they're more organised, but I doubt there's a hard and fast rule.

Looking back at the feedback I've left BRIX-N-PARTS, KRAM, johnsbrickshop have all delivered quickly. If it was me, I'd email a couple of them, give them a rough idea of what you want, size of order and ask how quick delivery might be. BRIX-N-PARTS I noted as being particularly quick.

Aleydita

I haven't bought much from BL/BO but in my limited experience the sellers with the largest inventory and the most feedback tend not to be as quick as the smaller sellers, I always imagined this was due to the volume of orders they're dealing with. I sell a small amount on BO, just the stuff I don't want, and I tend to ship same/next day, and I've had buyers in the UK confirm receipt of delivery 2 days later which isn't bad from Belgium.

My suggestion, to be sure of getting your order in time, would be to post a message on the BL/BO forums and see which sellers reply.

CCC

What sort of bricks and numbers are you after?

Lego PAB online normally takes 1-3 weeks, often towards the end of that (2+ weeks). Sometimes longer.

Xefan

I'm mostly just after normal 2x4, 2x6, 2x8 bricks and a selection of plates etc. so nothing particularly exotic. I had a look at the PAB online stuff the other day and they certainly had everything I needed but wasn't sure how long I'd be waiting if I ordered from there, so thanks for letting me know, I guess if I ordered from there it certainly wouldn't be this weekend I'd be building!

I'll have a look at some of the BL/BO sellers mentioned.

As an aside, if you're building something do you guys usually just order a bunch of bricks that are roughly what you want or do you just plan it out using LDD or similar? I figure it could be annoying starting to build something and have to wait 3 weeks for PAB online for example to get you those last couple of bits you need to finish the job? Or am I just being too impatient - do people normally just over-order or is it typical that you have something sat around half finished for weeks waiting for the parts for the finishing touches?

TheLoneTensor

This is something I wish I could go back and tell my old self...

Once you've put together your order, go through and double the qty of every item. When it comes to basic bricks and plates, triple them, if not more.

Paperballpark

I always over-order. If I need 10 of a fairly cheap element, I'll order 20 (assuming the seller has that quantity), just so that I have some spare.

In terms of BL sellers, most of them post the day after you pay (unless you pay early in the morning), and you'll receive the order a day or two after that. If I paid on Wednesday I'd generally expect to have the order by the end of Saturday.

The more orders you do, the more sellers you'll use. I keep a record for each order of the speed, packing, postage costs etc. Any that I'm impressed with I'll use again. If there's any that don't impress me, I won't use again. If I remember tonight, I'll dig out my list of sellers and recommend some.

rancorbait

I think your best bet would be to 'pick up' the bricks you want from your local AFOL, they tend to have the best selection and the lowest prices.

:oP

timinchicago

From my own experience BrickLinking #10181 there is a lot of time spent waiting around for the correct parts to arrive. PAB took MUCH longer (3 full weeks) and cost MUCH more than BrickLink.

While PAB is sometimes the only viable option, I would recommend it generally as a last resort.

As a side note, PAB may have the wrong parts listed for a set and no way for you to know it until it shows up 3 weeks later! For example #10181 uses 8 (2453) Dark Bluish Gray Bricks 1 x 1 x 5 with hollow stud. PAB does not have the hollow stud version and sent me the useless solid stud (2453b). I called LEGO CS to report the discrepancy a year ago but it is still shows the wrong part available as of today.

TheOneVeyronian

As a frequent UK BrickLinker who uses it to BL many MOC's, I'd definitely say BrickLink is the way to go, especially for common bricks. PaB orders have normally arrived between 3 and 14 days for me, but larger common bricks like 2x4's are way overpriced on there imo.

As for BL, may I recommend a couple of UK sellers I use, sometimes on a weekly basis since I have been so satisfied with their level of service:

A Brick Shiphouse: Speedy invoice and posting (I've received orders from this store within 24 hours of placing them on a couple of occassions!). Very friendly and helpful seller, and also issues a 10% off coupon for your next order.

A Mix of Bricks: Enormous range of bricks, very reasonably priced mostly and quick shipping once you've paid. Also a helpful seller. I mean, I just placed a £100, 1,500 piece, 220 lot order with this store on Sunday evening and I am expecting it to be delivered tomorrow, so pretty quick service too (depending on how many orders he has to pick!). A very good seller.

There's a few others I use frequently, but those are the two I always visit first when BL'ing a big project :-)

Hope that's helpful somewhat.

TheLoneTensor

Always read the terms. Most sellers ship immediately, some sellers only ship once a week and others say you'll get it when you get it, which could be up to a month or more (not kidding). And, just like with any marketplace, read each seller's feedback.

Also, like @Aleydita mentioned, some of the "smaller" guys (however defined: small inventory, small feedback number, etc.) work harder than the bigger guys, because they have to.

Calv

If I may insert a shameless plug here...

My UK Bricklink store "Central Bricks" is open for business, with a 70000+ inventory and it is my policy to ship the order on the date it is paid. From the feedback I get Royal Mail seem to get most orders delivered next day. Today for instance I received an order last night, invoiced it straight away, the buyer paid during the day today, and I have just got back from the post office having just posted it.

Having just been made redundant from my job of 12 years any orders will be more than welcome! Still at least I should have plenty of time to get the backlog of sets parted-out.

iso3200

I've been pretty lucky with PAB this year. I've done three orders and all have arrived between 5-8 days. And of course there are also VIP points for your purchase. Something to bear in mind if you're spending over £25 or £50 is you can get the Monthly promo when using PAB as well. A nice sweetener. I was happy to wait a few extra days for my bricks to get a Martian Manhunter this month.

Even the LRP service has been pretty good, arriving in two weeks for one order and about 3 for another.

I would agree with most posters though that if you're after parts quick, Bricklink is the way to go, subject to doing your homework. The worst thing about Bricklink is finding a seller that has everything you want. You'll end up doing multiple orders I'm sure.

I've also used and can recommend BRIX-N-PARTS, johnsbrickshop, A Mix of Bricks, A Brick Shiphouse and a particular favourite Yellow Farm Bricks

I've been doing several bricklink projects myself recently. My best advice is not to order things late at night when tired... I've made a few mistakes and doubled up various items from different stores when I wasn't keeping track of things very well. Still, they're all bricks, and they'll get used for something, right?

Matthew

iso3200 said:

Even the LRP service has been pretty good, arriving in two weeks for one order and about 3 for another.

Didn't LEGO Replacement Parts previously quote 10 days for delivery?

Paperballpark

Right, here's my recommended stores (from ones I've used fairly recently):

A Mix of Bricks
A Brick Shiphouse
Yellow Farm Bricks
The Brick Co.

Sirswedes figs and more
A Brick Pit Stop
My Affliction
Brick_stockists

Bill's Bricks
Speedy Gonzalez
Brookdales Brickshop
Mr. Bungles brick bazaar
ProsArch Bricks

The dozen or so sellers I've listed above are great, and you'll not have a problem with them.