LEGO köper Bricklink

[pareriksson]

Bye bye stulet Lego från fabrik sålt billigt via tex CZ/HU bricklinkbutiker.

Fast det är väl bra

Ja.. och jag tycker faktiskt att det ska bli bra att de kastar ut allt annat krafs som inte är Lego... jag kan stå ut med att inte kunna köpa militära MOC's.. jag bygger ju dom hellre själv..

Ja, jag håller med. Det ska bli skönt att alla BA-färger i Brickstock försvinner.

Apropå färger, undrar vad som sker med namnen på färgerna. Kan man räkna med att Bricklinks färger kommer ersättas med LEGOs nomenklatur på sikt?

[mortil]

Antingen sköter dom det snyggt och allt är frid och fröjd.  eller så låter dom sina egna webbdesigners sätta tänderna i Bricklink och huxflux har vi en skitslö handelsplats som det inte går att handla ifrån för den buggar ur när man ska betala.

Det är väl den erfarenheten jag har av legos egna hemsida och webbshop senaste tiden.


Och missköter dom sig så antar jag att det kommer bli en explosionsartad ökning på Brickowl tex. av både säljare och köpare.

[byStfn]

Och missköter dom sig så antar jag att det kommer bli en explosionsartad ökning på Brickowl tex. av både säljare och köpare.

Det kommer nog ske en ökning oavsett känns det som. Lika bra att försöka hitta något nytt innan skeppet sjunker liksom. Jag är mer orolig att Stud.io kommer läggas i malpåse som LDD..

Sen ska tilläggas att bara för att Lego köper Bricklink så kommer det inte skicka allting till Danmark och låta Legos anställda styra det, utan saker kommer säkert fortsätta som vanligt med utveckling osv med den stora skillnad att Lego nu tjänar en massa pengar på även andrahandsförsäljningen av sin produkt 

[insurrection]

Ändå tveksam till detta. Bricklink funkar ju rimligt bra nu, förändringar känns som att de riskerar att göra saker sämre snarare än bättre.

...dock så tänkte jag väl precis så även när BL bytt ägare förr, när de skulle sälja sina egentillverkade bitar på plattformen, när de bytt design på sajten osv. osv.
Så man ska väl akta sig med att måla fan på väggen. Håller tummarna för att det ska bli bra istället.

[Teabox]

Knappt att man trodde på detta när man såg första rubriken om det.

Kan nog bli både bra och dåligt av det här.

Bara de inte stänger ner BAP. Den har sina brister, men ändå ett favorit ställe att beställa ifrån.

[dalle]

Varför tror ni Lego köpte Bricklink?

[insurrection]

Varför tror ni Lego köpte Bricklink?

Rent spekulativt:

1. De vill hålla ute konkurrenter från andrahandsmarknaden, detta garanterar stopp för att klonmärken ska kunna hamna på BL och på så vis avgränsar de Lego-fanbasen från klonerna och skyddar sin marknadsandel.

2. De ser att man kan tjäna pengar på deras produkt även i andrahands-ledet + ser det som ytterligare en plattform att direkt sälja på sin produkt på.

3. De kan skapa synerigieffekter och olika sidoprojekt (i stil med AFOL Designer Program).

4. De kan ha kontroll och t.ex.  sätta stopp för butiker som lägger ut bitar snodda från fabriker som tidigare tagits upp, men även andra skumraskgrejer.

[Magnus den store]

Varför tror ni Lego köpte Bricklink?

5. "Big data" är nya oljan, på samma vis som oljan en gång i tiden var det nya guldet.

[Anders67]

På LANet så skriver lego anställda att det primära anledningen är

Posted 6 hours ago

6 hours ago, Thomas Nickolaus said:
LEGO's values applied to Bricklink might mean: no custom military stuff any more.

· We would like this to be a platform for LEGO Bricks and LEGO-branded products, as that was Dan's original vision. This is an issue we will review as the deal closes.

6 hours ago, Jan Göbel - Bricks am Meer e.V. said:
yes, I fully agree and I can see this advantage.

I am optimistic, too. But I also welcomed the independence of Bricklink

We plan to operate the businesses as fully stand-alone entities in their current locations.  Bricklink will continue to be run by the existing management team.

6 hours ago, Richie Moir | PerthLUG said:
So effectively Lego now has a secondary income stream from every single set its ever sold and will sell, forever ad infinitum.



In fact, Lego will now make money from items such as GWP sets, that previously made them nothing.



Let that sink in

.

Julia touches on this in her Brothers Brick interview -  the marketplace operates very well and provides an opportunity for fans to purchase the product they need. Some of them are very difficult to find and don't exist in production anymore, so they're complimentary.  This acquisition is to support the fans better. We see opportunity to actually listen to the fans and have a stronger connection with them.

[Anders67]

Mer från LANet

Posted 5 hours ago

6 hours ago, Fernando Correia, TechnicBRICKs said:
I swear my first reaction was to look at the calendar!...
1st of April? Already!??

I wish this never happened!
And wonder whether Dan would be happy or mad at this moment, if he would be able to see this happen... Didn't his family still have a participation at BrickLink before this deal?

Honestly and despite the LEGO reassurance, I don't see how the community will benefit from this... There were already so many aspects where TLG can and should improve on their own!!
So why this? Other than mining the wonderful set of transaction data that BrickLink can provide?
Data is key, data is king, data is cash nowadays!

Hi Fernando,

I understand you're very upset by this. I can't tell you what the future will hold, but what I can tell you is for us, this acquisition is  about investing in the adult fan community – which is important to the LEGO Group. BrickLink is a platform LEGO fans love.  It's a place where they can be creative and entrepreneurial – and we want to continue to nurture these things.  And it's a vibrant community which brings our brand to life / keeps our brand relevant

 

6 hours ago, Richie Moir | PerthLUG said:
You quoted my post but didn't address it at all.

You now make more money from sets you've already sold once. And money from sets you previously made nothing from.

Sorry for not being more clear  - what I can say is the motivation for this acquisition is not related to money at all.  It is about strengthening our connection with the large and growing adult fan community – who are important to long-term success.  This is a benefit of being privately owned – we can take a long-term view.

We do create exclusive building sets and GWP for events or for platforms. But we are not doing this with profit in mind as much as we are doing it to tap into a cultural moment and trying to create something that is really interesting. However it's too soon for us to be talking about terms and conditions.  That is something that we will review closer to the deal closing.

6 hours ago, Jonathan Petrongari | RomaBrick said:
Let's see if TLG will change the rate or something else on Bricklink.

A new website will be really appreciated.

Regarding rates - That is not something we are currently looking at.  Over time, we will review all aspects of the site to ensure it offers a great experience for everyone involved community, users, designers and sellers. 

Regarding a new website -   We also plan to invest in the fundamentals of the platform and ways we can scale up in the future.   However, it's too soon to be specific.  We will take time to work with the team at BrickLink and the fantastic community to understand what's working and where there is opportunity for development.

6 hours ago, Ed Chang | Texas Brick RR said:
I'm not sure how the community will benefit either.
Zephyr will need to find a new outlet for his valve gear rods though. I'm sure there are other examples of non-LEGO parts unrelated to the weapons issue.

Maybe LDD will be merged with Studio?

The data is more important than the cash - that is a very good observation.

I do hope they keep Dan's mother involved.

Regarding LDD and Studio -  Both offer creative fans great support.  We will review future opportunities for both following closing. We  will certainly plan to support and evolve Studio.  The BrickLink team has done a great job developing this.

To the best of my knowledge she was involved.

[Anders67]

Posted 5 hours ago

6 hours ago, Joel Hoornbeek said:
Wow.  I never, never thought that this might happen.

The statement below bothers me, because my perception (and I think the perception of many other people) is that the current management team other than Russell really isn't doing very well, and Russell's hands seem to be tied when it comes to communication.

Sorry, I think I missed this one. We have been working closely with Russel on this announcement.We plan to operate the businesses as fully stand-alone entities in their current locations. I should add that the management will report to Julia Goldin (CMO) but we are keen to retain the entrepreneurial spirit that has made it such a success.

[Anders67]

Posted 5 hours ago

6 hours ago, Balazs Kiss said:
Maybe Bricklink IT can help the LEGO folks first 😉

Bricklink will continue to be run by the existing management team, when you log into BrickLink it will still be the site you know, run by the team you know. It's exciting to think how we can work together!

5 hours ago, Régis Gamba said:
Well, don't want to sound sarcastic or anything, but when I see how TLG "improved" the Lego VIP program, I am afraid Bricklink will become huge mess.

I can't speculate on what the future will hold but I will say the VIP program was a very different situation.

5 hours ago, Jetro de Château said:
Well, I see an opportunity to funnel the LUGBULK program through BL. That could simplify things, remove certain accounting problems and possibly speed up the process.

It looks like you quoted me saying something an ambassador said 😄

5 hours ago, Anna Bitanga said:


I'm polling my community now: so far, the reactions to the news are almost evenly split with slight favor to Yay!

Looking forward to reading your community's reactions!

5 hours ago, Richie Moir | PerthLUG said:
I wonder when Lego will "acquire" Brickowl.

At this time we have no such plans to acquire other businesses.

[Anders67]

Posted 5 hours ago

5 hours ago, Boštjan Svetličič said:
While I may see some logic behind it, my first thought (or avice) was: please PLEASE leave it as independent as possible. Bricklink is as it is because its independent, with all its qualities, but also with all its flaws. From Q&A:

Looking a this and the other topic about banning people for buying 5 led lights gives me the creeps. Bricklink needs "some" regulation, but from the perspecive of rules, imposed on S@H, three quarters of shops could be suspended immediately. While some shops may be a bit "shady" and there could be some suspicions about how they acquire some of their stock, like for example hundreds of some rare torsos or stuff like (it would be naive to think that all this come just from parted out sets), its BrickLink and its almost unlimited supply that makes this whole AFOL thing going, enables large builds etc...

Please LEGO, think twice before doing anything too "direct way".

If fans (and shops) will get "scared" away, there will certainly be initiative to come up with new trading platform (or use Brickowl or something similar) and we will end up with divided community and confused market.

Another thing is that while I like and respect TLG (I really do and I've defended its actions many times, here or elsewhere), I'm afraid of what their IT, some techincal and even legal services will do the platform, with all their (proved many times) inflexibilty, corporate thinking and sometimes even lack of common sense will do to plaform (from the technical side). Briklink is simple, even "ugly", but it works. In comparison, lego.com is nice, all "bling-blingy" and so on, but its slow, sorting sometimes dont work properly language setting get lost and its difficult to find something.

To end on positive side: I also see some great opportunities in it. Just, please, dont broke what works.

Thank you Bostjan, we will keep all of this in mind. We do plan to work with the BrickLink team going forward to invest in and improve the platform. We know you care about this, but it's best to not rush to conclusions yet. We will share more details when we have them.

[Anders67]

Posted 5 hours ago

5 hours ago, Mark Richards said:
Several AFOLs who run bricklink shops are concerned they will be banned from buying from Lego on account of being "resellers". There are also concerns that third party vendors who sell custom, non-LEGO parts would also be banned, despite these parts not violating LEGO's policies or competing directly with LEGO products. An example would be vendors who make custom train track.

The reseller question bought up here is an important one, but  requires a bit more research first before I can provide an answer. Right now, we are in very early days so we cannot yet say for sure what the future holds.

Regarding the secondhand marketplace:  What's great about LEGO bricks is that it's a true system of play. Elements we've produced since 1958 is compatible with the bricks that we have today. We're supportive of the fact that these bricks are still in circulation and they're still being used and leveraged for creativity.

For custom parts, again, an important question. We would like this to be a platform for LEGO Bricks and LEGO-branded products, as that was Dan's original vision. This is an issue we will review as the deal closes.

[Anders67]

Posted 4 hours ago
 

4 hours ago, Fernando Correia, TechnicBRICKs said:
LOL, so you got it!
It was just not yet communicated outside...

You both are correct that there are a lot of details we cannot share publicly yet, as it is still very early days and the acquisition is still in closing.

 

4 hours ago, Hugo Santos said:
I understand that the path of the future Bricklink will go strictly to resell LEGO elements, so 3rd part vendors who actually are selling custom parts or non-LEGO parts will not be welcome and will disappear from Bricklink..., I believe this was one decision that was made by the owner who will no longer be...

But what about the called LEGO Q-elements, will they be banned? Will LEGO install in the Bricklink system a censorship or filter about those for example?

I am trying to understand the aim to connect more with the community and strenghen the ties with the AFOLs but I don't expect and don't really want LEGO to control everything.

About Q-elements for instance I would not expect LEGO to ban them from Bricklink but instead they can produce them in order to fill a void that the AFOL community could use to create awesome MOCs.

I actually had to look up Q-elements since it's not a term I've heard before. That's a good question and I want to get you the right information. Unfortunately, we do not have more information to share at this time but hope to have an answer for you later.