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.

Where to buy LEGO (Part 2)

In this post I will review whether it is worth it to purchase from some of the big name retailers.  Walmart, Target, Toys R Us, Barnes and Noble, and numerous others all sell LEGO brand products.  Is it smart to buy from them?

Price:  Always verify that you are getting the best price or at least getting the item for the same price that you would get it for from the LEGO Company directly.  Often times retailers will mark up the item and then run a sale back to the standard price.  Toys R Us is known for doing this.  Walmart and Target typically run prices that match the LEGO company and might be a few pennies cheaper (for Walmart it's usually like $0.03 cheaper than LEGO).  If you can catch a sale or clearance run, then it might be worth it to buy there.  Do your homework.

Product Availability: Most of these stores will not have the vast inventory that the LEGO Company has on site.  You will find what they think they can sell at the price points they want to hit.  These companies are not catering to LEGO fans.  They just want to move product to make some cash.  Walmart, Target, and Toys R Us have online stores with bigger inventories.  If you are set on purchasing from one of them and can't find it in your local store, check online.

Set Selection: As mentioned, many stores stock based on what they think they can sell. They often don't run every LEGO theme out there and often have only certain sets at specific price points available.  If you see the set you want, then great, but there's not guarantee they will have it.

Shipping:  If you're in the store, the shipping price you pay is however much it cost you to get to the store (gas, bus fare, whatever).  For those retailers with online platforms, many have deals similar to LEGO where if you buy over a certain amount, you can get free shipping.

Customer Service: I have yet to find a store associate at store (insert store name here) that is a huge LEGO fan who understand what's out there and can give you good advice.  The help you get is the help you get.

Overall: Watch your pricing and be sure not to overspend on LEGO at retail stores.  Do your research!  If you find the item(s) you want and they are reasonably priced, then go for it.  Otherwise, I tend to avoid retail stores unless they have a big sale going on.

Where to buy LEGO (Part 1)

There are a lot of places you can buy LEGO sets and items these days.  It seems like they are everywhere from drug stores to supermarkets to online stores to well the secondhand market (we'll get into that later).  For the next few posts I will give some thoughts on where to get LEGO and some things to consider based on the items you are looking for.

So let's start at the most obvious place... buying LEGO from the LEGO company itself.  To buy from LEGO itself, you can purchase from LEGO Shop at Home via their web site or over the phone with their catalog.  If you happen to live next to a LEGO brand store, you can purchase there too.  

Price: LEGO controls pricing on its sets.  While they often run sales or have discounts, you are at the mercy of LEGO's pricing plans.  Can you get "cheap" LEGO sets from LEGO?  That's a matter of opinion... especially since they control the initial pricing which is the basis for all other sales.  The LEGO VIP program can help you save money (for more LEGO purchases in the future) or at least give you some benefits to shopping straight from the source.

Product Availability: LEGO controls production.  For the majority of items, they have large supplies.  However, as has been seen with some limited running sets or very popular sets, LEGO does run out on occasion.  If the set is still in production, they will put it on back order  for you.  LEGO brand stores are usually pretty good at that as well.  I'd be curious to know if anyone has experience with LEGO brand stores and back ordered items.

Set Selection: YES.  What else can you say about the company that makes the product itself.  They have everything.  LEGO stores may not carry everything or may run out, but they can order items for you or in the past I have seen them hand out discounted shipping coupons.

Shipping: There is no shipping at the LEGO branded stores, but obviously Shop at Home has shipping cost.  Thankfully now you can get free shipping with purchases of $75 or more.  However if you plan to spend less than $75, you can expect to pay for shipping.

Customer Service: From personal experience, I've found LEGO Store employees to be helpful and good to work with.  I'm sure there are employees that don't represent the brand well, but I have yet to be proven wrong.  Any horror stories out there?  I have never called LEGO Shop at Home, but have e-mailed.  They are quick to correspond and very pleasant with responses.  Again, that is my experience only.

Overall: LEGO is a great place to buy LEGO. Sorry, had to say it.  They control their brand and obviously they are the place to get things first or to get some sets that are not available elsewhere.  In terms of price they have you cornered on some items, but for other items there are better places to look if you'd like to save some money.  LEGO has proven to me that they have good customer service and that they care about the customer.  I hope they continue to focus on their fans to keep the product top notch among toy brands well into the future.

May the 4th Be With You

Since 1999, the LEGO Company has been producing Star Wars themed sets.  These sets have become increasingly more detailed and intricate.  For those of you that collect these sets, you'll notice that they can be pretty pricey.  

Every year for the past few years, the LEGO company has held a May the 4th sale.  This year's sale started on 2 May and ended today on 4 May.  It included a free minifigure for purchasing $75 or more in Star Wars sets.  It also included a number of Star Wars sets discounted on the "Sales and Deals" page.  Finally, it included the release of a number of new sets to mainly include the $199.99 priced, 1,685 piece Tie Fighter Ultimate Collector's Edition.  If you missed the sale, stay tuned for the sale next year.

As for Bricks for Bricks, I'm working on building up the Star Wars inventory for sales in the fall.  I have a small number of sets that have been discounted from their retail price, a few assembled items for sale, and then a number of minifigures.  A word of warning... Star Wars sets are expensive and minifigures do not sell cheaply on the secondary markets either.  I do my best to price them fairly and in the past I have gone out on the secondary market and found cheaper "used" Star Wars minifigures.  From past sales one of the biggest requests I've had was for R2-D2 minifigures.  To answer that question, yes I have some of them and will have them available in the fall.