buying

Where to buy LEGO (Part 4)

Looking for the one piece that you lost that is hard to find?  Need to get a new set of stickers for that set?  Want to buy a large amount of 1x2 red bricks?  Looking to get a mint condition set no longer available from stores or from LEGO?  Have you tried Bricklink.com?  Never heard of it, let's review it here.

Price: You'll find a huge price range on Bricklink.com.  Individual sellers to bigger stores selling new and used items.  You need to do your research before you buy.  Make sure you're getting the best deal available.  Some stores charge packing fees, handling fees, PayPal fees, or other random fees.  Read closely and pay attention.  Feel free to ask questions of the sellers prior to ordering to make sure you know what you are paying for.  

Product Availability: If you can't find it on Bricklink.com, it probably doesn't exist.  Search carefully.  Sadly, some sellers put fake items up so be careful at what you see.  If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

Set Selection: See product availability in terms of the selection.  The issue with Bricklink.com is that it is not user friendly.  Items are coded in using LEGO's set and piece numbers.  Searching through the monstrous database can be a pain.  The items are there, you just have to find them.

Shipping: Most sellers ship pretty quickly.  If they do not ship quickly comment as such.  You can request overnight FedEx or get the slowest USPS shipping at the cheapest cost.  For the most part shippers package items so they are not damaged in transit.  

Customer Service: Bricklink.com runs on comments.  For each order, you will have the opportunity to post feedback on the seller.  They in turn will rate you.  In theory this keeps everyone honest and the system working properly.  There will be some bad eggs in the system, but you can read their feedback to determine if you want to work with them or not.  Be cautious of new sellers.  They may have no feedback posted or very few posted.  In theory their prices will reflect the limited comments.  

Overall: Bricklink.com is a marketplace focused mainly on dedicated to adult fans mostly.  It can be a challenge for those not into the LEGO hobby to use the site.  The buyer should beware and do research on the items they want and make sure the seller they choose to use has a good reputation in the system.  It can be a great place to make purchases though.  Especially if you are looking to find a lot of parts and pieces cheaper than buying them brand new from LEGO's Pick-a-Brick.

Where to buy LEGO (Part 3)

Is there anything you can't buy from Amazon.com?  Well, probably yes, but it seems like they have just about everything to include LEGO.  So are they the best to buy from? 

Price: Amazon often has some good deals on LEGO sets.  They often have sets that are discounted 20% to 30% off of LEGO's original prices.   They also sell sets at LEGO's prices and note that sometimes sets can be over priced so do your homework.  

Product Availability: Amazon's inventory can be hit or miss.  They often have every current set in stock as well as some of the old sets being sold by secondary market sellers at prices.  You just have to search and see what they have.

Set Selection: As mentioned, they usually have a lot of the current sets in stock.  Unlike other stores they also have a lot of old sets no longer available from LEGO.  They also have individual minifigures, parts, and parts sold in lots.  

Shipping: Amazon shipping is usually pretty decent and if you buy over the set amount or have Amazon Prime it's free.  If you buy from someone selling on Amazon's Marketplace shipping will depend on that individual seller.

Customer Service: Amazon isn't a LEGO expert although some of the Marketplace sellers may be.  I haven't experienced any issues with buying anything from LEGO in the past so I am not a good person to rate their service.  Any comments on Amazon customer service?

Overall: Amazon can be a great place to find cheap LEGO sets.  They often sell current sets a discount prices over what LEGO sells them for.  As for buying from Marketplace sellers, be sure to do your research to make sure you are getting a deal.