Buying from Lego vs. Bricklink

[JohnsLegos]

I'm sorry if I put this in the wrong forum but here goes: I am weighing the options of buying from Lego versus Bricklink. I recently placed a pretty good sized order from Lego and it is going to take some time to get. I don't want to cancel the order while it is getting processed and am now getting ready to do another MOC. I priced the parts I need from Lego and also skimmed Bricklink for prices as well. Would the prices of say 50 2x8's in white from both sites be the same price (shipping included) or would one be cheaper than another?? Thanks for any input.

[Mylenium]

No generalized answer to that, I'm afraid. Elements that tend to be widely available in many sets can be dirt cheap on Bricklink while others are more costly like popular minifigure add-ons. A bunch of white 2 x 8 bricks should not be too much trouble and some BL sellers have lots for 1 Cent a piece whereas this will cost around 50 Cent at least on LEGOs if I'm not mistaken. The only real consideration on BL is often the shipping cost and the minimum lots you have to buy, but if you really buy in bulk from the same seller this will eventually be a non-issue...

Mylenium

[Peppermint_M]

Shipping can also vary from what LEGO charges (Isn't it free shipping over 50?), but I couldn't say by how much really, each seller on Briclink has their own costings and charges. 

[Feuer Zug]

Both sides have their advantages at times. In some cases, a BrickLink seller will have what I want for cheaper after shipping than LEGO. If so, I go with the BrickLink seller. This is often the case for out of production pieces. Or if I need a wide variety of small parts, but not many, then the fees LEGO wants may remove them. At other times, LEGO offers the best price for bulk pieces. I recently built a train station with a glass front. For the windows and frames in the quantity I required, LEGO had the best price. It all really depends on what you want and how much time you're willing to put into finding it all.

[Murdoch17]

6 hours ago, JohnsLegos said:

I'm sorry if I put this in the wrong forum but here goes: I am weighing the options of buying from Lego versus Bricklink. I recently placed a pretty good sized order from Lego and it is going to take some time to get. I don't want to cancel the order while it is getting processed and am now getting ready to do another MOC. I priced the parts I need from Lego and also skimmed Bricklink for prices as well. Would the prices of say 50 2x8's in white from both sites be the same price (shipping included) or would one be cheaper than another?? Thanks for any input.

I could be wrong, but I thought once orders for Bricks and Pieces (or whatever it is now) are started, you can't cancel it because it's "in progress"? If you've already bought the parts, then it might be too late to change it...

[evancelt]

I think in general you can find bricks that are older than current year (2021 and before) for cheaper on Bricklink. If you get good at searching that site you can usually find sellers that have specific bricks in bulk for cheap prices and have low shipping prices. Some sellers raid the in-store PAB wall and then list items in bulk for cheap.

That said, some pieces (like bley 75 deg slopes, nougat/sand blue/olive green colors) are still more expensive on Bricklink and just normally priced on Lego.com. The inverse is true, too, though, as Lego.com charges an arm and a leg for certain parts like printed pieces, glow in the dark and metallic gold colors, etc.

While Lego.com has a very huge selection, there are some bricklink sellers that also do!

Some BL sellers give you free shipping once you hit a $20 threshold

But, you can use VIP points on lego.com for $ off the total...

A final thought is if you are looking for older colors like sand red, sand purple, medium green, light green, light gray, dark gray, brown, etc, then Bricklink is your only option :)

[howitzer]

For recently released parts Lego is definitely better, even if there's some delay in their availability at B&P. Unless the new part gets very heavy use in sets right from the start, it can take a significant time for the parts to trickle down to BL inventories (you can find a few quickly, but those will be really expensive), especially in quantities larger than just a few. I also feel that large parts are quite a bit cheaper at B&P when compared to BL, for example Technic panels and such. On the other hand, stuff like electronics are way overpriced at TLG's own shop, so BL is the place to go with those.

Do your research carefully, and you can save quite a bit.

[JohnsLegos]

I also wanted some parts to make extra cars for my 60197 train, I had the part numbers and searched the Lego site for them to no avail. I searched Bricklink for the parts and they were there but before ordering them I emailed Lego about them asking them for a price before ordering off of Bricklink. Low and behold, Lego actually shipped the parts to me for FREE. I mean I was willing to pay for them but they shipped them and all. I guess if I am in a rush to get stuff Bricklink would be the way to go too...

[MAB]

On 7/14/2022 at 9:35 PM, howitzer said:

I also feel that large parts are quite a bit cheaper at B&P when compared to BL, for example Technic panels and such. On the other hand, stuff like electronics are way overpriced at TLG's own shop, so BL is the place to go with those.

It really depends what the large part is, how often it appears in sets and how useful and in demand it is. If it is a popular part in a big set, chances are BL prices will be high. Whereas an unpopular big part in many sets will be cheap. I have had loads of large parts that are worth so little and have such a low sales volume that they are not worth the bother of listing and, just as big an issue, storing. They go in the bulk sold by weight lots instead.

[Feuer Zug]

On 7/17/2022 at 4:09 AM, MAB said:

It really depends what the large part is, how often it appears in sets and how useful and in demand it is. If it is a popular part in a big set, chances are BL prices will be high. Whereas an unpopular big part in many sets will be cheap. I have had loads of large parts that are worth so little and have such a low sales volume that they are not worth the bother of listing and, just as big an issue, storing. They go in the bulk sold by weight lots instead.

I've seen this as well. I needed a ton of red 1x4 plates for a MOC and the BL seller included them gratis. It all depends on what you want and the going price. Tiles are one place where B&P is often cheaper due to the demand on them.