TLG acquires Bricklink

[Andman]

Just now, dr_spock said:

There is still BrickOwl if need be.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't their market/shop/user base much smaller and more expensive?

[Mylenium]

Pardon my french, but it's quite an "Oh Sh...t!" moment. Don't get me wrong: I see the potential of what it could be/ become, but I don't trust LEGO to get it right. A company that has no handle on their own online shop is perhaps not a trustworthy candidate to run such a platform...

Mylenium

[f2k]

41 minutes ago, Nantucketdink said:

Maybe Lego will start directly selling individual and bulk lego elements in a much broader range than it has been and in an easier to use format to anyone willing to buy them.  That would be nice.  They could also make a hell of a lot more profit and cut out all those little guys making the money

That was my first though as well.

Apart from "this is some kind of joke, isn't it?".

I can't really see any reason for LEGO to do this unless they're planing to interfere with the second-hand marked. They already know a lot about AFOLs (and can simply ask if they want to know more), så that explanation seems rather odd.

However... Getting rid of the second-hand marked... Now, that would be worth something. And let's just be honest here... LEGO is a company, and companies don't do anything unless they think they can make money on it.

[Andman]

Just now, Mylenium said:

A company that has no handle on their own online shop is perhaps not a trustworthy candidate to run such a platform...

A valid reason to buy a working and trustworthy online shop.

[TeriXeri]

I hope this will lead to a better online streamlining of services like Bricks&Pieces, Pick a Brick and Bricklink, at least for common parts but I doubt that.

On the other hand, it also might allow more Bricklink sets like Löwenstein Castle and better local distribution/shipping for such sets, as they were shipped from US, import taxes played a role.

 

[leafan]

2 minutes ago, f2k said:

I can't really see any reason for LEGO to do this unless they're planing to interfere with the second-hand marked. They already know a lot about AFOLs (and can simply ask if they want to know more), så that explanation seems rather odd.

Well now they know exactly who their customer base is, to a greater degree than pulling sales data from the Shop @ Home.

Also, the difference between asking through something like the ambassador network and actually seeing what customers are buying on the secondary market (most likely because Lego does not produce said set or part anymore), are worlds apart.

[Slegengr]

I really hope they leave the second-hand market mostly as it is, but I have my doubts.  What seems far more likely is that TLG has discovered (surely it did not take this long?) why they estimate only 5% of their sales going to adults: most adults spend far more on the second-hand market due to TLG focusing on children.  I know as a child, between my own purchases and gifts from others, I probably had a couple thousand dollars worth of LEGO(R) purchases (no Dark Age for me).  As a working adult, I have spent many times that amount, almost exclusively on the second-hand market to purchase sets I missed in my childhood as well as pieces in bulk for MOC-building that are just not available or are very expensive from TLG.  Most likely, I see this as a way for LEGO to make the second-hand market expensive to improve their business profit.

If the rare chance occurs that this becomes a way for TLG to sell bulk pieces for MOC builders, I may be pleasantly surprised, but this seems like a very slim chance.  I know I have wanted to be able to buy certain pieces in bulk for reasonable prices, but I do not have access to the rare chances for such due to no LUG connection or unmentionable opportunities that some have had.  New pieces directly from TLG would be nice, but the prices on Bricks and Pieces are quite a bit higher than those on BrickLink.

It looks like it is time to make my BL purchases before changes are enacted.  With 500+ orders on BL, I have done my share of supporting their business model.

I also assume that eBay is quite pleased with this announcement, as they will likely see an increase in LEGO-related sales, no matter how this is handled by TLG.

[TeriXeri]

13 minutes ago, leafan said:

Well now they know exactly who their customer base is, to a greater degree than pulling sales data from the Shop @ Home.

Also, the difference between asking through something like the ambassador network and actually seeing what customers are buying on the secondary market (most likely because Lego does not produce said set or part anymore), are worlds apart.

This hopefully will play some role, as sets of now-retired themes still circulate on Bricklink, hopefully LEGO will get a better picture of demand/interest for "classic" themes.

Kids might not be the main target for classic Castle/Pirate/Space builds at this point, most of the recent LEGO in-house themes all been built off some App or TV show, alongside kids books etc, hopefully they'll see that adults don't always need all that extra fluff and just want great sets.

2013 Castle and 2015 Pirates were some of the last themes that didn't have an app, tv show, or magazine to go alongside it, and now even City has a TV show with LCA.

Edited November 26, 2019 by TeriXeri

[coinoperator]

1 hour ago, ZCerberus said:

they can use to stop a new marketplace

In a free economy nothing can stop that
Almost every country has anti monopoly laws

[AmperZand]

34 minutes ago, Slegengr said:

I also assume that eBay is quite pleased with this announcement, as they will likely see an increase in LEGO-related sales, no matter how this is handled by TLG.

Agreed. Currently, AFOLs buy on BL when they can and only through Ebay, where prices are higher and seller honesty lower, when they have to.

We could see a shift to Ebay being the ‘new BL’. It would take current BL sellers to defect to Ebay and Ebay adding LEGO-orientated functionality. Don’t know if Ebay would, but there is an opportunity there if Ebay is willing to seize it.

[leafan]

Well, they have stated that they'll be hosting an AMA (Ask Me Anything...presumably on Reddit) at some point in the near future, so be sure to ready your questions for that!

[The Reader]

1 hour ago, f2k said:

(...) And let's just be honest here... LEGO is a company, and companies don't do anything unless they think they can make money on it.

Agreed on that.

I would assume that if TLG is going to put unfavourable  restrictions on the use of BL, buyers as well as sellers will find a new marketplace to meet. That‘s a normal kind of evolution.

[jimmynick]

1 hour ago, KotZ said:

Wow. Just wow. I'm optimistic this will bode well for LDD/Stud.io/digital programs, but I'm really worried for resellers. I mean, that's the whole point of BL, they can't get rid of that?

Yeah - I'm shocked and slightly concerned. I wonder how the acquisition will align with TLG's existing online PaB, which is much less varied in selection and considerably more expensive.

If this leads to more (and more official LEGO-branded) AFOL Designer Program sets, that may be a bonus. But there seem to be several possible downsides.

[anothergol]

This is huge, the biggest news from Lego to me. And it's good & bad. Where to start..

-it means we're FINALLY gonna see Bricks&Pieces as a proper BL shop, instead of that bro.. ah wait, Bricks&Pieces isn't broken anymore. But anyway, BL is still a way way superior way of buying parts.

-it means there might be hope for a "part version" of the MOC design thing. And Lego now owns a pretty good list of colors "wanted" by MOCers, and can now decide to start batches & feed, if not its own shop, sellers around the world.

-what does it mean for prices? It's already one thing that prices can vary from 1 to 10 according to the shop, but prices on BL are totally different than on B&P. Lego's prices are generally based on rarity but also size/weight/amount of plastic, whereas the amount of plastic doesn't matter for BL and many large parts are bargained because no one wants them. BL's prices are a prime example of offer & demand, Lego's (part) prices are not.

-Studio. It means the LDD got its last nail in its coffin :(
As much as I like Studio, it's still not ready for me. But maybe it means the workflow can be changed to be as quick as in the LDD, it only needs a few tweaks.

-the future. It's rather common to see stuff bought by very large companies just dying in a few years. And Lego has proven (LDD) that it's not reliable. Fortunately BL is a very mature system & I can't imagine it going bad. Studio however isn't finished and it could go the way of the LDD.
There's also the possibility that Lego bought it not for its value, but to prevent it from allowing third-party parts. From the interview you can already read that non-Lego parts (the guns & stuff) are already gonna disappear from BL. I could have imagined BL partnering with chinese companies, obviously not anymore.

I'm already seeing a change btw, the sets from the AFOL designer program, which could still be ordered, have now disappeared (except from resellers), which is funny because they're all gonna raise in price because the sets are now "official" Lego ones.

 

1 hour ago, f2k said:

And let's just be honest here... LEGO is a company, and companies don't do anything unless they think they can make money on it. 

Not true - large companies will also buy smaller ones (& not do anything with them) to stop the competition. As I wrote above, there's a slight possibility that part of the motivation was to prevent "clone" parts on BL (even though BL's owners seemed to be against that - but not totally since Brickarms & others were allowed).

[Ankoku]

The bit which gets me, is that for however long B&P has existed, they have never attempted to make it easier to use. The session timeout aspect of it is terrible. The way you add items is terrible, the shopping cart aspect of it is terrible. The worst one is when it errors passing over the order to S@H and you lose the whole thing.

You are always left feeling that it is something they felt they had to provide, rather than wanted to or wanted to to make a profit. It doesn't seem a revenue stream they are interested in. So then why does BrickLink become one they are interested in? Which is essentially more at odds with their business than their on B&P?

Do they actually care about Stud.IO, considering they gave up on their own? (I think that is correct).

I can see them being very interested in owning the data.

Even the MOC selling thing they did on BL last year seems odd considering they have their own IDEAS platform.

Maybe LEGO has had a change in perspective on all of this, but to be honest, their actions to date suggest they have had little interest.

[anothergol]

8 minutes ago, jimmynick said:

Yeah - I'm shocked and slightly concerned. I wonder how the acquisition will align with TLG's existing online PaB, which is much less varied in selection and considerably more expensive.

No, that can't change pricing in local shops, because it's only dictated by offer & demand. If it can affect anything, it's Lego's own pricing.

If BL stopped working like a stock market, with parts costing the same in every shop, it would be its end, that would make no sense.

[AnyColourYouLike]

Well, this came out of nowhere.

[anothergol]

2 minutes ago, Ankoku said:

Even the MOC selling thing they did on BL last year seems odd considering they have their own IDEAS platform.

Something I can imagine is ALL of the sets that got their 10k votes and weren't picked for mass production, to go the way of the AFOL designer program. That is: smaller production, sold exclusively on BL, and with no editing of the original design (thus smaller costs involved).

[Hive]

This came as quite the shocker... and the sceptic in me fears what this will mean for myself, as a seller on BrickLink. In the past, LEGO hasn't exactly seemed particularly fond of re-sellers...

But perhaps LEGO will positively surprise us all with this. There's definately tons of potential here, if used in a way that would please sellers and buyers on BrickLink alike.

[Ankoku]

12 minutes ago, anothergol said:

with no editing of the original design

This is a good point.

[ZCerberus]

1 hour ago, coinoperator said:

In a free economy nothing can stop that
Almost every country has anti monopoly laws

This is my point.  They don’t own the bricks, just a selling platform.  Why would you buy that unless there was some special value in the platform... Would you pay to buy eBay if you knew buying it or changing it would turn all your customers away and someone else could just create another eBay?  No... unless you owned an IP or something that would keep your group on top.  This is even more concentrated than eBay since the sellers and buyers are pretty much all AFOLs.  Bricklink as it is needs the sellers to be a thing and sellers will move if this becomes draconian.  
 

Maybe the prime customers aren’t AFOLs like we suspect- but based on this reaction, it would seem anticipated changes will suggest alternatives may spring up which will eviscerate LEGO’s investment.  Makes me wonder if there is something else to this.

[Lego David]

I am not sure how I feel about this. LEGO claims that they made this purchase in order to get closer to the AFOLs... but I kinda doubt that's the actual intent. Whenever a company makes a move like this, it's usually for money. I mean, would they really be willing to spend a few millions of dollars just to "get closer to us?"

Some good things may result from this, potentially LEGO realizing the demand for Classic Sets, but I also fear that they may also impose bigger taxes to independent BL sellers.

 

[Scriba]

2 hours ago, GlacierPhoenix said:

You know I look at this like Amazon. Amazon has tons of sellers that do their own fulfillment and it's sold under the Amazon brand.

Yeah, that's what I think too, BL will become a giant Lego marketplace, hope that's the plan.

By the way what will happen to Stud.io ?

[Captain Dee]

1 hour ago, f2k said:

And let's just be honest here... LEGO is a company, and companies don't do anything unless they think they can make money on it.

 

26 minutes ago, anothergol said:

Not true - large companies will also buy smaller ones (& not do anything with them) to stop the competition.

Buying out competition for the purpose of eliminating said competition altogether is entirely about making money, especially when the buyer shuts down the bought.

But I do generally agree with your other thoughts.

[MxWinters]

I have mixed feeling about this. This will either be a great success and will be awesome for the AFOL community (which I very much doubt) or it will be the beginning of the end of Bricklink. With LEGO's recent behavior with going after people for things like custom/3D printed parts, printing/chroming ect as @Peppermint_M said, I have no faith that this is going to work. Bricklink should remain independent, it has done well over the last 20 years and now LEGO want to have a monopoly over the used part market. This has got corporate greed written all over it, I expected much better from LEGO and I'm disappointed with BrickLink for choosing to have a few extra pennies in their pockets over the AFOL community ???