Ordering from BrickLink

bluemoose

'simply bricks' and 'a slim chance' are two stores I've dealt with numerous times in the past, who both usually have a lot of bricks in their stores. Of course 'a lot of bricks' isn't the same as 'a broad selection', but it's a good starting point!

Brewer51

Yellow Farm Bricks are definitely up there in terms of service as a whole. Polite, good prices, wide variety, and quick postage.

A Brick Or More also is one of the other sellers I've had plenty of dealings with. Huge variety and again, excellent service.

bluemoose

Another recommendation for 'a brick or more' from me.

andhe

I'll 2nd bluemoose's recommendation of 'simply bricks' and 'slim chance', also used them a number of times and been very impressed with service and speed.

I've obviously used bricklink a few more times than I've realised...

TheBrickLadd

Thanks all. Have ordered a few bits from the above mentioned stores. Need to finish off getting the bits I need at lunch today. This will complete my Star Wars Endor set along with 7675.

leemcg

As well as the above, I also find that Gizmocom, ProsArch and KRAM also have great selections at good prices and in the case of all the stores mentioned, quick turnaround times.

andhe

^ wow, I've also used those guys/gals as well (must... resist... bricklink...)

Brewer51

I've also got to recommend Dumbledore's Office. I don't know how big his inventory is, but the guy sent me a business card with my order offering free shipping on the next order. Shops that take the time out to offer things like that deserve a mention.

LostInTranslation

^ Alright @Matthew, how much did you pay him to say that? :P

richo

^ lol.

Brewer51

Ha! I'm pretty new round here, I didn't even realise that that was his shop!

LostInTranslation

^ Wow, you must be VERY new if you've never seen him link to it... (j/k Matthew :P !!)

luckyruss

I've not been using Bricklink long (I've made 30-40 orders) but have placed one or two from most of the names noted above, and would support the comments above.

Generally I've found the standard of my UK orders very good (in terms of things such as quality, accuracy of inventory)

goosebogey

Yep, I've used most of the sellers mentioned here a few times and all have great service.

caperberry

I am SO DESPERATE not to start working today that I just made this little table of the top ten (by items) stores in the UK.

Store	Lots	Items
A Slim Chance	7,625	791,426
Simply Bricks	1,955	388,167
YELLOW FARM BRICKS	8,766	341,836
a brick or more	9,561	320,181
BricksAndPieces	11,292	293,926
Gizmocom	5,128	266,170
BricksNBitz	12,274	183,802
KRAM	7,625	172,531
A Mix of Bricks	10,575	168,965
Bespoke Bricks & Blocks	2,583	154,476

Odindusk

I must be "doing it wrong" as they say on the intarwebz, because I've sent quote requests to 5 sellers over the past couple of weeks and have only heard back from one of them. BL is weird.

emilewski

That is weird. I always respond to all queries and orders within 24 hours for my BL store. It is a matter of customer service (and self-interest as well as I want the order and good feedback).

JP3804

^ I am with you. I do the same thing.

@ Odindusk That seems strange. Check your messages sent and make sure they went out. If they did I would move on to other sellers. jmo

StuBoy

@Odindusk I seem to get replies pretty promptly when I ask for quotes - and never had a non-response for an invoice though, that's a bit slack.

Mindless64

I have used them now for about 20 purchases, tend to stick to sellers in USA and Canada mainly due to concerns of loss overseas, customer service and returns. I have purchased from stores and e-bay for last ten years and this is what I noticed about BrickLink. Most of sets purchased are often dirty and dusty requiring cleaning but normally in New or Like new condition, don't see that from e-bay sellers as a norm. Many say complete but often miss 2-10 parts on average. Most good when contacting but some get outright hostile. Also noticed if you ask questions some just ban you or ignore, again not so much on e-bay. Prices generally better and have had positive experiences with new sellers low ratings and high sellers as well. Brick Link most of loss falls to you on shipping so insurance may be warranted or at least tracking, ebay seller has to prove you got shipment or insure it for you on delivery and lastly I do find on occasions sellers will cancel an order an make up a lame excuse for doing it, could be they hate to part with it, others have offered more money or they realize they under priced something, again due to e-bay setup that happens usually nothing or rarely. Parts suppliers have been excellent on BrickLink a big plus.

CCC

Does anyone know a way of searching bricklink for all minfigures (or torso assemblies) for sale that have a specific hand colour, then ordering them by price? I know you can search for specific hand colours and check what MF or torso assembly has that colour hand, but it doesn't tell you which is cheapest.

Eg. If I wanted to find all torso assemblies with black hands, and rank by price, what would I do?

GIR3691

If you don't care what torso you get them with, as it sounds like from your post, why not just order black hands and find torso assemblies you like?

CCC

As it can be cheaper to buy a torso, two arms and two hands than it is to buy two hands. The torso and arms can go in the mod box.

akunthita

@CCC, you can't make a comparison like what you are describing, but you can certainly find the ones that are cheap with just a little bit of research. These are all the torso-assemblies with black hands: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemIn.asp?P=983&in=P&colorID=11&ov=Y
Look for the ones that are very generic looking (not from a licensed themes, from older themes, no torso print, etc.)
Of course it depends on the quantity you want, if you you want new or used, and what country you are considering buying from, but just with a quick look thru the page I see there are lots of 50 cents torsos, and several 30 cents ones also. With the cheahest single black hand in quantity being 20 cents, buying a torso assembly is not a bad idea....(c;

CCC

^ Yeah, thanks, that is what I have been doing.

greekmick

What is the best way to buy 1-2 pieces of bricklink

I have added to my wanted list a selection of loose items which I need to complete several sets. What is the best way of obtaining these items in one go or as little transactions as possible? I would also prefer to deal with someone in the UK only. I have never used bricklink before.

AvengerDr

Under "wanted" click on the "by shop" tab. It will give you a list of shops that have all (or most) of the parts you're looking for in a particular wanted list. THen you can filter (if you haven't already choosen so in your default settings) the shops in the UK.

greekmick

^ thank you.

princedraven

@greekmick, if it is only a few pieces, let me know and if I have any you can have them, save you the bother of BL'ing and waiting for post etc..

greekmick

@princedraven thanks I will send you a list tonight

legonut80

@greekmick I'm glad I'm not the only person to have not used bricklink before. I think I'll have to work it out sometime though, even though that worries me that I'd be addicted to it.

greekmick

@legonut80 it seems fun, but fun comes at a price! You could quite easily get carried away with it. I always learn my lessons the hard way.

caperberry

Unfortunately there's no way on Bricklink to check that the Wanted by Shop listings are actually the cheapest. You can check each individual item but not a whole list at once. I find myself checking a few of the items that I want the highest quantity of. But probably most important is checking RARE items, ie. the ones that are possibly NOT appearing on your Wantedby Shop list!

You may have seen a thread here about an automated cost minimisation program. It's great but only works in Matlab for now, and cannot yet narrow searches by country. But I tried it and saved about 15-20£ on a £70 order! The interesting thing was that it was cheaper buying from 4 different sellers and paying multiple postage than it was from 3 sellers.

Brickarmor

It may be common knowledge, but I just figured out something I thought was immensely helpful on BL. It relates to the above post on finding the rarer pieces you need. I was trying to complete three sets so I made three wanted lists. Then I made another wanted list of Necessitites, those pieces that cannot be substituted, and copied those items from the previous three lists. Viewing that Necessities list By Shop will show you which store has the most of your irreplaceable pieces. To Copy, check the Move box (kinda confusing, I think) but then down at the bottom there's a drop down menu (I never noticed this until someone pointed it out) in which you'll select "Copy" and then Submit Changes. This way, my items stayed organized by set but I could view the most needed and just go from there.

One last thing you can try to make navigation easier. Go to your Wanted tab, go to My Settings, under Display Options check the long-winded box " Show Multiple Wanted Selection Lists as Multiple Options in Stores and My Wanted Items By Shop". Now, when you go to a BL store you'll be able to quickly see how many items from your various lists that shop has.

Hope this helps!

cavegod

ok so does anybody know how to get either wanted bricks or ldd manager to generate an xml file that works?

drdavewatford

I wish - it would have saved me hours over the past few weeks !

graphite

I've done lots of Wanted lists with LDDManager from LDD models. What isn't working for you?

cavegod

what number do i put in for bricklink id? and how do i correct non available parts and incorrect colours?

justmichael

Here's a question...

I've just received my first order from a BrickLink seller. The parts that I've ordered were from one of my wanted lists. How do I automatically remove the parts that I've received from my wanted list? Does this automatically happen when I mark the order Completed?

sidersdd

^ In Bricklink go to Orders->My Settings->Orders Placed Columns and make sure that "Items in Order on My Wanted List Icon" is checked.

Then go to your Orders->Placed page. You should see an icon on each row which looks like a scroll. Click this on the order you're interested in. It'll reveal the items which are on your Wanted List and you can delete them from there.

justmichael

Excellent, thank you.

Short_Round

Apologies if there's already a thread (likely, but the search isn't too good). Is there a beginners guide to getting into Bricklink? I don't buy Lego to sell, so I'm only looking as a buyer. Say I have some sets I like (MMV, Helm's Deep, Modulars) that I want to expand, is it cheaper to buy individual bricks from Bricklink, or buy sets without minifigures on ebay? I've tried the 'part out' search on Bricklink, but that only allows you to include minifigures (and shows me results in USD $ , even though I've changed my preferences to show results in GBP £).

Also, can anyone recommend any good sellers in the UK?

Thanks.

CCC

> is it cheaper to buy individual bricks from Bricklink, or buy sets without minifigures on ebay?

It depends. Do you want all the bricks in the set without minifigs? If not, you are wasting money if you buy the whole lot. Alternatively, do you want to look for all the individual bricks on bricklink, and try to find a seller that has them all?

Short_Round

^I'm new-ish back to Lego, so for example I recently built Helm's Deep, and want to expand it. As you mention, it might be a headache finding a seller that has all the parts, so was wondering if I'm better off just buying another complete HD without the figs on ebay (the same can apply to the Batcave, MMV etc...which I'd like to build upon).

CCC

Yeah, you could do. If you just want grey parts though to make walls higher, you might be better off buying them on BL. It is worth browsing BL for a couple of hours just to get a feel for prices of bricks. Some are incredibly cheap (and others expensive) compared to what you might think.

staffmark

same for me- the helms deep set just isn't big enough, is it? I found a 2nd set at Walmart this week for $89- I did the math and figured I'd pocket $50 total if I sell off the minifigs- that'll leave me with just the bricks for $45 net. I can handle that. But I haven't seen the set sans figs sell for less than $70 on ebay. I say buy a 2nd set when/if you find a deal on it. Now if I could just get some bricklink traffic to sell off some of those figs...

hoyatables

I'd love to know how to look for a seller on Bricklink that has all of the individual bricks I happen to be looking for.

BrickDancer

@hoyatables - Fill up your 'Want List' with those desired bricks in their specific colors. Then under the 'Wanted' tab, you'll see the page with 'My Want List By Shop' link. Click that and it will list the shops in order of which hold the most of your desired parts.

hoyatables

@BrickDancer. Awesome. Again I am in your debt.

TyoSolo

@Short_round - as @staffmark says, rather than buying a set without minifigures from eBay, you will find that you'd be a lot better off if you buy the set discounted at a retail outlet, and then sell off the minifigures. Although it's more expensive in the short term, you can get a quick turnaround on minifigs on eBay.

As for bricklink - the secret is learning how to use the Wanted list. You can part out a set into your wanted list, and filter for only the parts from the set that you think you'll need. This will also probably work out cheaper than buying the set minifig-less.

To do this, just search for the set in catalogue entries, then when the entry appears, click on the part out option under the Wanted column. From here you can add all parts, negate all parts, select the parts you want, and set the maximum price for each element.

Have a play - it's not the most user friendly, but once you get your head around it, it's easy enough. I have yet to try the selling features, so I couldn't possibly comment on those.